UPPER LAKE >> Upper Lake High School’s Adriana Lopez is experiencing a wrestling season that can only be described as fantastic. And that was before she was seeded No. 2 in the 121-pound bracket at the CIF State Championships, which open Friday and run through Saturday in Visalia.
Only the top two wrestlers in each weight class are seeded at the state tournament, so pulling down a 1 or 2 seed is an extraordinary feat in itself. Lopez, a junior, burst onto the wrestling radar a year ago when she placed third at 116 pounds in the North Coast Section Championships and sixth at the CIF State Championships. Now, a year later, she is the reigning 121-pound section champion looking to bring home another state medal and perhaps even a state title, which no Lake County wrestler, girl or boy, has ever done.
Lopez brings a 34-2 record into this year’s state tournament. Her only two losses, both by close decisions in tournament action, came to Rory Coscia of Enochs High School in the San Joaquin Section and to Tara Othman of Benicia High School, also of the San Joaquin Section. Coscia is the No. 1 state seed at 116 pounds and Othman is another 116-pound standout.
The only wrestler seeded higher than Lopez at 121 pounds is No. 1 seed Gracie Figueroa of Selma High School of the Central Section.
Lopez faces Yadira Joya of the Central Coast Section in a first-round match Friday.
Upper Lake and Kelseyville are each sending two wrestlers to the state tournament. Besides Lopez is her highly decorated Upper Lake teammate, senior 131-pounder Christina Wilson, a section runner-up this year, and two Kelseyville section champions, sophomore Bailey Huggins at 116 pounds and junior Jamin Clarke at 189 pounds.
Wilson, a third-place state medalist at 126 pounds a year ago, has a bye in the first round and will face either Paola Mendez of Paramount High School of the Southern Section or Anne-Marie Maskalenko of Clairemont High School of the San Diego Section in the second round.
Huggins faces Gabriella Sandoval of Scotts Valley of the Central Coast Section in first-round action while Clarke draws Viviana Ramirez of Mira Coast High School of the Southern Section in a first-round match.
