FRESNO >> The Golden State Wrestling Club of Upper Lake took six wrestlers to the California USA High School State Championships last weekend in Fresno and all came home with hardware and two with state championship titles.
Christina Wilson, a junior at Upper Lake High School who recently placed third at the CIF State Championships, won her second California USA state crown in a row.
Unseeded in the 132-pound bracket for junior/senior girls, Wilson pinned her way into the finals where she won her final match by pin as well. Golden State teammate Nicole Karkar from Willits High School finished eighth in the same bracket.
Upper Lake sophomore Junior Fernandez, a state qualifier at 126 pounds in the CIF Championships, competed in two divisions and placed high in both. He finished third on Saturday in the 126-pound sophomore division, going 5-1 with two wins by pin and two others by technical fall. His only loss was to Cleveland Belton, the 120-pound champion at this year’s CIF State Championships.
Fernandez came back on Sunday as the No. 1 seed in the junior/senior division at 126 pounds and lived up to that seeding by claiming his first California USA state title. He pinned his way into the finals and won the championship match with a takedown in sudden-death overtime. Before tying the match at 6-6 in regulation, he was choked unconscious but came back to take the win.
Also for Golden State, Adriana Lopez, a medalist at the CIF State Championships this year, competed in two divisions as well. She placed second as the No. 2 seed on Saturday in the frosh/soph girls 117-pound bracket with two pins along the way, and she came back on Sunday as the No. 1 seed in the junior/senior 117-pound bracket and finished third with a 4-1 record and three pins.
Among Golden State’s other wrestlers in action at Fresno, Dante Bassignani placed sixth in the junior/senior boys 170-pound bracket, posting a 5-2 record with three pins, and Hunter Gonzalez of Durham placed seventh in the junior/senior boys 138-pound bracket with a 5-2 record, all of his victories by pin.
Golden State wrestlers have this coming weekend off as they prepare for tournaments down the road. Fernandez is traveling to Virginia Beach at the end of March to compete in the High School Nationals while Wilson and Lopez are traveling to Oklahoma on the same weekend to compete for Team California in the USA Girls Nationals.
