UNION CITY AND ALBANY, Calif. – On Friday, Feb. 21, and Saturday, Feb. 22, the Clear Lake Cardinals ended up qualifying 12 wrestlers to compete at the North Coast Section Championships.

The 12 qualifying wrestlers included eight boys, among them two alternates, and four girls.

In the end, two Cardinals wrestlers would make the second day, Elijah Alvarez (138 lbs.) for the boys and Mavis Pyorre (116 lbs.) for the girls.

Alvarez, a sophomore, was 3-2 with two pins against opponents from Las Lomas, Eureka and an injury default from California. His only losses were against the fourth-place medalist from Casa Grande and the eighth-place medalist from Petaluma.

Pyorre, a senior, went 2-2. Her wins included beating the fifth-seeded wrestler from Newark Memorial and a strong wrestler from Fortuna. Her losses were close battles against the eventual silver medalist from Castro Valley, along with another top 12 wrestler from Heritage (Brentwood).

Three Cardinal wrestlers finished 1-2: Ashley Pyorre (106 lbs.) for the girls, and Mohammad Akbari (120 lbs.) along with Hayden Fowler (132 lbs.) for the boys.

Freshman Ashley Pyorre pinned her first opponent from San Leandro and had hard-fought losses against the eventual silver medalist from James Logan, along with a top 12 wrestler from Benicia.

Sophomore Mohammad Akbari lost his first match to the eventual silver medalist from Heritage then pinned his opponent from Pittsburg and lost to an Amador Valley opponent.

Freshman Hayden Fowler won his first match against an opponent from Elsie Allen, then lost to a top 12 finisher from Newark Memorial and an opponent from San Ramon.

Also wrestling some close hard fought matches for the cardinals but going two and out was:

For the boys, Freshmen Nathan “Bubba” Pyorre (106 lbs.), also was battling that nasty cold but still showed up and gave it his all, coming up two points shy of moving on.

Vicente Ortega (152 lbs.), giving up almost 14 pounds to his competitors, fought valiantly and Anthony Gersalia (170 lbs.) came out strong but fell to the eventual fourth-place medalist, along with alternate’s freshman Asher Reese (113 lbs.) who battled to the end of each match. Senior Dominic Legendre (285 lbs.) had two close points matches that could have gone either way.

For the girls, it was Sophomore Tara Wong (101 lbs.) who dominated her Fort Bragg opponent until getting caught right at the end of the match. Her other loss was to the seventh-place medalist.

Junior Ximena Soto (121 lbs.) went out scrapping and gave her opponents a run, but fell to the eventual sixth-place medalist and a top 12 finisher.

“It was great watching this young team have so much success, with the challenges they each faced on and off the mat. Keep up the hard work – do great things!” said Coach Rick Pyorre.