UPPER LAKE — Tom Cox is doing OK and his Upper Lake Cougars are doing even better.
Contrary to rumors swirling through the Northshore, Upper Lake High School”s wrestling coach did not suffer a heart attack on Wednesday night during the Cougars” Coastal Mountain Conference tri-team meet against Clear Lake and St. Helena.
Cox did leave the gym late in the Upper Lake-Clear Lake match with chest pains, but he did so under his own power.
“I was sweating and I had chest pains,” Cox said.
Cox checked himself in at Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport and was released around 4 a.m. Thursday.
“I did not have a heart attack,” Cox said. “I need to take better care of myself. That”s what they told me.”
As a precautionary measure, Cox will spend the next couple of days resting before returning to school.
“I snuck to practice today (Thursday) to see how things were going,” Cox said.
On Wednesday night, things went very well for the Cougars. Upper Lake beat Clear Lake 48-24 and St. Helena 56-15 to wrap up a perfect dual meet season. St. Helena also defeated Clear Lake 46-30. The Cougars can wrap up a second straight conference title on Feb. 20 at the CMC Championships in Lower Lake.
“Our strength is our parity,” Cox said. “Our weakest weight classes are stronger than they”ve ever been.”
Upper Lake and St. Helena brought full teams to the mats on Wednesday and Clear Lake forfeited just one weight class in its loss to the Cougars.
“There were lots and lots of matches,” Cox said. “Four years ago we went into the Lakeport gym to wrestle Clear Lake and St. Helena and we went 1-27. This time we went 21-7.”
The Cougars not only won 75 percent of their matches on Wednesday, but they scored some legitimate upsets against both St. Helena and Clear Lake.
In their win over the Saints, freshman Ward Beecher scored a 14-7 decision over Gustavo Rodriguez, the two-time defending CMC champion at 132 pounds.
Upper Lake got off to a great start against St. Helena when Jacob Warner (287 pounds) and Angel Hernandez (105) scored first-round pins in the first two matches between the two teams.
“I thought we might lose both, instead we went up 12-0,” Cox said. “They were responsible for us getting off to a great start.”
The wins kept flowing after that, including pins by Travis Coleman (121), Robert Simondi (127), Josh Gray (147), Bradley Brackett (154) and Brandon Sneathen (162). The Cougars also picked up wins at 137 pounds, where Nick Davidson won a 13-9 decision; at 142 pounds, where Bruce Tucker won by 17-0 technical fall; and at 191 pounds, where Andrew Frazier upset his opponent 19-17.
In their win over Clear Lake, the Cougars won the first eight matches before Clear Lake”s Robby Hammers broke the streak by beating Brackett by default. Hammers had a 7-1 lead before the match was stopped.
Prior to Hammers” win, Hernandez won by pin at 105 pounds, Coleman won by pin at 114 pounds, Fwee Chao scored a 9-6 decision at 121 pounds, Simondi upset Jacob Humble 9-6 at 127 pounds, Beecher scored a 9-6 decision over Brandon Holt at 132 pounds, Nick Davidson won by pin at 137 pounds, Tucker decisioned Rodney Henson 7-5 at 142 pounds, and Gray won by pin at 147 pounds.
In other matches, Sneathen won by 18-3 technical fall at 162 pounds, Clear Lake”s Derek Larsen won by third-round pin at 173 pounds, Clear Lake”s Shawn Larsen won by first-round pin at 191 pounds, and Clear Lake”s Mike Reynolds won by pin at 217 pounds.
Upper Lake received the only forfeit of the night at 287 pounds.
Both Upper Lake and Clear Lake will compete in the Division III North Coast Section Team Duals on Saturday at Redwood High School in Larkspur. Upper Lake is the defending champion. Other competing teams are St. Helena, Willits, Hoopa, California School of the Deaf, St. Patrick/St. Vincent and Athenian.
