VACAVILLE >> Wrestlers from three Lake County youth clubs brought home a fair share of hardware Sunday from the annual St. Valentine’s Day Massacre tournament in Vacaville. The event drew 429 wrestlers from throughout the state and from as far away as Oregon and Nevada.
Golden State Wrestling of Upper Lake, the Punishers of Lower Lake and CORE Wrestling of Clearlake all sent wrestlers to the competition
Winners in all weight divisions received trophies while second- and third-place finishers were awarded medals.
Golden State
Gabriella Fernandez of Golden State Wrestling won all five of her matches to claim the championship trophy.
Aiden Dancer and Alexis Peregrina each went 3-2 in their weight divisions to secure third-place medals.
CORE Wrestling
Of the eight CORE Wrestling members participating in the tournament, three came away medals.
Miguel Garcia finished second in the bantam 43-pound division and Joseph Hughes claimed second in the novice 131-pound class. A third-place medal went to Mateo Garcia in the bantam 47-pound division.
“The Massacre was the real deal,” CORE Wrestling coach Ed Fuchs said. “It was my first time witnessing the high level of wrestling from young wrestlers across the state. I watched a 7-year-old wrestle and it looked like a high school finals match at the Puma Classic. It was definitely amazing to watch.
“Although five of our wrestlers did not place, I believe they learned a lot about this wonderful sport,” added Fuchs, who is also the head coach at Lower Lake High School.
Also competing for CORE Wrestling were Liberty Fuchs, Tyler Galamay, Dylan Neuharth, Luke Campbell and Tristan Floyd.
Punishers
The Punishers won two championships. Myles Conatser posted a 5-0 record in the intermediate 59-pound division. He dominated his weight class with three pins, a 12-0 decision over Bailey Hoard from El Dorado Hills and a 9-8 decision over USA Gold’s Nolen Sauve.
In the 66-pound division, Austin Fredrickson also went 5-0 with three pins, a 13-3 major decision over Casey Roberts of Vacaville, and a 2-0 win over Oregon’s Landen Carver.
Second-place medals went to Punishers Jonathan Fredrickson in the schoolboy 70-pound division where he went 3-1, his lone loss a 1-0 decision in the finals; to Carter Rudolph, who went 4-1 in the bantam division; to Adam Viramontes, who went 4-1 in the novice division; and to Mason Roath, who went 4-1 in the novice division.
Securing third-place medals were Hayden Fowler, who went 3-2 in the novice 85-pound division; to Jayden Roath, who went 3-2 in the novice division; and to Mario Cuellar in the 90-pound schoolboy division.
Not medaling were Cisco Howland, Nick Celli and Dominic Clark. All posted at least one win.
