LAKEPORT >> Upper Lake High School won its first wrestling tournament in two years on Saturday by edging out Windsor by a single point in the third annual Michael Kroppmann Memorial Invitational at the Marge Alakzsay Center in Lakeport.
The Cougars, in a rebuilding mode under second-year coach Brandon Sneathen, won in dramatic fashion as Tyler Banks, the champion at 170 pounds, and Matt Willard, third at 125 pounds, needed pins in their final matches to give the Cougars the first-place trophy.
Banks obliged in his final match at 170 pounds while Willard needed only 45 seconds to pin his opponent in the 125-pound third-place match.
“The place went wild,” Sneathen said of a large and vocal Upper Lake rooting contingent. “That’s the first tournament title for me in my two years here and the first tournament we’ve won since we dominated (the Coastal Mountain Conference) the five years before I became head coach. We’re starting to look a little bit like those old Upper Lake teams.”
Bank secured one of four first-place medals won by the Cougars. Other weight division winners were Alex Sanchez at 120 pounds, Zack Sneathen at 126 pounds, and Nick Kranich in the heavyweight class.
Sanchez, a sophomore, was among the standouts, according to Sneathen.
“I keep forgetting he’s only a sophomore,” Sneathen said. “He’s improved tremendously from his freshman year to his sophomore year.”
Zack Sneathen, Brandon’s younger brother, dominated at 126 pounds while going 3-0 and earning the tournament’s outstanding lightweight award.
“He wrestled great and did his thing,” Brandon Sneathen said.
Banks had two pins among his three wins.
“He’s had a rough start to his season but he’s working his butt off,” Sneathen said. “This is the first time he’s been in a tournament final.”
The Cougars added second- and fourth-place medals at 220 pounds. Abel Serrano was the runner-up in the weight class and Nick Warner came in fourth.
Besides Willard, other third-place medals went to Ricardo Sanchez at 132 pounds and to Dante Bassignani at 138 pounds.
“He (Sanchez) pinned some guys he shouldn’t have pinned,” Sneathen said. “Dante is only a freshman and still has a lot to learn, but he works his butt off.”
Upper Lake’s four girls also won medals. Angel Stith lost to Clear Lake’s Emily Psalmonds in the 103-113 championship match. The Cougars earned another second-place medal in the 126-140 weight class courtesy of Christina Wilson, who was competing in her first tournament.
Also for Upper Lake, Chelsie Valdez finished third and Dani Estrada was fourth.
KELSEYVILLE
Kelseyville finished third in the team standings behind Upper Lake and Windsor despite having multiple entries in a handful of weight classes.
“And only one can score (for team purposes), so I was pleased,” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown said. “A lot of the guys we took surprised me. They’re really working hard.”
Luis Garcia at 120 pounds and Hayden Turner at 182 pounds won their weight classes, Turner beating out teammate Adryan Thomas in the championship match.
“Luis is a senior and I feel really good about how he’s doing,” Brown said.
Tiko Landa made the finals at 132 pounds but lost 13-6 to Ethan King of Windsor.
“The kid who beat him (King) lost to last year’s section champion 11-9 (earlier this season), so that gives me a pretty good idea where Tiko stands,” Brown said.
Michael Beverlin (106 pounds) and Natalio Rojas (145) added fourth-place medals.
For the Kelseyville girls, Kobrin Marlin lost to Clear Lake’s Mariela Sota in the third-place match at 103-113 while twin sister Kylie Marlin came in fifth in the same weight class. Another Kelseyville wrestler, Mikayla Parrott, was sixth.
CLEAR LAKE
Clear Lake’s Julian Lewis went undefeated at 220 pounds, winning all three of his matches by pin, to earn a first-place medal and the tournament’s award for the outstanding heavyweight.
The Cardinals added second-place medals at 152 pounds (Isaac Lewis) and 160 pounds (Tyler Buchholz).
For the Clear Lake girls, Psalmonds (first) and Soto (third) were among the top finishers in the 103-113 weight classes. Psalmonds won all of her matches by pin.
Despite entering only a handful of wrestlers, the tournament-host Cardinals placed fifth as a team.
MIDDLETOWN
Scott Kelly’s first-place medal at 152 pounds was the highlight of the day for the Middletown Mustangs, who had four wrestlers finish third or higher.
Cameron Ketchum came in second at 195 pounds and third-place medals went to Quentin Crayne at 120 pounds and to Saul Padilla at 182 pounds.
