SANTA ROSA — Kelseyville High School’s Alex Garcia followed up one tournament win with another on Saturday as he beat Max Lotzeneder of Castro Valley 4-2 to win the 162-pound title at the 21st annual Puma Classic at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa.
Garcia, one week removed from his weight class championship at the Tim Brown Invitational in Sacramento, went 3-0 at the Puma Classic after receiving a first-round bye. One of four medal winners for the Knights, who placed eighth in the 33-team field, Garcia dominated the opposition in each of his first two matches, beating Andrew Hamant of College Park by 18-3 technical fall in the quarterfinals and James Parisi of Foothill by 13-2 major decision in the semifinals.
Garcia was one of two Kelseyville wrestlers to reach the championship round. Javante Gregoire at 222 pounds won three straight matches to reach the finals where he lost 4-0 to Chris Island of Vacaville.
Prior to that, Gregoire beat Kevin Rivera of Las Lomas by third-round pin in his first match, Steven Karas of College Park 7-0 in the quarterfinals, and Isaiah Chatman of Pittsburg by injury default in the semifinals.
Also for Kelseyville, Gabriel Ambriz placed fourth in the 108-pound division where he went 3-2 on the day. He dropped a 14-4 decision to former Punishers Wrestling Club standout Jon Fredrickson, now of Windsor High School.
Bryan Carrillo provided the Knights with another fourth-place medal, this one at 197 pounds where he lost to Middletown’s Jared Pyzer by 4-1 decision in the third-place match.
Both Pyzer and Carrillo reached the semifinals before losing, dropping them into the consolation bracket. Pyzer pinned his first two opponents before losing 8-1 to eventual 197-pound champ Max Gipson of Sutter Union in the semifinals. Carrillo had a first-round bye, won by pin in the quarterfinals, and lost 6-4 to Luke Christensen of Inderkum in the semifinals.
Both Pyzer and Carrillo had to win once in the consolation bracket to reach the third-place match. Pyzer scored a 4-0 decision over Alex Cruz of Windsor while Carrillo pinned Aiden Sanchez of Dougherty Valley in 39 seconds.
Pyzer was among a trio of Middletown wrestlers to bring home medals. Anthony Nudi placed seventh in 162-pound division where he went 2-1 on the day. He pinned Shaun Wu of Amador Valley in the first round of the seventh-place match.
Blake Schuster went 2-2 on the day to finish eighth at 140 pounds. He dropped a 13-6 decision to D’Angelo Acasta of Sutter Union in the seventh-place match.
Upper Lake wrestlers also participated in the tournament and Bradley Sneathen claimed the sixth-place medal at 184 pounds where he went 2-3 on the day. He was pinned by Kal Hall-Nitto of Las Loma in the first-round of the fifth-place match.
Vacaville dominated the team portion of the tournament, accumulating 284 points to 198 for Windsor and 161 for Sutter Union.
