Understrength LLHS squad gets it done
Lower Lake boys, Upper Lake girls claim team titles
LAKE COUNTY >> Even minus six of their better wrestlers, a talented and deep Lower Lake High School boys wrestling team topped the field nearly a year ago today at the eighth annual Michael Kroppmann Memorial Tournament in Lakeport.
Until the COVID-19-delayed 2020-21 sports season starts, the Lake County Record-Bee will take a look back at the local sports happenings of a year ago and the teams and athletes who were making the headlines.
Wrestling
Lower Lake’s boys and Upper Lake’s girls came away with the team championship trophies at the Kroppmann Invitational, which is hosted by Clear Lake High School and honors the memory of Michael Kroppmann, a Clear Lake High School graduate who died from cancer.
With several other Trojans competing at the Tim Brown Invitational in Sacramento, the reduced Lower Lake team still managed to edge out host Clear Lake by 4 ½ points in the boys team standings. In fact, two Trojans who did not qualify for the final rounds at the Tim Brown Invitational actually made their way back to Lakeport to compete there. One of them, Quentin Vilmenay, not only won his 115-pound division but also took home outstanding lightweight honors after pinning his only two opponents.
“He learned from his mistakes (at Tim Brown) and put that to use,” Lower Lake High School head coach Fuchs said. “He dominated. He’s looking good.”
Another Lower Lake standout, Gilberto Orozco, ended up with a secondplace medal at 154 pounds, his only lost a 6-4 decision to a Terra Linda opponent in the finals.
Two other Trojans joined Vilmenay as Kroppmann weight division champions. Troyman Cheng won the round-robin 184-pound division while Jacob Billings pinned all three of his opponents at 197 pounds.
Lower Lake second-place medalists were Orozco, Dominic Perez (134), Jose Medina (140) and Adam Viramontes (162).
“The team scoring was close all day,” Fuchs said. “I challenged them to win even though we didn’t have all of our people. That added to the excitement.”
For the host Cardinals, 21 of 26 Clear Lake wrestlers
came away with medals, including weight division champions Nicholas Williamson (135), Elijah Alvarez (141) and Anthony Gersalia (170).
“The 2020 Michael Kroppmann Memorial tournament was a smashing success,” Clear Lake head coach Nathan Powers said. “Bringing in over 175 boy and girl wrestlers from 11 different schools, it was a day full of fierce competition while celebrating the culture of wrestling and honoring the memory of Michael Kroppmann.”
Reaching their respective weight class final but finishing second were Nathan “Bubba” Pyorre and Axel Alvarez (185), 1-1 with one pin.
For Upper Lake, Bradley Sneathen, the 220-pound champion, was named the tournament’s outstanding heavyweight wrestler as the Cougars placed fifth in the standings.
In the girls division won by Upper Lake, weight division champions were Dena Loans Arrow, Mallory Henry and Tatum Salas.
For the runner-up Clear Lake girls, Mavis Pyorre finished second at 123 pounds and Tara Wong was the runner-up at 104 pounds. Lower Lake wrestlers Stacy Lopez (152) and Alyisa Caruso (172) also secured second-place medals.
Community
Longtime Lake County Record-Bee outdoors columnist Terry Knight was one of five people inducted in the 2020 class of the California Outdoors Hall of Fame, the first time a Lake County resident has been so honored.
“It’s a big honor, a huge honor,” Knight said. “Your look at the state of California and only five people made it this year. It’s a huge honor for Lake County.”
Knight has been a columnist for the Record-Bee since 1986. He also writes for several other outdoors publications, is a guest speaker at many events, and co-hosts a weekly radio show that airs Wednesdays at 10 a.m. on KPFZ (88.1 FM).