Maria Carrillo to host annual wrestling tournament Saturday

Nearly 300 wrestlers from Northern California will compete in late-season tuneups Saturday at the 21st annual Puma Classic at Maria Carrillo High School.

Bracket competition will begin at 9 a.m. and continue all day on six mats in two gyms until semifinals and consolation finals start about 4 p.m.

Finals for the top eight places will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The boys meet is among the last competitions before league finals Feb. 8-9, followed by the North Coast Section meet the following weekend and state competition Feb. 22-23.

Vacaville, one of the top 10 teams in the state, will compete, organizer and Carrillo coach Tim Bruce said, as will about two dozen returning state qualifiers from last year. About half the field is returning section qualifiers.

North Bay teams participating include two teams from the host Pumas, plus Analy, Clearlake, Fort Bragg, Healdsburg, Kelseyville, Middletown, Montgomery, Santa Rosa, Ukiah and Windsor. Windsor typically hosts its own tournament this time of year, but it was canceled last week amid a coaching change.

Windsor’s Blake Fredrickson (120 pounds) is in a strong weight class that has three returning state qualifiers, Bruce said.

Others to watch include Jose Sanchez (113) of Carrillo, Dakota Unpingco of Freedom (126) and Jose Fernandez III of Upper Lake (138).

“We’re prepping for state,” Bruce said. “These guys are down to their weights they’re going to compete at in state. They’re sharpening up their skills. The level here is really, really high.”

Bruce predicted many of the wrestlers competing Saturday will end up in the NCS finals.

Those who want to follow a certain wrestler or overall results can visit the meet’s website at www.puma-classic.com.

You can reach staff writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.