ALBANY >> Upper Lake’s Christina Wilson nailed down her second straight sectional championship on Saturday, one of four Lake County wrestlers to place third or higher at the North Coast Section Girls Wrestling Championships at Albany High School.
Wilson won the 126-pound weight division this year after taking the 121-pound title in 2016. The junior is making her third straight trip to the CIF State Championships, which take place Feb. 24-25 in Visalia. She’ll have company too, though not as much as last year when the county sent seven girls to the state finals. Also qualifying, all sophomores with third-place finishes, were Upper Lake’s Adriana Lopez at 116 pounds, Middletown’s Alixe Olson at 150 pounds, and Kelseyville’s Jasmin Clarke at 189 pounds.
Lopez, Olson and Clarke are all making their second straight trip to the state finals – Lopez and Clarke also finished third a year ago while Olson came in second.
While only the top three in each weight division at the sectional tournament qualify for state, top-eight finishers receive medals and county wrestlers brought home 12 medals in all. Besides Wilson, Lopez, Olson and Clarke, Middletown’s Rachel Harvey (143) and Kelseyville’s Brianna Christian (235) secured fifth-place medals, Lower Lake’s Krystal Lockwood (101), Clear Lake’s Mavis Pyorre (111), Lower Lake’s Lily Wetmore (126), Upper Lake’s Isis Martinez (131) and Middletown’s Kylie Dredge (137) received sixth-place medals, and Kelseyville’s Bailey Huggins (121) finished with a seventh-place medal.
Wilson, the No. 1 seed at 126 pounds, absolutely dominated the field, going 4-0 with a technical fall and three pins, the final one in the second round against sophomore Amanda Decker of Castro Valley in the championship match.
Of the county’s three third-place medalists, Lopez won her first two matches by pin at 116 pounds before losing a 5-4 decision to Arianna Lee of Pittsburgh in the semifinals. Once in the consolation bracket, Lopez came back with two more wins, both by pin. She beat Ariana Saunders of St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the consolation semifinals before defeating Andrea Rocha of Windsor in just 44 seconds in the third-place match.
Olson received a first-round bye at 150 pounds before beating Sarah Medina of San Leandro by first-round pin in the quarterfinals. She then lost a hard-fought 3-2 decision to Jessica O’Dell of Freedom High School in the semifinals. Knocked into the consolation bracket, Olson battled back with a 8-1 decision over Oliva Ott of Castro Valley in the consolation semifinals and a third-round pin against Jessica Stanley of Ukiah in the third-place match.
Clarke pinned her initial opponent, Aliarah Campbell of Castro Valley, in the first round but then lost by third-round pin to Amelia DiPaola of American High School in the 189-pound semifinals. She rallied with back-to-back victories in the consolation bracket, pinning Daniela Martinez of Pittsburg in the second round in the consolation semifinals, and pinning Selena Verbera of St. Helena late in the first round of the third-place match.
Of the county’s two fifth-place medalists in Middletown’s Harvey and Kelseyville’s Christian, Harvey won each of her first two matches after a first-round bye to reach the 143-pound semifinals where she lost a 5-2 decision to Maria Patino of Albany. Harvey needed to win her first match in the consolation bracket to advance to the third-place match but instead lost by first-round pin to Erza Vavao of Newark. That put her into the fifth-place match and Harvey defeated Miranda Eoff of Washington High School by 7-1 decision.
Kelseyville’s Christian received a first-round bye before losing to Coryn Neal of Eureka by second-round pin. She won each of her first two matches in the consolation bracket, both by pin, before her quest for third place ended with a 7-3 loss to Kylee Winzler of Ukiah. Christian came back to beat Eureka’s Neal, who she had earlier lost to, by third-round pin in the fifth-place match.
Upper Lake managed to place third in the team standings despite entering only Wilson, Lopez and Martinez. The Cougars finished with 69.5 points. Newark Memorial won the team title with 167.5, edging out James Logan (165). Castro Valley was third with 140.
