COUNTY WRESTLERS DOMINATE FIELD
Clear Lake claims team title at St. Helena; Lake County girls win 10 weight classes
Clear Lake High School won the team title Friday during the Coastal Mountain Conference Girls Wrestling Championships at St. Helena High School where 10 of the 12 weight divisions were claimed by Lake County grapplers.
This is only the second year that the conference's girls have had their own championship tournament. Middletown won the inaugural event last year at Middletown High School.
While most of the weight divisions this year were populated by only a handful of wrestlers — and in a couple of instances only one — participation in girls wrestling continues to climb statewide. A much more representative field will be in action next weekend when the North Coast Section Girls Championships take place in Albany. It's an open tournament, meaning anyone can enter, including wrestlers who did not participate in Friday's conference championships in St. Helena because of injury or illness.
Clear Lake's four firsts led the way on Friday followed by Upper Lake with three and Middletown with two.
Clear Lake
For team champion Clear Lake, Anyssa Perez defeated Middletown's Cat Barriga by 8-5 decision in the 108-pound finals. Perez lost to Barriga earlier this season and the two could meet again next weekend in Albany.
“Both of those two should be looking for high seeds at sections,” Middletown head coach Brian Hunt said.
Clear Lake's Sophia Percaccio pinned Willits' Makiah Carter in the first round of the 118-pound finals while Addyson Munoz pinned St. Helena's Anakarla Hernandez in the first round of the 139-pound finals.
The Cardinals added another first at 191 pounds where Nicole Buechler was the only wrestler entered.
Clear Lake's Hannah Garrity came in second at 145 pounds, losing by first-round pin to Middletown's Isabel Cortez.
Upper Lake
Upper Lake's powerhouse trio of 128-pounder Tatum Salas, 133-pounder Maddy Young and 152-pounder Lexy Peregrina all finished first while teammate Kahlei Phelps pinned Kelseyville's Hayden White for third place at 123 pounds.
Young had the most exciting finals match of the day, beating St. Helena's Piper Pike by 6-5 decision. Salas pinned Kelseyville's Jordan Hoefler in the first round while Peregrina pinned Willits' Nevaeh Jones in the second round.
Peregrina, Young and Salas are all expected to pull down high seeds for the section tournament, according to Hunt, who will be attended the seeding meet Sunday.
“Peregrina should be the No. 1 seed based on her body of work,” Hunt said. “If not her, I don't know who else would be.”
Middletown
Cortez (145 pounds) and Nicole Pyzer, the only wrestler entered at 103 pounds, were Middletown's two weight division winners. Barriga (108) and Kamilah Chairez added secondplace finishes. Chairez lost to Willits MaryAnn Bertolino in the 113-pound finals.
Lower Lake
Lower Lake's Hanahi Barocio won her only two matches of the day by pin. In the 123-pound finals, she beat St. Helena's Anais Hernandez by first-round fall.
Kelseyville
Hoefler was Kelseyville's top placer. She pinned Willits' Lucero Vargus in her first match before losing to Salas in the 128-pound finals.
Other winners
The only two weight divisions not won by Lake County wrestlers went to Willits' Bertolino (113 pounds) and Fort Bragg's Lily Van Horn (162).
Team scoring
Among the top five scoring teams, Clear Lake amassed 98 points, Willits had 84, Upper Lake 63, defending champion
Middletown 55.5 and St. Helena 53.
Sectionals
The top four finishers in each weight class at the sectional championships in Albany advance to the CIF State Championships Feb. 23-25 in Bakersfield.