UNION CITY >> Three Lake County wrestlers are seeded No. 2 in their respective weight divisions going into the North Coast Section Boys Championships on Friday and Saturday at James Logan High School in Union City.
Junior Fernandez of Upper Lake (126 pounds), Alex Garcia of Kelseyville (152 pounds) and Peerliss Brooke of Lower Lake (220) pounds are Lake County top seeds going into the two-day competition where the top three wrestlers in each weight class advance to the CIF State Championships on March 2-3 at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.
A former Lower Lake wrestler now competing at Windsor High School, Blake Fredrickson, is the No. 1 seed at 106 pounds.
Other ranked Lake County wrestlers, with season records in parenthesis, are No. 4 Michael Jamison (25-8) of Lower Lake in the heavyweight division, No. 5 Bryan Carrillo (21-8) of Kelseyville at 182 pounds, No. 6 Mario Cuellar (32-6) at 106 pounds, and No. 8 Javante Gregoire (23-15) of Kelseyville at 220 pounds.
Among the county’s three No. 2 seeds, Fernandez brings a 34-5 record into the sectional competition while Garcia and Brooke are both 26-6. Fernandez and Garcia are both coming off weight division wins on Saturday at the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships in Fort Bragg while Brooke finished third at 220 pounds behind champion Gregoire of Kelseyville and runner-up Cameron Ketchum of Middletown.
Willits High Schoo’s Tristan Martin is the No. 7 seed at 160 pounds.
A total of 28 Lake County wrestlers finished third or higher at the CMC Championships on Saturday in Fort Bragg to qualify for the sectional tournament. Two of them, Upper Lake’s Fernandez, a junior, and Lower Lake’s Jamison, a senior, are returning sectional medalists. Fernandez was the runner-up at 126 pounds a year ago while Jamison placed sixth in the heavyweight division.
