YUBA CITY >> Kelseyville High veteran wrestling coach Rob Brown said his nine-strong girls team in 2016-17 may be the school’s best ever in terms of distribution of talent throughout the weight classes.
“It’s my deepest as far as covering all the weight classes,” Brown said.
Brown took eight of those wrestlers to the Yuba City Tournament on Saturday and seven came home with medals. It might have been a perfect eight-for-eight except one wrestler had no competition in her weight class and didn’t have any matches.
While Kelseyville’s girls were at Yuba City, the team’s newer wrestlers participated in the Coastal Mountain Conference Novice Tournament at Point Arena.
Middletown and Clear Lake also sent wrestlers to the Novice Tournament while Upper Lake sent three of its girls to the Menlo-Atherton Girls Bear Bash in Atherton where Adriana Lopez went 5-0 while teammates Christina Wilson and Isis Martinez each went 4-1.
Kelseyville
Bri Thomas and Bailey Huggins both went 4-0 with four pins to bring home first-place medals from Yuba City. Second-place medals went to Vanessa Gonzalez, Kyle Marlin, Jasmin Clarke and Melanie Guerrero. Korbin Marlin added a third-place medal.
At Point Arena, the Knights added three more firsts courtesy of Saul Duran, Aaron Teal and Bryan Carillo, who got off to a late start this season because of Kelseyville’s deep run into the North Coast Section football playoffs.
Carillo and Duran are only sophomores.
Second-place medals went to Liam Terrell and Josh Hess. Chris Perkins, Eddie Garcia, Steven Sprague and Tyler Stotsberry all brought home third-place medals.
“They’re real green but showing a lot of potential for the first week,” Brown said. “It’s a good group of kids.”
Kelseyville’s boys travel to the Green and Gold Tournament on Saturday at San Marin High School in Novato. The girls have the weekend off.
Middletown
Freshman Blake Schuster won the 120-pound division for Middletown at the Novice Tournament. The longtime Punishers Wrestling Club member went 2-0 with one pin. Also at 120 pounds, Hagan Cadwallader came in third.
Second-place medals went Angela Egger at 108 pounds, Evan Dodd at 152 pounds, Jared Pyzer at 160 pounds and James Hernandez at 185 pounds. Earning third-place medals were Carissa Forest at 108 pounds and sister Arianna Forest at 131 pounds.
“It was a good day,” Middletown coach Brian Hunt said. “We wrestled well. It was a nice way to gauge where we’re at. We have a promising group of freshmen.”
Middletown wrestlers are headed to three different tournaments this Saturday – the girls go to San Leandro, the varsity boys to American Canyon, and the junior varsity boys to Santa Rosa.
Clear Lake
The Clear Lake Cardinals brought home 16 medals in all between their girls and boys competing at the Novice Tournament.
First-place medalists among the boys were Roman Uribe at 111 pounds, Brandon Dickey at 138 pounds, and Justin Cantrell at 150 pounds, all 3-0 on the day. Cantrell pinned all of his opponents while Uribe and Dickey finished with two pins apiece. Among the girls, firsts went to Mavis Pyorre, who was 2-0 with one pin tat 108 pounds; to Ashley Vasquez, who went 2-0 at 187 pounds; and to Kally Vinson, who went 2-0 with two pins at 264 pounds.
Second-place medals went to Frank Weiler, who was 1-1 at 225 pounds, and to Madi Ferguson (130), Shelby Butcher (187) and Haily Vinson (264), all 1-1 with one pin.
Taking home third-place medals were Thomas Lairson (125), Frankie Sturr (130), Johnny Strate (163), Scarlett Ballard (124), Merari Alvarez (187) and Samantha Bruno (264).
“They all wrestled great. It’s going to be a fun season,” Clear Lake coach Aiden Pierson said.
Clear Lake will send a handful of boys and girls to a tournament in American Canyon this Saturday as well as other members of its squad to the Green and Gold Tournament in Novato.
Upper Lake
Lopez dominated the 121-pound division for Upper Lake’s girls at the Menlo-Atherton Girls Bear Bash. The sophomore not only won all five of her matches, but she pinned all of her opponents.
Wilson’s only loss in five matches at 137 pounds was a 7-4 decision. Martinez had to bump up from 137 pounds to 143 because teams were allowed to enter only one wrestler in each weight class.
“I think big things are coming this season for our girls,” Upper Lake coach Jose Fernandez said.
Upper Lake’s wrestlers compete in the Green and Gold Tournament on Saturday in Novato.
