TULSA, Okla. >> Already an accomplished wrestler with the Upper Lake Junior Cougars, 13-year-old Jose Fernandez III just took a big step up in his budding career.
The Upper Lake Middle School student traveled to Tulsa, Okla., last weekend to participate in the 2014 Kickoff Classic. What Fernandez didn”t know, at least not right away, was that he was the No. 1 seed in the 110-pound, 12-and-under bracket. The added pressure of being the top seed in his division didn”t seem to slow him down in the slightest.
The Kickoff Classic is the first of three in a series of national tournament sponsored by Jack Roller Productions with the World of Wrestling. One of the major honors in the three-tourney series is the Trinity Award, which is presented to a wrestler who wins the same weight class in all three tournaments during the series, an honor Fernandez is squarely in the running for.
The weight division Fernandez competed in at Tulsa included 13 wrestlers from across the United States, all accomplished athletes. In his first match, Fernandez needed only 42 seconds to record a pin. He had to work a bit longer in his second match, scoring a 17-1 technical fall just seconds into the second round. It was almost a repeat for Fernandez in his third match, which ended in a 15-0 technical fall victory.
The 3-0 record moved Fernandez into the 110-pound finals against a Kansas opponent who had pinned each of his three opponents in the first round. Fernandez fell behind early and trailed by four points nearly the entire way. He was still behind by four with only 30 seconds remaining when he scored a two-point reversal and then threw his opponent onto his back for a three-point near pin and a clock-beating 10-9 victory, which secured the tournament championship.
Fernandez returns to Tulsa in January to compete in the Tulsa Nationals, the second tourney in the three-tournament series.
