FREEMONT >> Upper Lake High School sent five wrestlers to the 41st annual Mission San Jose Invitational on Friday at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont and two are still alive going into today’s final rounds.
Junior Fernandez, the team’s standout 120-pounder and the No. 3 seed in his weight division, posted wins in each of his first two matches to reach today’s quarterfinal round where he’ll face No. 8 seed Sam Camacho of Birmingham High School of the Southern Section.
Fernandez defeated Jake Lillenstein of De La Salle’s “B” team 14-9 in a first-round match. He pinned Noah Quichocho of Mount Diablo High in his next match, the fall taking place midway through the second round.
If Fernandez, now 26-5 on the season, beats Camacho in today’s quarterfinals, he’ll face either Jon Fisher of Redwood or Patrick Ramirez of De La Salle’s “A” team in the semifinals. Fernandez is coming off a tournament win at last weekend’s Puma Classic in Santa Rosa.
Although he didn’t get a win on Friday, 220-pounder Nick Warner sandwiched a pair of byes around a loss by pin and remains alive in the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
Zack Sneathen went 1-2 at 132 pounds and was eliminated along with Alex Serrano (0-2) at 113 pounds and Dante Bassignani (0-2) at 152 pounds.
