ALBANY — Dena Loans Arrow of Upper Lake needed a fourth-place finish or better to advance to the CIF State Championships and the sophomore just missed, finishing fifth at 126 pounds Saturday as the North Coast Section Girls Wrestling Championships concluded at Albany High School in Albany.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort on Loans Arrow’s part, that’s for sure.
After pinning each of her first two opponents to reach the quarterfinals on Friday, Loans Arrow lost a hard-fought 10-7 decision to Grace Hodge of Castro Valley High School in Saturday’s semifinals, dropping her into the consolation bracket. She won each of her next two matches — by 3-2 decision and second-round pin — to draw Ruby Duncan of Foothill (Pleasanton) in the consolation semifinals. Needing a win to reach the third-place match and lock up a berth in the state championships, Loans Arrow lost a 10-8 heartbreaker. She bounced back in the fifth-place match to beat Arine Kim of Campolindo 9-3.
“Dena’s loss was a tragic one,” Upper Lake head coach Joe Fernandez said of the consolation-semifinal oss to Duncan. “She just got stuck on bottom. She was very upset after that loss, but I am extremely proud of her for getting it together and battling for fifth place.”
Loans Arrow was just one of four Lake County girls to advance past Friday’s opening rounds and into day two of the tournament, and one of only two county medalists, joining Middletown’s Jayde Miles, who placed eighth at 111 pounds. Also reaching day two were Clear Lake 116-pound Mavis Pyorre and Kelseyville 131-pounder Elsa Jaquez.
Miles went 2-1 on Friday, her only loss coming to No. 1 seed Jadyn Wilson of Liberty. She won each of her first two matches Saturday, pinning her first opponent in the first round and scoring a 19-11 decision to guarantee a top-eight finish, then lost to Scout Holguin of Heritage (Brentwood) by pin, which dropped her into the seventh-place match. Miles was pinned by Alison Lopez-Hernan of Vintage in the seventh-place match.
Clear Lake’s Pyorre went 2-1 on Friday to reach day two of the tournament, but she fell 9-1 to Eisha Pasamonte of Heritage (Brentwood) to open Saturday’s action and was eliminated.
Kelseyville’s Jaquez went 2-1 on Friday and opened Saturday with a 36-second pin of Stephani Camacho of Pittsburg to advance. She dropped a hard-fought 12-9 decision to Yareli Rendon-Gomez of Eureka and was eliminated.
