WINNEMUCCA - On its way to sweeping the Northern 3A duals last weekend in Fernley, the Lowry High School wrestling team added a couple more milestones to one of the more storied programs in the state of Nevada.
The Buckaroos won all eight of their duals in easy fashion and have now won 56 consecutive duals, the second longest streak in Nevada history. Lowry passed Chaparral, who had won 51 straight from 1974-78, and trails Yerington, who won 107 consecutive duals from 1971-79. The Buckaroos are also sixth and seventh on the all-time list with 42 and 40 straight wins.
In addition, senior Jace Billingsley became the Nevada all-time wins leader with 217, as he passed fellow Lowry wrestler Buster Segura (1997-2000), who was at 213. Billingsley is vying to become the Buckaroos' first four-time state champion at the state tournament t next week in Las Vegas.
"Those are two nice accomplishments to have," said LHS head coach John Brooks. "You still have a long ways to go to catch Yerington but we will look to that starting next year. It is neat to see Jace get that record and it was a former Lowry wrestler that he passed."
Lowry defeated Dayton 84-0, Spring Creek 51-28, Truckee 76-3 and Churchill County 73-8 on the first day of duals on Friday, Feb. 3. The Buckaroos opened Saturday's action with a 64-12 win against Elko and also beat Sparks 80-0, South Tahoe 68-6 and Fernley 57-3.
"I wasn't expecting to win that big against Spring Creek," Brooks said. "Going into the dual, I thought we would win eight and they would get six. But we pulled out one more match and we wrestled well. It came down to getting pins and we did. Eric got a big win over (Travis) Richardson and (Daniel) Raynor had (Layton) Perry just about pinned early in the match but could not hold him in the cradle. If he keeps his grip, he beats a state champion."
Eight Lowry wrestlers went 8-0, doubling that number from a year ago, and earned top seeds for this weekend's Northern 3A regional tournament in Spring Creek. Those wrestlers included Eric Brooks (113 pounds), Gus Duncan (145), Beau Billingsley (152), Jace Billingsley (160), Michael Billingsley (170), Ryan Nelson (182), Cody Andersen (220) and Fernando Herrera (285).
Aaron Nelson (126), Raynor (132) and Brandon Okuma (138) were 7-1 over the two days and will be No. 2 seeds, while Lane Mentaberry (120) and Juan Ochoa (195) were 6-2 and should be No. 3 seeds. Kevin Blanco was 3-5 over the weekend at 106 pounds. Daniel Pollock, also at 106 pounds, has not wrestled since injuring a knee at the Spring Creek Invitational and will likely return for the regional tournament. Tytin Johnson (220) and Luis Cardenas (285) will be taken as extra wrestlers along with one more.
Lowry won six of its 14 matches by forfeit against Dayton, with eight others winning by pin to post a perfect score. Mentaberry, Aaron Nelson, Duncan, Jace Billingsley, Ryan Nelson, Ochoa, Andersen and Herrera earned the victories by fall. Three of those matches lasted 37 seconds or shorter and no bout went into the third period.
In the most anticipated dual of the year, Lowry jumped out to a 24-6 lead over Spring Creek on wins by Michael Billingsley, Ryan Nelson, Andersen and Herrera. Spring Creek followed that win by a pin to close the gap to 24-12, when Brooks knocked off Richardson 8-5 to make the score 27-12. The Spartans came back to win the next three matches to take the advantage at 28-27, but the Buckaroos concluded the dual with four wins by fall from Okuma, Duncan, Beau Billingsley and Jace Billingsley to win the dual.
Lowry had just four matches with Truckee, as the Wolverines forfeited 10 matches. Beau Billingsley and Jace Billingsley won by fall in 43 seconds and 4:42, respectively, and Ryan Nelson won by an 8-0 decision. The Buckaroos lost the 106-pound weight class by a 6-4 decision.
The Buckaroos finished up the first day of the duals against Churchill County, winning 12 of the matches. The Greenwave claimed wins at 106 and 120 pounds. One of Mentaberry's losses on the day was a 9-0 loss to Clay Amezquita. However, Mentaberry does have a win over the Churchill County wrestler, beating him 11-5 at the Spring Creek Invitational.
"That is a kid Lane has beaten before so we will see what happens," added the coach. "I was happy to see the way he came back the rest of the weekend."
Brooks beat Louie Mori by an 11-2 decision and Ochoa and Herrera won by forfeit. All of the other Lowry wrestlers won their matches by pin.
Lowry lost just four matches in its four duals on the second day of action. Two of those defeats came in the opening dual against Elko, with Okuma and Ochoa dropping matches.
"Brandon had an opportunity to beat the (Wade) Fry kid," Brooks said. "Wade just hangs around and waits for one mistake and he pounces on you. If Brandon wrestles for six minutes he will beat him."
Blanco and Brooks each picked up 6-1 wins, with Duncan winning 15-4. Andersen won by forfeit and all of the other matches were won by pin.
The Buckaroos blitzed Sparks in shutout fashion, with just two matches going the distance, with Okuma winning 15-2 and Duncan 9-0.
South Tahoe made Lowry work a little harder for its win, taking the 106-pound weight class and taking four other matches to the distance. Okuma, Beau Billingsley, Ryan Nelson and Ochoa all won by decision for the Buckaroos. Brooks, Duncan, Jace Billingsley and Herrera won by forfeit and Mentaberry, Aaron Nelson, Raynor, Michael Billingsley and Andersen won by pin.
"I was impressed with how South Tahoe wrestled," said the coach. "They may be able to help us down the road by knocking some guys off."
The closest dual for Lowry minus the win over Spring Creek was its finale against host Fernley. The Buckaroos won 13 of the 14 matches but eight matches went the full six minutes and were decided by points, with Lowry winning seven of them. Duncan, Michael Billingsley, Ryan Nelson and Andersen won by fall and Jace Billingsley won by forfeit.
Lowry travels to Spring Creek this weekend for the Northern 3A regional tournament, which gets underway at 3 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Saturday. The top six finishers in each weight class advance to the 3A state tournament, which will be held Feb. 17 - 18 at the Cox Pavilion on the campus of UNLV in Las Vegas.
"We still have a couple of weeks to go and have not won anything yet," Brooks said. "We just have to stay focused on what is in front of us. There is still work to do and we can not rest on what we have done."
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