FRESNO >> Junior Fernandez keeps on adding new pages to his career resume. At the rate the soon-to-be Upper Lake High School junior is going, that resume is going to be as long as War and Peace one day.
Fernandez completed his quest to win the California USA Wrestling Triple Crown award on Saturday during the Greco Roman State Championships in Fresno. Having already won state titles in the two other forms of California USA wrestling – folkstyle and freestyle – the No. 1-seeded Upper Lake star dominated the field in the cadet division, capped by a 14-3 victory by technical fall over Ryan Franco in the finals. En route to the championship match he beat his first three opponents by first-round pin.
Although Fernandez wasn’t originally scheduled to compete on Sunday, he decided to come back and take a crack at the junior division where he ended up being the No. 6 seed. After a first-round bye, Fernandez pinned the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals. He followed that up by pinning the No. 2 seed in the semifinals and beating No. 1 seed Aaron Perez 31-22 in the finals.
The win over Perez was especially gratifying for Fernandez, who lost to the James Logan High School star during the 2016-17 high school season.
