LOWER LAKE — Lake County wrestlers won eight of the 14 weight divisions and all three MVP awards on Saturday during the annual Coastal Mountain Conference Championships at Lower Lake High School in Lower Lake.
Upper Lake defended its team title, winning top honors for the second year in a row, as well as three individual championships. Two Cougars – Fwee Chao at 105 pounds and Brandon Sneathen at 142 pounds — also earned No. 4 seeds for next weekend”s North Coast Section Championships. Two other CMC weight class winners — Lower Lake”s Justin Harrison at 217 pounds and Forth Bragg”s Matthew Rashad at 287 pounds — earned No. 3 NCS seeds.
“This is probably one of the best years the CMC has had at the (NCS) seeding meeting, which was held Sunday,” said Lower Lake head coach Ed Fuchs. “We”re kind of getting more respect from the NCS.”
The top three finishers in each weight division on Saturday in Lower Lake as well as a handful of alternates move on to the NCS Championships this Friday and Saturday at Newark Memorial High School in Newark. Wrestlers placing fourth or higher advance to the CIF State Championships the following weekend.
“It ran smoothly, I was really happy with how it ran,” said Fuchs, who also served as tournament director for the CMC Championships.
The only glitch, according to Fuchs, came at 132 pounds where Willits protested a call dealing with nearfall points during the championship match won by Upper Lake”s Ward Beecher.
“That backed things up like 20 minutes,” Fuchs said.
“Lower Lake did a fantastic job of running the tournament,” Upper Lake head coach Tom Cox said. “Ed showed class and their gym is phenomenal. The community came together and did a great job.”
Weight class winners from Lake County were Chao at 105 pounds, Clear Lake”s Brandon Holt at 127 pounds, Beecher at 132 pounds, Kelseyville”s Thomas Esberg at 137 pounds, Sneathen at 142 pounds, Lower Lake”s David Jordan at 154 pounds, Clear Lake”s Derek Larsen at 173 pounds and Harrison at 217 pounds.
MVP awards went to Beecher for lightweights, Sneathen for middleweights and Harrison for heavyweights. Harrison pinned all three of his opponents en route to the 217-pound title and needs two more pins to tie and three to break Lower Lake”s all-time pins record.
While Harrison”s victory at 217 pounds was no surprise, his projected opponent in the finals, Ezequiel Valdivia of St. Helena, didn”t make it that far. Valdivia was upset in his first match and Harrison ended up beating Derek Klee of Fort Bragg in the championship match.
Jordan”s title at 154 pounds was a bit of a shocker, according to Fuchs, because he entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed. He won all three of his matches by pin, including a semifinal victory over No. 2 seed Dorian Decker of Middletown. No. 1 seed Bradley Brackett of Upper Lake ended up third.
While the Cougars won the tournament and a second straight CMC title in the process, Cox said there were a few bumps along the way for his Upper Lake squad.
“After the semifinals we were behind Willits in the team standings and just three points ahead of St. Helena,” Cox said. “We challenged them and the kids came through. They showed some heart.”
Of the six Upper Lake wrestlers who lost in the semifinals, five came back to take third place and the Cougars went on to easily outdistance St. Helena in the final team standings 179-131. Clear Lake was third with 126.
Upper Lake will send 11 wrestlers to the sectional tournament, easily a school record, according to Cox.
“We had 10 guys finish in the top three,” Cox said. “I was real happy with that.”
Besides weight class winners Chao, Beecher and Sneathen, Travis Coleman finished second at 114 pounds and Ben Britten came in second at 162 pounds.
“Ben wrestled the best he”s wrestled all year,” Cox said.
Looking ahead to the sectionals, Cox said, “I would be ecstatic if three or four guys make it through to the second day. For most of our kids it”s a learning experience.”
Kelseyville, which sent just one wrestler to the sectionals last season, is sending six this year ? five to this weekend”s boys” competition in Newark and another — Cammy Miller — to the NCS girls” championships in Fremont.
Esberg led the way for the Knights with his first-place finish at 137 pounds.
“Thomas did it for us,” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown. “I don”t think he wrestled more than two minutes in his three matches.”
Esberg scored three quick first-round pins.
Also reaching the finals was Jeff Ponce, who made it to the second round against No. 1 seed Chao at 105 pounds before being pinned.
“Ponce had two pretty solid victories to reach the finals,” Brown said. “For a first-year wrestler to take second in league is pretty admirable.”
The Knights also had three third-place finishers — Adryan Seguara at 132 pounds, Jordan Brown at 217 pounds and Morgan Nelson at 287 pounds.
Segura lost to eventual champion Beecher in the semifinals before upsetting St. Helena”s Gustavo Rodriguez, a three-time section qualifier, 5-3 in the third-place match.
Brown lost to Harrison in his first match at 217 pounds before bouncing back to grab a third-place medal.
Nelson secured third place by pinning Upper Lake”s Jacob Warner in the heavyweight division.
“I couldn”t be happier,” Brown said of Kelseyville”s showing on Saturday.
A total of 30 county wrestlers move on to the NCS tournament.
