WINNEMUCCA - When you are a member of the Lowry High School wrestling team, there is no rest for the weary.
The Buckaroos finished up their second week of a brutal three-week stretch over Christmas break at the Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno this past weekend. Lowry placed seventh with 131 points and was the highest-finishing Nevada school.
Clovis West (Calif.) won the 83-team tournament with 258 points, sending six wrestlers to the finals. Folsom (Calif.) was second with 225.50 points and Del Oro (Calif.) was third at 176.50. Oakdale (Calif.) and Servite (Calif.) were fourth and fifth, respectively, with 156.50 points and 148.50 points.
"We had a pretty good tournament," said LHS head coach John Brooks. "Our older guys really showed up for us and looked good. What I like is that we won a bunch of close matches."
Lowry had five wrestlers finish in the top six. Beau Billingsley led the Buckaroos with a second-place finish at 170 pounds. Billingsley was the runner-up at 152 pounds last year.
Billingsley won his first two matches by pin over Brandon Ajari of Benicia (Calif.) and Jacob Pickering of Medford (Ore.). The junior met up with a league foe in Churchill County's Dakota Schelling and won 16-3 in the third round of the championship bracket.
Billingsley needed just 29 seconds to pin Jerry Delafuente of Crater (Ore.) in the quarterfinals and he pulled out an 8-6 victory over Derek Carl of Gold Beach (Ore.) in the semifinals. Billingsley lost by pin to Ismael Rubio of Phoenix (Ore.) in the final.
"Beau had a good weekend, but ran into a tough guy in the finals," Brooks said. "The kid he wrestled from Oregon was a little taller and bigger and kept Beau away from him."
Eric Brooks (132) was fourth on the weekend and reached the championship quarterfinals. The senior earned identical 5-0 wins in his first two matches over Michael Wong of Terra Linda (Calif.) and Michael Zaragoza of Palma (Calif.).
Brooks collected his third consecutive shutout with a 3-0 win over Arbor View's Westyn Hamilton, but lost 2-0 in the quarterfinals to Zach Ruybal of Del Oro. Brooks dropped to the consolation bracket where he beat Evan Blustone of Maria Carrillo (Calif.) 5-1 and Phillip Gutierrez of Holtville (Calif.) 2-0.
In the consolation semifinals, Brooks defeated McQueen's Kenny Vandall 3-2, but lost by fall to Cadence Mitchell of Gregori (Calif.) in the third-place match.
"It seemed every match he wrestled was a close one," said the coach. "You are wrestling well when the first three opponents don't score on you."
Brandon Okuma (152) reached the championship semifinals on his way to finishing fifth. Okuma defeated Hayden Trimble of Lowell (Ore.) and Brock Wilson of Crescent Valley (Ore.) in his first two matches. The senior grappler took down two Nevada opponents in his next two matches, beating Arbor View's Destry Talledo and London Thomas of Centennial.
Okuma lost 5-0 to Tyler Zimmer of Clovis West in the semifinals and 3-1 to Romello Monjaras of College Park (Calif.) in the consolation semifinals. Okuma came back to earn fifth place with a 4-3 win over Ryan Rino of Piedra Vista (N.M.).
Tytin Johnson (195) finished fifth as he advanced to the championship quarterfinals. Johnson won by fall in his first two matches over Jorge De La Rosa of Holtville (Calif.) and Desert Pines' Jorge Magana.
The senior advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-4 win over Seth Avis of Casa Roble (Calif.) before losing 6-2 to Hayden Kaae of Etna (Calif.).
Johnson rebounded to pin Damonte Ranch's Rory Anderson in the consolation bracket, but lost to Centennial's Hunter Brown in the consolation semifinals. Johnson came back to claim a 7-2 win over Seth Avis of Casa Roble for fifth place.
Aaron Nelson (138) advanced to the championship semifinals and finished sixth. The senior won his first two bouts by pin over Mario Aguilar of Will C Wood (Calif.) and Cole Hornbrook of North Medford, Ore.). Nelson pulled out a 3-2 decision over Lyford Morris of Bret Harte (Calif.) in the third round and he beat Kaleb Winebarger of Mountain View (Ore.) 9-7 in the quarterfinals.
Nelson was defeated by pin the semifinals to Chris Lane of Clovis West and by Jason Bergquist of Folsom in the consolation semifinals. Nelson met up with Winebarger again in the fifth-place match with the Oregon wrestler winning 4-2.
"It was good to see those guys wrestle the way they did," Brooks said. "Once you get into the late rounds, you are going up against some quality kids."
Trase Bell (106) knocked off North Valleys' Gabby Arevalo and Reno's Connor Pearson in his final two matches, before losing to Isaac Blackburn of Del Oro in the third round. Bell came back to beat Bryant Van Iderstine of Paradise (Calif.), but lost to Izaak Grubbs of Marshfield (Ore.) in the consolation round.
Nate Nelson (126) took the longest route in the tournament for the Buckaroos. The sophomore lost his opening-round match to Michael Knoblauch of Clovis West. Nelson fought back to win four matches in the consolation bracket, before being eliminated by Andy Huynh of McNair (Calif.).
"I was impressed with the way Nate came back," said the coach. "He drew the eventual champion in the first round. Trase also gave us some good wins."
Jed Johnson (182) notched two wins for Lowry as he reached the third round of the championship bracket, Gabe Molina picked up three wins at 132 pounds, Lane Mentaberry two wins at 145 pounds and Anthony Hummel won once at 220 pounds.
Lowry continues its stretch of tough tournaments with the Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa, Idaho on Friday and Saturday. The Rollie Lane is considered one of the tougher tournaments in the West.
"We are coming to an end of a tough stretch," Brooks said. "This is usually a turning point for us. You just want to see how your guys react after these three weeks of wrestling. You get beat up pretty good with these three tournaments."
[[In-content Ad]]
