LARKSPUR — The Clear Lake and Middletown wrestling teams both earned medals Saturday during the Division III North Coast Section Dual Team Championships at Redwood High School in Larkspur although the second-seeded Cardinals were hoping to do a little better than their third-place finish in the eight-team field.
Clear Lake fell 37-36 to No. 3 seed Upper Lake, a team the Cardinals had defeated in Coastal Mountain Conference dual action earlier this month, in the semifinals, but went on to earn a berth in the third-place match against Middletown. In another thriller, the Cardinals and Mustangs tied 42-all but Clear Lake was awarded third place on criteria (because of fewer penalty points) while the Mustangs, the No. 4 seed, ended up with fourth-place medals.
Upper Lake went on to upset No. 1 seed Willits 45-30 in the championship match.
Wrestlers on each of the top four squads earn medals at the Dual Team Championships while the top three team finishers receive pennants. Champion Upper Lake also received a plaque.
Clear Lake
“We came into the tournament expecting to meet Willits in the finals, but Upper Lake and Middletown showed up to battle,” Clear Lake head coach Tyler Hayes said. “We are proud of all our Lake County wrestlers. While we fell short of our goal we’d like to congratulate Upper Lake on winning the championship,” added Hayes, who said he was looking forward to squaring off against both Upper Lake and Middletown again next Saturday at the Coastal Mountain Conference Championships in Middletown.
Clear Lake’s day began with a 65-16 win over Berean Christian of Walnut Creek as the Cardinals captured five of the six contested matches.
In their semifinal loss to Upper Lake, Clear Lake won five of the 11 contested matches, all by pin, but had to forfeit at 115, 220 and 285 pounds.
“We came in missing two of our wrestlers and it proved costly,” Hayes said.
Upper Lake lineup moves in the lower weight classes, especially at 126 and 132 pounds, also worked well, according to Clear Lake assistant coach Gerard Fowler.
“They had a strategy and it played out well,” he said. “A one-point loss really stings but I couldn’t think of a more deserving squad,” Fowler added of the Cougars.
Knocked into the consolation bracket after the loss to Upper Lake, Clear Lake rebounded with a 48-36 win over Justin-Siena of Napa, taking five of the nine contested weight classes, all decided by pins. Each team had two forfeits.
In the third-place match against Middletown, the two teams split the 10 contested matches, all decided by pins. Each team also had two forfeit victories.
Middletown
“We finished about where I expected,” Middletown assistant coach Brian Hunt said of the Mustangs’ fourth-place finish. “I’m really happy with the kids’ performance.”
Hunt said he was a bit nervous about the Mustangs’ opening match against No. 5 seed Justin-Siena, especially when the Mustangs fell behind early 12-6. One match changed everything and led to Middletown winning handily by a 55-24 final.
“Krystal Ocken, our freshman, was down like by 10 points when she turned her (male) opponent and pinned him at 160 pounds,” Hunt said. “Our whole team went just nuts, it was amazing.”
Facing Willits in the semifinals, a team that easily beat the Mustangs during CMC dual action, the Mustangs battled hard before dropping a 48-36 decision.
“They throttled us pretty good when we first met last week, but we looked a lot better than we had the previous time,” Hunt said.
Dropping into the consolation bracket, Middletown didn’t have much of a rest break before taking on Hoopa. The Mustangs got off to a strong start as Parker Boden pinned his opponent at 132 pounds.
“He set the tone for us,” Hunt said.
And then Ocken struck again, pinning another boy at 160 pounds. Steven Peterson’s win by pin at 220 pounds — he bumped up from his normal weight of 195 — helped put the finishing touches on the Mustangs’ 42-24 victory as did a first-round pin by Kayden Menzio.
In the third-place match against Clear Lake, the Mustangs picked up a couple of key wins at 138 and 145 pounds. David Sypnicki pinned Aiden Williamson at 138 pounds while Caleb Sternberg pinned Hayden Fowler at 145 pounds.
“We saw Clear Lake last Tuesday and they beat us by a lot bigger gap than the 42-42 score (on Saturday),” Hunt said. “We had much better wrestling this time.”
CMC Championships
Middletown hosts the CMC boys and girls championships on Saturday. It’s the first time the conference’s girls are having their own tournament as there weren’t enough female wrestlers to do that in past years. That’s beginning to change, according to Hunt.
“We won’t have full brackets like in the boys tournament, but we’ll have enough girls to run a tournament,” he said.
Medals go to the top three individuals in each weight class in both the boys and girls tournaments. The top three teams also receive trophies.
The overall boys conference championship takes into account dual records during the regular season and where a team finishes Saturday. The girls conference championship goes to the team with the most points Saturday since there were no girls duals during the regular season.
Handicapping this year’s boys winner isn’t easy, according to Hunt, since Willits, Clear Lake, Upper Lake, Middletown and Lower Lake all finished with winning records during the dual season.
“It’s pretty much wide open and there a lot of scenarios possible,” he said.
On the girls side, Middletown has the highest number of entrants (12) although Upper Lake and Willits certainly figure to be right there in the mix.
