BAKERSFIELD — Maddy Young closed out a sensational senior season on day two of the CIF State Wrestling Championships Friday afternoon at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.
After going 1-1 on Thursday in the 131-pound division, Young, the No. 7 seed, won her first match Friday before running into No. 2 seed Tegan Nguyen, who prevailed on a second-round pin. Nguyen and Young both lost to unseeded wrestlers in their second match Thursday, dropping both into the same side of the consolation bracket.
Young beat Maci Stemmons of Monte Vista High School (Danville) 4-0 in her first match Friday while Nguyen pinned Aila Duus of Fremont. Against Stemmons, Young took a 3-0 lead with a near fall with just one second left in the second round. She added an escape point with 15 seconds remaining in the match.
In their elimination match Friday, Nguyen and Young battled through a scoreless first round before Nguyen scored an escape point to go up 1-0 early in the second round. She made it 3-0 on a takedown before pinning Young with time running out in the second round.
Young needed two more victories to guarantee herself a state medal, which go to the top eight in each weight class. She went 1-1 on Thursday, winning her first match by 3-1 decision before being pinned in the Round of 16.
While Young’s winter sports participation will continue Saturday night when she starts for Upper Lake’s basketball team against University in the North Coast Section Division 5 title game at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, her two-year wrestling career for the Cougars is now complete.
Both Young and Upper Lake teammate Lexy Peregrina, a freshman, won North Coast Section Championships a week ago in Albany to reach the state meet. Peregrina pinned her first opponent at 150 pounds on Thursday and was leading 7-3 in her second match when she sustained a broken arm while being taken to the mat late in the third round. The injury forced her to withdraw from the tournament.
Young and Peregrina were trying to become only the second wrestler in Upper Lake history to win a state title. Adriana Lopez captured the 121-pound crown in 2019, the first Lake County wrestler (or county in any sport) to secure a state championship.
The CIF State Championships wrap up Saturday in both the boys and girls divisions. Lake County did not have a wrestler make the boys field this year.
