ORANGEVALE >> Members of the Upper Lake Junior Cougars wrestling club brought home four first-place medals, two seconds and a third from the Santa Smack Down on Dec. 21 at Casa Robles High School in Orangevale.
Gabriella Fernandez wrestled her best tournament to date, going 3-0. She won 12-0 in her first match before pulling out a pair of overtime victories with sudden-death takedowns.
Aiden Dancer once again competed in two brackets, bantam and intermediate. He went 3-0 in both, including three straight pins in the bantam division. Outweighed by 8 pounds on average in the intermediate division, he pinned two of his opponents and beat the other by 14-0 decision.
Jose Fernandez III brought home the other first-place medal in the 116-pound middle school division where he went 3-0.
Hayden Fowler earned a second-place medal, battling back from a loss by decision in his first match to win the next two, one in overtime and one by pin.
Alexis Peregrina also came in second despite dominating her first two opponents and pinning each. She fell behind 4-0 in her final match. A reversal in the final 30 seconds brought her to within 4-2 and she had her opponent in a double arm bar when time ran out.
Gage Faalelea added a third-place medal while wrestling in only his second tournament of the year. He won his first match by pin before dropping two matches by decision.
Donavan Fernandez competed in one of the toughest brackets of the day. He went 0-3 and finished in fourth place.
