BAKERSFIELD — Middletown High School freshman Krystal Ocken won her first match at 160 pounds before losing to No. 3 seed Angelinah De Leon of Wilcox High School in the second round Thursday during the CIF State Girls Wrestling Championships at Bakersfield.
The loss drops Ocken into the 160-pound consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament, which runs through Saturday at Mechanics Bank Arena, which is also hosting the CIF State Boys Wrestling Championship.
De Leon, who advances to the quarterfinals, held a 6-0 lead against Ocken before pinning her 27 seconds into the second round. Ocken pinned Madalyn Luna of Golden West High School (Visalia) just 97 seconds into their opening-round match.
Ocken is one of three Lake County wrestlers competing in the state tournament, but she was the only first-round winner. Upper Lake sophomore Bella Fernandez lost by third-round pin to No. 8 seed Jordyn Chrisco of Marina High School (Huntington Beach) at 116 pounds while Upper Lake junior Tatum Salas, the No. 9 seed at 121 pounds, was pinned in the first round by Anderson Presley, also of Marina High School.
Ocken, Fernandez and Salas all return to action Friday as the consolation rounds begin for the girls. Fernandez and Salas wrestle Friday morning while Ocken faces the winner between Zoe Zehnder of Menlo-Atherton High School and Yessenia Sanchez of Carlsbad High School early Friday afternoon. Fernandez faces Jordyn Perez of Gilroy High School at 116 pounds while Salas draws Brisels Serrrano of Lincoln High School at 121 pounds.
The loser in all of those matches is eliminated from the tournament.
Ocken, Fernandez and Salas all finished third in the respective weight classes at the North Coast Section Championships last weekend in Albany to qualify for the state tournament.
The top eight in each weight class receive medals.
Boys championships
The CIF State Boys Wrestling Championships are also taking place Thursday through Saturday at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield. Lake County’s lone qualifier, senior 285-pounder Bradley Sneathen of Upper Lake, was scheduled to wrestle his first match at 1 p.m. Thursday. Results were not available for the print edition but will be posted later Thursday on the Record-Bee’s online (www.record-bee.com) and Facebook pages.
