ROSEVILLE — Upper Lake High School co-head wrestling coach Eddie Peregrina sees a bright future ahead for the Cougars’ girls program and especially sophomore Gabriella Fernandez and juniors Tatum Salas and Maddy Young.
All three took part in the West Coast Tournament of Champions on Saturday in Roseville, joined by junior varsity wrestlers Jade Woolley and Paige Smith. It’s one of the top early-season girls tournaments and the Cougars came away with two fourth-place medals as Fernandez went 5-2 at 122 pounds while Young, competing in her first major tournament, went 4-2 at 132 pounds.
“We have a good up-and-coming girls club,” Peregrina said. “Those three should be section placers and a couple are probably going to state.”
Fernandez wasn’t able to wrestle her freshman year because the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020-21 season in the Coastal Mountain Conference. Young, a basketball player exclusively during her freshman and sophomore seasons (also losing 2020-21 to COVID), is wrestling for the first time. Salas is the team’s veteran, having competed her freshman year.
“Bella battled all the way,” Peregrina said of Fernandez. “She won her first two matches by pin before losing to a state qualifier (and the No. 2 tournament seed) in the quarterfinals.
“She lost to a tough girl,” Peregrina added.
Fernandez battled back in the consolation bracket to earn a shot at third place, losing by pin. She went 5-2 overall with three pins.
Young opened with three straight wins, all by pin, before losing to the tournament’s No. 1 seed by first-round pin in the semifinals.
“She was very upset,” Peregrina said. “She had no idea who she was even wrestling. She had just beaten the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals.”
Young bounced back with a 17-3 win in her next match, a major decision that was one point short of being a technical fall. She also reached the third-place match where she suffered her only other tournament loss, losing by second-round pin to the No. 2 seed.
“That was impressive,” Peregrina said of Young’s tournament showing. “She wrestles with us like one to days a week because she’s also doing basketball and she missed our first tournament last week (because of Upper Lake’s participation in the Potter Valley Basketball Tournament).”
Salas went 1-2 at 127 pounds, her first loss coming in the tournament’s opening round.
“She’s super aggressive,” Peregrina said. “That girl’s got it, but she makes little mistakes that end up costing her, so we’re working on fixing that.”
In JV action, Woolley went 0-3 and Smith had to injury default in her first match. Peregrina said both are up-and-coming wrestlers, which is why he invited both to participate.
The Cougars have eight girls wrestlers overall.
“The atmosphere in the room is great during practice,” Peregrina said. “The girls are right there on track. We’re looking pretty good.”
Upper Lake’s girls return to action Dec. 28 at another top-level competition, the Brittany David Invitational in Brentwood.
