ALBANY >> So far, so good for the majority of Lake County’s wrestlers competing in the opening rounds of the North Coast Section Girls’ Championships at Albany High School in Albany.
The two-day, double-elimination competition concludes today. The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the CIF State Championships on Feb. 27-28 in Visalia.
Of the nearly two dozen Lake County wrestlers scheduled to participate in the sectional tournament, six entered the competition seeded in the top three of their respective weight classes. Jasmin Clark of Kelseyville (189 pounds), Alixe Olson of Middletown (143 pounds) and Christina Wilson of Upper Lake (121 pounds) are No. 2 seeds while Emily Psalmonds of Clear Lake (106 pounds), Kailei Foltmer of Middletown (131 pounds) and Isabella Quintana-Ocken of Middletown (150 pounds) are No. 3 seeds.
Here’s a team-by-team breakdown for the county’s schools on day one:
Clear Lake
Psalmonds received a first-round bye and followed that up with a 2-0 victory over Toni Lewis of Fort Bragg in the second round to reach today’s quarterfinals. She’ll face Katrina Pagaduan of James Logan in today’s quarterfinals.
Alicia Ledesma at 111 pounds beat Dulce Santay of San Rafael by pin in the opening round. Ledesma’s win happened so fast (50 seconds) that head coach Aden Pierson said he missed it.
“I was watching Emily’s match and they were just raising her hand (after Psalmonds’ win by decision) and it was already over,” Pierson said of Ledesma’s match.
Ledesma, unseeded in the 111-pound weight class, meets Liz Guman in today’s quarterfinals.
Kelseyville
Bri Thomas, unseeded at 116 pounds, received a first-round bye before being pinned by Joy Pihana of Castro Valley in their second-round match. Thomas will open today in the consolation bracket.
Clarke had a first-round bye and opens today in the 189-pound quarterfinals against Rega Porter of Pittsburg.
Lower Lake
Krystal Lockwood, the No. 5 seed at 101 pounds, received a first-round bye before beating unseeded Angela Egger of Middletown by second-round pin in their second-round match. Lockwood opens today in the quarterfinals and will face a familiar opponent in Upper Lake’s Angel Stith, the No. 4 seed.
Also advancing to today’s quarterfinals is unseeded Mikelynn Rowe, who pinned the No. 4 seed, Corina Barnes of Deer Valley, in a second-round match. She’ll face Sorayah Handy of Pittsburg today in the quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, Rowe pinned Vicoria Poole of Irvington just 68 seconds into their opening-round match.
A third Lower Lake wrestler to reach today’s quarterfinals is Abebreanna Gonzales at 116 pounds. Gonzales, the No. 6 seed, had a first-round bye before pinning Kimberle Rowley of Rancho Cotate in the first round of their-second match. Gonzales draws Vanessa Saucedo of San Leandro in today’s quarterfinals.
“It’s the first time we’ve had three girls going to the second day,” Lower Lake head coach Ed Fuchs said, “but we’ve only been wrestling girls for three years. We had one go the first year, two the next and three this year, so we’ve added one each year.”
Middletown
Of the six wrestlers the Middletown Mustangs entered in the tournament, five are still around.
Foltmer at 131 pounds had a first-round bye before pinning Cayla McCoy of Castro Valley just 51 seconds into their second-round match. Foltmer faces Sofia Skaric today in the quarterfinals.
Olson, the No. 2 seed at 143 pounds, and Quintana-Ocken, the No. 3 seed at 150 pounds, both had first-round byes on Friday and automatically advance to today’s quarterfinals based on the small size of their weight classes.
Still alive in the consolation bracket are 101-pounder Egger, who lost to Lower Lake’s Lockwood, and 116-pounder Dennae Taylor, who was pinned in the first round by Ariana Esfahani of Clayton Valley in a first-round match. Taylor came back later in the day to defeat Jordyn White of Oakland Tech by second-round pin.
“We still have a good shot at bringing home a lot of medals,” Middletown coach Brian Hunt said with an eye toward his three quarterfinalists, all of whom need a win in their first match today to guarantee themselves no worse than sixth-place medals.
“We’re going to be just fine,” Hunt said.
Upper Lake
Wilson reached the quarterfinals at 121 pounds with a pin of Katelyn Pham of Deer Valley in a second-round match. Wilson had a bye in the first round. She’ll face Cytnhia Celeste of Newark today in the quarterfinals.
Also in today’s quarterfinals is 106-pounder Adriana Lopez, who received a first-round bye and went on to beat Samantha Boyd of San Marin by 10-0 major decision in a second-round match. Lopez, the No. 8 seed, draws Brianna Padilla of Albany in today’s quarterfinals.
Upper Lake’s third quarterfinalist is the fifth-seeded Stith at 101 pounds. After opening the tournament with a bye, Stith won by pin in a second-round match.
Chelsie Valdez (131) won in the first round and lost in the second to drop into the consolation bracket where she pinned Maxine Schulte of Lick Wilmerding in the first round. She’ll continue on in the consolation bracket today.
