ALBANY >> It was a record-setting day for Lake County wrestlers on Saturday during the final rounds of the North Coast Section Girls’ Championships at Albany High School.
How good a day was it?
— Eleven county wrestlers finished seventh or better to secure medals, a record.
— Four wrestlers reached the championship round in their respective weight divisions, a record.
— Two wrestlers won weight division titles, Upper Lake sophomore Christina Wilson at 121 pounds and Middletown senior Kailei Foltmer at 131 pounds, a record.
— Seven wrestlers placed third or higher, which means an automatic berth in the CIF State Championships on Feb. 27-28 in Visalia, a record.
Punching their state tickets along with Wilson, the No. 2 seed at 121 pounds, and Foltmer, the No. 3 seed at 131 pounds, were Clear Lake senior Emily Psalmonds, the 106-pound runner-up and the first Clear Lake girl to qualify for the state tournament; Middletown junior Alixe Olson, the No. 2 seed and runner-up at 143 pounds; Upper Lake freshman Adriana Lopez, third at 106 pounds; Middletown junior Isabella Quintana-Ocken, third at 150 pounds; and Kelseyville freshman Jasmin Clarke, the No. 2 seed and third-place finisher at 189 pounds.
Other medal winners were Clear Lake’s Alicia Ledesma, fourth at 111 pounds, and a trio of Lower Lake wrestlers led by Krystal Lockwood, fourth at 101 pounds; Abebreanna Gonzales, sixth at 116 pounds; and Mikelynn Rowe, seventh at 131 pounds.
Four other Coastal Mountain Conference wrestlers also won medals, three of them qualifying for state in the process. They were 189-pound champion Gabby Agenbroad of Willits, third-place medalists Dillynn Perry of Fort Bragg (126) and Nicole Karkar of Willits (131), and fifth-place medalist Selena Verbera of St. Helena (189).
Christina Wilson
“We had a game plan for each match and Christina followed that game plan, she followed it all day long,” Upper Lake assistant coach Ron Campos said.
Facing No. 1 seed Kiah Martin of Eureka in the finals, Campos said it was no contest from the start.
Martin, a fourth-place state medalist and the section runner-up a year ago at 116 pounds, played right into Wilson’s strengths, according to Campos.
An aggressive wrestler, Martin “came charging into Christina” as the match opened, according to Campos. “Christina threw her in the first 10 seconds to pick up two points. Then she took her to her back again for three more points.”
Midway through the two-minute first period it was clear Martin didn’t want any more of Wilson, who eventually pinned her in the final seconds of the period.
“She has the strength of a man, I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years,” said Campos, a veteran coach. “She’s as tough a 121-pounder I’ve ever had and that includes boys.”
Campos said he would be disappointed if Wilson didn’t pull down a high seed for the state tournament.
“I think Christina should be No. 1 or 2 quite honestly,” Campos added. “I think she has a very good chance to win a state title.”
Wilson pinned Brigitte Mihalca of Casa Grande in the third round of the semifinals to reach the championship match. Earlier in the day she pinned Cynthia Celeste of Newark in the third round of the quarterfinals.
Kailei Foltmer
Originally seeded fourth in the 131-pound field and bumped up to No. 3 before the tournament opened Friday, Foltmer’s road to the championship began Saturday in the quarterfinals with a 13-4 decision over Sofia Skaric of Northgate. She secured a state berth with a first-round pin of Willits’ Karkar in the semifinals, then pinned top seed Naomi Narvaez of Arroyo High School in the third round of the 131-pound finals.
“We knew we had to get by Karkar (in the semifinals),” Middletown coach Brian Hunt said of Foltmer’s semifinal opponent. “She’s a solid wrestler.”
Foltmer and Karkar had previously met twice this season, each winning once. With a guaranteed state berth riding on the line, Foltmer dominated the rubber match between the two CMC rivals.
“She cut her to her back and finished it quick,” Hunt said of Foltmer’s first-round pin.
Hunt said he felt more comfortable with Foltmer’s finals opponent, Narvaez of Arroyo High School.
“I watched her wrestle through the course of the year (at out-of-the-area tournaments) and she did not wrestle well against aggressive wrestlers, and Kailei is the epitome of an aggressive wrestler,” Hunt said.
Foltmer built a lead on points before finally pinning Narvaez with 45 seconds left in the third round.
“We were dominating the match pretty well. Kailei was the better wrestler,” Hunt said.
Foltmer joins Maria Castaldo (2012) and Jesse Flynn (2014) as sectional champions from Middletown High School. In fact, Hunt has taken at least one wrestler to the state championships every year since the tournament started six years ago.
“I’m thrilled for her,” Hunt said of Foltmer, who went two and out at last year’s state tournament.
“A state medal is not an unreasonable expectation for her this year. The experience of being at state last year will help her. She might have a been a little overwhelmed last year by the state experience. That won’t happen this time. She’s walking into the same venue.”
Foltmer’s pin in the 131-pound finals had the added benefit of securing a fifth-place finish for Middletown in the sectional team standings. The Mustangs tied Eureka with 75 points. The top four teams — James Logan, Pittsburg, Castro Valley and Albany — are all much bigger schools.
“James Logan graduates more kids each year than we have on our high school and middle school campuses combined,” Hunt said. “We were the highest placing small school and CMC school and we’re pretty happy with that.”
Middletown’s previous best team finish at the sections was seventh. Upper Lake tied Ukiah for seventh place with 73 points.
Emily Psalmonds
Psalmonds scored a 10-2 major decision against Katrina Pagaduan of James Logan in the quarterfinals before pinning Catli Tran of Neward in the second round of the semifinals. Pitted against top seed Brianna Padilla of Albany in the finals, Psalmonds dropped a 7-0 decision.
“She wrestled excellent,” Clear Lake coach Adan Pierson said. “We are extremely proud of her.”
Alixe Olson
Olson reached the championship match at 143 pounds with a pin of Sarah Cook-Malkovich of Petaluma in the quarterfinals and a 4-1 decision over Arriya Frank of Heritage in the semifinals. Paired with No. 1 seed Shayla Hill of Castro Valley in the finals, Olson lost by first-round pin.
Still, that’s not bad for a first-year wrestler, according to Hunt, who said Olson’s improvement during the last month has been impressive.
“She’s really stepped it up,” Hunt said. “There’s not much more you can ask from a girl who had never wrestled before this year.”
Olson’s loss in the finals came to the same girl who beat her teammate, Quintana-Ocken, in the third-place match at 150 pounds a year ago.
Adriana Lopez
Lopez opened Saturday in the quarterfinals and lost on a second-round pin to eventual 106-pound champion Padilla of Albany. Once in the consolation bracket, Lopez won four straight matches to finish third and secure a state berth
The string of wins began with a second-round pin of Samantha Hayman of Windsor, a third-round pin of Samantha Boyd of San Marin, a 3-2 decision over Tran in the consolation semifinals, and an early second-round pin of Pagaduan, who Psalmonds had beaten earlier in the championship bracket, in the third-place match.
“She did a great job battling back,” Campos said. “In the third-place match she just outwrestled her (Pagaduan) from the start. That girl has got a lot of heart.”
Isabella Quintana-Ocken
No one enjoyed reaching the state tournament more than Quintana-Ocken, who lost in the third-place match a year ago to just fall short of a trip to Visalia.
“Finishing fourth last year was her focal point to get better this season,” Hunt said. “She made sure she was ready to go this year. She came back in great shape.”
After beating Genesse Jose of Pittsburg by second-round pin in the quarterfinals, Quintana-Ocken was pinned by Lena Sam of James Logan in the semifinals, a match during which she hurt her shoulder, according to Hunt.
“We iced it down real good and she was able to go,” Hunt said.
Quintana-Ocken beat Kaitlyn Kunze of College Prep by 16-0 technical fall in the consolation semifinals before pinning Jennifer Garcia of San Leandro late in the second round of the third-place match.
“It was a great feeling for her after what happened last year,” Hunt said. “I’m happy for all my wrestlers who made it (to state), but knowing how close Bella came last year, within a technical violation of going to state, I was thrilled for her.”
Jasmin Clarke
Clarke pinned Rega Porter of Pittsburg in the quarterfinals before dropping a hard-fought 1-0 decision to Emily Sandoval of James Logan in the semifinals. Once in the consolation bracket, the freshman kept her poise and pinned Verbera of St. Helena in just 77 seconds in the consolation semifinals.
Against Cydney Hampton of St. Patrick/St. Vincent in the third-place match, Clarke prevailed 5-1 to secure a state berth.
“The only match she lost was to a senior who had been to state twice,” Kelseyville coach Rob Brown said of Clarke, who was penalized a point for locking her hands in the second round, the only point scored during her semifinal loss.
Only in her second year of wrestling, Clarke is a quick study when it comes to following directions from her coaches.
“She’s real cognizant of where her coaches are all the time (during a match),” Brown said. “She’ll look up like, ‘What should I do next?’ We tell her and she does it.”
Added Brown, “She’s one of those kind of girls who as a freshman doesn’t know she wasn’t supposed to make it this far, but she did.”
Apart from watching one of his own make it to state, Brown said he was thrilled to see a total of 10 CMC wrestlers, including the seven from Lake County, reach the state tournament.
“We have an unbelievable amount of talent that comes from this league,” Brown said. “You can’t help pull for all of them … unless they’re wrestling one of your girls, but even then you are happy for them.”
Added Middletown’s Hunt, “The top three from 14 different weight classes make it to state. Out of those 42 girls, the CMC has 10, nearly a quarter. That’s incredible.”
Other medalists
While Lower Lake’s Lockwood, Gonzales and Rowe all came up short of a state berth, Lower Lake coach Ed Fuchs said he was impressed with all of their efforts and is looking forward to having all three back next year.
“Lockwood was the 5 seed who finished fourth and anytime you can finish higher than your seed, you’ve done well,” Fuchs said. “I know her personal goal was to get to state and she was disappointed at first, but she was all smiles by the time she got back home.”
Gonzales sustained a neck injury in her loss to No. 1 seed Marie Seely of Eureka in the semifinals and was never quite the same, according to Fuchs. The sophomore lost by major decision in the consolation semifinals and was pinned in the fifth-place match.
Rowe, unseeded in the field at 131 pounds, lost in the quaterfinals but came back with a win in her first match in the consolation bracket. A loss in her next match dropped her into the battle for seventh place, which she won by second-round pin.
“You can’t complain about that,” Fuchs said of an unseeded wrestler coming away with a medal. “She wasn’t supposed to win anything and she did.”
Like Lower Lake’s Lockwood, Clear Lake’s Ledesma, unseeded at 111 pounds, came within a win of reaching the state tournament. The first-year wrestler went 3-2 at the sectionals, losing a hard-fought 2-0 decision to the No. 2 seed in the third-place match.
“Her only other loss was to the first seed (in the semifinals),” Pierson said.
