FREMONT — On an otherwise tough Friday for the Upper Lake High School wrestling team, three out of eight Cougars entered in the ultra-competitive Mission San Jose Invitational advanced to today”s final rounds.
Two of the three — Bruce Tucker at 154 pounds and Joey Valdez at 222 pounds — reached the quarterfinals by winning their only two matches of the day. Tony Lopez lost his first match at 108 pounds but won his next two to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament.
Tucker won a pair of decisions at 154 pounds while Valdez pinned both of his opponents. He”ll face the No. 2-ranked wrestler in the state — from College Park High School — today in the quarterfinals.
Three other Cougars went 2-2 on Friday — Travis Coleman at 140 pounds, Robert Simondi at 147 pounds and Bradley Brackett at 162 pounds. Heavyweight Jon Karlsson went 1-2 and Ward Beecher went 0-2 at 134 pounds.
Valdez, Karlsson and Beecher all were seeded wrestlers in the tournament.
“This tournament is actually tougher than Foothill because it”s really condensed,” Upper Lake coach Tom Cox said. “There are no easy matches. Every match is brutal.”
While it was a tough day overall for the Cou-gars, Cox said, “Better to have a tough day now than in three weeks (at the North Coast Section Tournament on Feb. 24-25).”
Upper Lake was the lone Lake County team participating in Fremont.
