NOVATO — California’s 28th-ranked high school heavyweight figures to be moving up in the state rankings soon after going 4-0 on Saturday during the Green & Gold Tournament at San Marin High School in Novato.
Upper Lake High School senior Bradley Sneathen, despite giving up 40-45 pounds in his matches, won the 285-pound weight class as the Cougars placed sixth out of 28 teams and just missed bringing home their first team trophy in years, according to head coach Brandon Sneathen.
“We were four points away from getting our first team trophy in a long time,” Sneathen said.
Bradley Sneathen, who is hoping to wrestle at 220 pounds when the Coastal Mountain Conference season opens in January, didn’t seem to have much of a problem moving up a weigh class. He pinned two of his opponents while reaching the 285-pound finals, winning 8-4 there to claim the Cougars’ only first-place medal on the day.
Another Upper Lake medal winner was Elijah Alvarez, second at 160 pounds with a 3-1 record. Pitted against a Vintage High School opponent in the finals, Alvarez stayed close until making a mistake and losing by pin in the third round, according to Sneathen.
Blake Talmage added a third-place medal by going 4-1 at 145 points, his only loss coming in the semifinals.
Dylan Slater went 2-2 to place fifth at 160 pounds and Damian Wurm went 2-2 to take fifth at 106 pounds, impressing Sneathen in the process.
“Probably my most outstanding wrestler (at the tournament),” Sneathen said of Wurm, a first-year wrestler. “The kid shocked the hell out of me with the way he wrestled. He just came out for the team and he had only three practices going into the tournament. He won his first match against a Windsor wrestler. He’s just a natural.”
While the Cougars have enjoyed quite a bit of individual success in recent seasons, low team numbers prevented them from doing much in tournament appearances or in Coastal Mountain Conference action.
Sneathen said he’s hoping to change that in his first season as the Cougars’ co-head coach. Eddie Peregrina is sharing coaching duties with him in 2021-22.
“As far as a whole team we wrestled really great,” he said of the Green & Gold Tournament, which he said offered some stiff competition once his wrestlers got past the early rounds.
“The first part was kind of soft, but he we had some good, tough matches after that,” he said.
Girls
While the Upper Lake boys were competing in Novato, the Upper Lake girls traveled a bit farther down the road Saturday to compete in the Lady Royals Tournament in San Jose where Bella Fernandez placed fifth with a 3-1 record at 126 pounds. Tatum Salas was sixth at 126 pounds.
Upper Lake’s girls team is now eight wrestlers strong, according to Sneathen.
“It’s a young girls team and it was a big eye opener for them to see the talent that was at that tournament. It was a taste of what’s to come for them.”
Schedule
Upper Lake’s boys head to Healdsburg on Saturday for the Healdsburg Dual Tournament. The girls are off to the West Coast TOC ain Roseville.
