VISALIA >> North Coast Section champion Christina Wilson of Upper Lake High School split her two matches at 121 pounds on Saturday during the final day of competition in the CIF State Girls’ Wrestling Championships in Visalia.
Making her second straight trip to the state tournament, the sophomore finished the double-elimination tournament at 2-2 overall, one win shy of a guaranteed top-eight finish and two victories away from a medal, which are awarded down to six places in each weight class. As a freshman in 2015 she went 3-2 and also came within a victory of no worse than a top-eight finish.
Wilson lost her first match on Friday, the opening day of the two-day tournament, but came back with a victory in the consolation bracket to stay alive. In her first match Saturday, she Beat Vanesa Contreras of Yucca Valley High School (Southern Section), but Wilson couldn’t get past Shakira Rivera of Lindhurst High School (San Joaquin Section) in her next match, losing 4-0.
Delilah Houck of North Monterey County High School, the wrestler who knocked Wilson into the consolation bracket on Friday with a 7-0 victory, ended up placing fourth.
The 121-pound title went to No. 1 seed Alex Hedrick of Bella Vista High School (San Joaquin Section), a junior. She beat No. 2 seed Alyssa Aceval of Corona High School (Southern Section), also a junior, 4-2 in the championship match.
Wilson was one of two sectional champions from Lake County – the other being Middletown 131-pounder Kailei Foltmer – and one of seven county wrestlers overall to qualify for the state tournament this season. For the second year in a row she was the only county wrestler to make it past the first day. By winning the North Coast Section title earlier this month in Albany, Wilson became the first sectional champion in Upper Lake history, girl or boy.
