Windsor's Perez Perez and El Molino's Taryn Christiansen lead a strong contingent of Empire wrestlers headed to this weekend's North Coast Section wrestling meet.
The pair, both state qualifiers last season, were selected as best wrestlers at 106 pounds (Perez) and 182 pounds (Christiansen) respectively at a seeding meeting Sunday.
Windsor coach Rich Carnation, who participated in the seeding meeting, said the pair started the year as favorites in their weight classes and clung to that status fiercely.
"Because of their past work and accomplishments last year and in the offseason, they were the top kids coming into the year," Carnation said. "The work they've done this year solidified it even more."
Full brackets will be released later this week, but top three finishers from the North Bay League, Sonoma County League and Coastal Mountain Conference all qualified for the NCS meet, which is being held Friday and Saturday at Newark Memorial High School. Twenty-nine wrestlers from those three leagues were seeded, nine from Windsor. (The NCS seeds the top eight wrestlers in each weight class.)
Seeded second in their weight classes are Windsor's Logan Fore and Seth Trunick, at 126 and 132; Upper Lake's Travis Coleman at 152 and Sonoma Valley's Aidan Lacy at 220.
Seeded third are Rancho Cotate's Brian Guerrero at 113 pounds and Joey Clay at 152; Healdsburg's Dominic Merlo at 160; Fort Bragg's Jacob Clark at 182; Windsor's Oscar Rios at 195 and Upper Lake's Joe Valdez at 220.
The top three wrestlers at each weight class in the NCS meet will advance to the state meet, which runs March 1-2 in Bakersfield.
One wrestler who was not seeded who may surprise some people is Sonoma's Jonny Amandoli. The all-league football player went 13-1 this year at 195 pounds but did not have the volume of matches needed to secure a seed.
"He's a very good athlete and very capable of winning a medal," Carnation said.
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