WILLITS — The Coastal Mountain Conference Novice Tournament for boys and girls wrestlers begins Friday and runs through Saturday at Willits High School.
The Novice tourney, which kicks off the high school wrestling season, is limited to wrestlers just starting their high school careers or those with minimal varsity experience. The majority of Lake County’s more experienced boys and girls wrestlers will be in action next weekend when tournaments such as the Green and Gold at San Marin High School in Novato, the McKinleyville Tournament, the Bay Area 56 (Castro Valley High School) and the Bear Creek Invitational (Stockton) take place.
However, a handful of the county’s veteran wrestlers will get their first taste of action this coming weekend when Lower Lake sends a contingent to the Redwood Rumble in Larkspur.
Several Lake County wrestlers will be gunning for state medals, possibly even championships, this season. Upper Lake’s Junior Fernandez and Adriana Lopez and Kelseyville’s Jasmin Clarke have already signed their college letters of intent as they prepare to open their senior years.
Fernandez, a North Coast Section runner-up last season and a state tournament participant, is headed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Lopez, a defending section champion, is a two-time state medalist who placed third in 2018. She is headed to the nationally ranked Campbellsville University women’s wrestling program in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Clarke, a defending section champion, placed fourth at the state tournament in 2018 to become the first Kelseyville girl to bring home a medal from the CIF Championships. Her next stop after Kelseyville will be the women’s wrestling program at Life University in Marietta, Georgia.
Closer to home, the Lower Lake High School boys wrestling team will be in the hunt for its fourth CMC title in five years under the direction of head coach Ed Fuchs. Kelseyville’s boys also look strong with the return of 160-pounder Alex Garcia (ranked 17th in the state), 182-pounder Bryan Carrillo (ranked 34th in the state) and 220-pounder Javante Gregoire (honorable mention in state rankings). Right now, all three of those wrestlers are busy with football as the Knights prepare to host Middletown in a semifinal-round game of the NCS Division V championships on Friday night, with a possible state playoff appearance for the winner of that game.
