WINNEMUCCA - With the second-longest dual winning streak in Nevada history at stake, the Lowry High School wrestling team began its quest for a fifth consecutive championship last Saturday in Carson City
The four-time defending Division I-A state champions, won all three of their duals at the Capital City Classic to extend their streak to 59. Yerington holds the all time record with 107 from 1971-79.
The Buckaroos defeated all Division I North schools, winning 65-5 over Damonte Ranch, 60-19 versus North Valleys and 48-20 against host Carson to win the tournament title.
"We were missing a few kids in the lineup," said LHS head coach John Brooks. "The one thing that surprised me was our conditioning. We need to get in better shape and that is on me. We will work on that."
Lowry won 10 of its 14 matches against North Valleys, losing at 113 pounds, 145, 170 and 195.
Trase Bell (106), Gabe Molina (132), Jed Johnson (182), Tytin Johnson (220) and Luis Cardenas (heavyweight) all won their matches by forfeit.
Only two matches went the distance in the dual, with Kevin Blanco (113) falling 16-4 and Donovan Brumm (170) losing 7-4, as his opponent scored a two-point reversal at the start of the third period and made the lead hold up.
Daniel Pollock (120), Eric Brooks (126), Aaron Nelson (138), Brandon Okuma (152) and Beau Billingsley (160) all won by pin.
Brooks was in the lineup and has not missed any action after suffering a kidney injury during football practice earlier in the fall. The junior had the kidney removed in emergency surgery after getting hit while catching a pass.
"We are just going to take it easy right now," said the coach. "I was a little nervous. I kind of turned into dad when he got on the mat. We will play it closely as the year goes on."
The Buckaroos won 13 matches against Damonte Ranch as the Mustangs did not have two of the better Division I wrestlers in the lineup. Drew Smith and Zach Ewert sat out the dual for Damonte Ranch.
Lowry's Cardenas, Pollock, Nelson, Lane Mentaberry, Okuma and Brumm all won by pin. Molina and Anthony Hummel won their matches by forfeit.
The Buckaroos won a number of matches by decision, including Blanco 10-3, Brooks 1-0, Billingsley 16-0, Jed Johnson 4-2 and Tytin Johnson 5-2.
"I liked the way Jed wrestled on the day," added the coach. "We were without Michael (Billingsley) for the first couple of matches due to the SATs. It's guys like Jed that we need to step up and fill the lineup after what we lost last year."
Lowry jumped to a 21-0 lead over Carson as Cardenas started the dual with a second-round pin. Bell, Pollock Blanco followed with close decisions and Brooks added a win by forfeit.
Blanco and Pollock beat Sammy Mercado and Kyle Sharp, who wrestled in the Division I North championship matches last year.
"Those were two good wins for those guys," Brooks said. "That was the first time that Daniel has beaten Kyle. After that I thought we might roll right through them, but they have some tough kids in the middle weights. We are pretty solid as well but Carson picked up a couple of wins there."
The Senators won the next three matches to close with 21-14, when Okuma and Beau Billingsley won matches by decision and pin, respectively, to move the score to 30-14.
Carson closed the gap to 30-20 in the next match, when Michael Billingsley returned to the line up at 182 pounds.
"I was looking for him," Brooks said. "He was supposed to be done at about 12:30 p.m. and it was getting close to 1:30 p.m. and he still wasn't in the gym. He literally came into the gym changed clothes and his named was called to wrestle."
Jed Johnson and Tytin Johnson followed with wins to give the Buckaroos the comfortable victory.
The Buckaroos travel to Fallon on Friday and Saturday for the Stockmen's Invitational.
"For the first week we did not do too bad," Brooks said. "There are things that we need to work on and it's glaring. You can't tell the kids haven't wrestled live for a long time. We gave a way a few matches that we should have won."
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