BRENTWOOD — Small-school wrestling power Upper Lake left a large-school impression Thursday at the Liberty Tournament, finishing fourth in the nearly 50-team field at Liberty High School in Brentwood.
“I think it”s great for Lake County,” Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said of the Cougars” solid performance over the course of the two-day tournament, which is a preview of the North Coast Section Championships later this season. “That has to be the best finish by a county school there.”
Only large-school wrestling powers James Logan, Liberty and Exeter finished higher than Upper Lake in the team standings. The Cougars won a school-record seven medals (awarded to the top eight in each weight class), beating their previous high of three.
“For a school of 300 kids, we had to be by far the team from the smallest population area,” Upper Lake coach Tom Cox said. “We beat teams like De La Salle, Clayton Valley, Dublin and Davis, all sorts of large schools.
“To be the best at the small-school level you have to wrestle the big guys,” Cox said when asked why the Cougars schedule up and compete in some of the toughest tournaments around.
In addition to the seven medals ? two fourths, three fifths, a sixth and an eighth ? the Cougars also secured a team trophy, which are awarded down to six places.
“Bringing home a trophy from this tournament is pretty darn good,” Cox said.
Upper Lake medal winners were Joey Valdez (fourth) at 220 pounds, Bruce Tucker (fourth) at 162 pounds, Ward Beecher (fifth) at 138 pounds, Robert Simondi (fifth) at 145 pounds, Bradley Brackett (fifth) at 160 pounds, Tony Lopez (sixth) at 106 pounds, and Jon Karlsson (eighth) in the heavyweight division.
Karlsson”s performance during the two-day tournament rated near the top for the Cougars, according to Cox.
“He wrestled outstanding. It was his coming-out party as far as doing well in an elite tournament,” Cox said. “He was coming off a great year in football and I think that gave him confidence. He”s only a junior, but he has a chance to be the best heavyweight ever at Upper Lake”
Lopez struggled early in the tournament but wrestled better on day two, according to Cox. “Ron (Campos, assistant coach) and I are real proud. He made some technical mistakes early but did much better today.”
Simondi”s only two losses in the 145-pound division were overtime defeats to formidable opponents, according to Cox.
“He wrestled outstanding,” Cox said.
Brackett, who won the fifth-place match with a resounding pin, “had a great tournament,” according to Cox.
Beecher, competing at 138 pounds, took a 10-0 season record into Thursday”s competition. He won his first match, 3-2, in the quarterfinals before suffering his first loss of the tournament and the season in the semifinals, where he was pinned in the third round.
“Ward was in the toughest weight class,” Cox said. “There were five state qualifiers and a bunch of section placers at 132 pounds.”
Tucker finished fourth at 162 pounds despite feeling less than 100 percent because of the flu.
Valdez also won in the quartefinals before losing in the semifinals.
Though Cox said he would have liked to have had a handful of wrestlers reach the championship round, he”s not at all disappointed with the seven medals and fourth-place team finish.
“Ron and I know we have a real strong team, but we also know we need to keep getting better,” Cox said. “Our goal ultimately is to get these kids to place at sections and get them to state, so we”re going to get back to work.”
While the Cougars” roar was unmistakable during the course of the tournament, the Lower Lake Trojans also did well given theyn entered only six wrestlers in the double-elimination competition. Five made it to the second day of the tournament, two came away with medal while two others just missed.
The biggest surprise was unseeded Dominick Dingess at 132 pounds. After going 2-0 on Wednesday, he came back Thursday to win his first two matches. Dingess beat the tournament”s No. 1 seed from Exeter 11-6 in the quarterfinals and then defeated the No. 4 seed by a 6-4 score in the semifinals.
Ahead 6-4 going to the third period of the semifinal match, Dingess” opponent chose the down position and Dingess never let him up.
“He rode him out, which is hard to do,” Fuchs said.
Facing the tournament”s No. 3 seed from De La Salle in the finals, Dingess lost by second-round pin. The momentary disappointment of losing in the championship match gave way to smiles a short time later, according to Fuchs, who said Dingess” second-place finish, given his unseeded status entering the tournament, is almost unheard of.
“Taking second here is pretty amazing,” Fuchs said.
“He wrestled phenomenal to get there (to the finals),” Cox added of Dingess. “And he”s only a sophomore.”
Lower Lake also picked up a seventh-place medal at 170 pounds from Thomas Cross, who went 2-1 in his first three matches on Wednesday. His Thursday began with a win by pin followed by a 9-4 victory by decision that guaranteed him no worse than a top-eight finish. After losing to a James Logan wrestler 9-2, he came back to win by second-round pin in the seventh-place match.
Overall for the two days Cross went 5-2 with four pins.
Falling one win short of a medal were Erick Moreno at 145 pounds and Mike Warren at 220 pounds.
Lower Lake”s other second-day qualifier, Thaddeus Wetmore, lost by pin in his first match at 182 pounds and was eliminated.
Two Clear Lake wrestlers, Ryan Blyleven at 126 pounds and Nathan Powers at 145 powers, also were in action Thursday. While Powers lost to Lower Lake”s Moreno in his first match and was eliminated, Blyleven went on to win a fourth-place medal.
