MIDDLETOWN >> The annual Dennis Jensen Invitational, named after the school’s former longtime wrestling coach, will host a minimum of 14 teams beginning Friday and running through Saturday. Both the Middletown Middle School and Middletown High School gyms will be hosting matches Friday before action shifts to the Tallman Gym on the high school campus Saturday.
The tournament is open to boys and girls. Along with tournament host Middletown, among the participating teams are the Clear Lake Cardinals, Lower Lake Trojans, Willits Wolverines and Point Arena Pirates of the Coastal Mountain Conference. Also expected to compete are Santa Rosa High School, Rancho Cotate, Elsie Allen, Piner, Sutter, Ukiah, Eureka, Arcata and South Fork.
“We have a pretty good spread of teams covering the northern part of the state,” Middletown coach and tournament director Brian Hunt said.
Wrestling both days begins at 9 a.m. Saturday’s action should open with quarterfinal-round matches in all weight classes, according to Hunt.
“We’re up compared to the number of teams we had last year when we only had 11, and one of those was a St. Helena team with only one wrestler,” Hunt said. “We have limited girls numbers because of the big tournament going on in Napa (Napa Valley Classic) this weekend.
“There should be some good, quality competition,” Hunt said.
For the host Mustangs, this year’s boys squad didn’t suffer a single loss to graduation and returns two Coastal Mountain Conference champions in 145-pounder Quentin Crayne and 220-pounder Cameron Ketchum.
“A lot of our freshmen from last season have put on weight and worked hard in the offseason to do the things they needed to do,” Hunt said.
While the Middletown boys were unscathed by graduation, not so the Middletown girls, who lost half their squad. A couple of key returning wrestlers are 137-pounder Kylie Dredge, who finished sixth at the North Coast Section Championships last year, and 111-pounder Angela Egger, who narrowly missed a section medal.
A concession stand run by the Middletown High Boosters will be operation both days at the Tallman Gym.
The Dennis Jensen Invitational is one of two tournaments taking place in Lake County this month. The annual Michael Kroppmann Invitational hosted by Clear Lake High School is Jan. 13 in Lakeport.
