Windsor crowns 4 league champs; qualifies 13 to NCS meet
The Windsor Jaguars are back on top as kings of the North Bay League wrestling world, thanks in large part to a dominant team performance at the NBL Championship Tournament hosted by Montgomery High School on Saturday.
The objective for all participants was a top-three finish in their respective weight class, good for advancement to the North Coast Section Championships to be held on Feb. 23-24 at James Logan High School in Union City. A top-three finish at NCS will earn wrestlers a spot at the prestigious CIF State Championships in Bakersfield on Mar. 2-3.
The Jaguars, who went undefeated in the league dual meet season, sent 13 wrestlers to the mat in the all-day NBL tourney, with four coming away with league titles, while nine others garnered medals to punch their tickets to the NCS meet.
“I was very happy with the continual improvement of our newer wrestlers in the varsity line-up,” head coach Rich Carnation said. “It’s fun to see so many of our wrestlers with less than two years of high school experience grow and develop so quickly.”
Leading the way for the Jags were individual champions; 134-pound senior Conor Brown, 108-pound junior Blake Fredrickson, 154-pound sophomore Trent Silva and 184-pound sophomore Lorenzo Leon.
Garnering second place medals were 115-pound junior Brandon Fong, 122-pound sophomore Justin Campbell, 140-pound junior Brennan Brown, 197-pound sophomore Alex Cruz and junior heavyweight Austin Jacob.
The match for the 197-pound title was particularly exciting, as sophomore Alex Cruz took on highly experienced Ukiah wrestler Frankie Pomilia. Cruz held a slim, 6-5 lead with just 15 seconds remaining until Pomillia scored a last second take-down for the victory.
“With just a little more experience under Alex’s belt I believe that he would have won his first NBL Championship,” Carnation noted.
Also punching their tickets to the upcoming NCS Championships were third place finishers; 128-pound sophomore Tony Russotti and 222-pound first-year wrestler Ben Smith. In addition, 162-pound Josh Wagner and 172-pound Justin Calvi are potential at-large qualifiers based on their successful showings in tournaments this season.
