One of the biggest wrestling tournaments left on the schedule for high school teams is the Kiwanis Invitational in Spring Creek.
Lowry High School, along with schools from Idaho, Oregon and northern and southern Nevada were in the eastern Nevada city this past weekend.
The Buckaroos extended their winning streak at the tournament to seven, beating Pahrump Valley 224-194. Caldwell, Idaho, was third with 171.50 points and Virgin Valley (159.50) and Reno (154) rounded out the top five. Lowry's Gold team placed 20th with 36.50 points.
"It was a good tournament for us, I was glad to come out on top of it," said LHS coach John Brooks. "Pahrump is for real, Virgin Valley has some tough kids and Spring Creek matches up pretty good with us. You have to have respect for them. It was nice to get a look at them and we see what we have to improve on. It was a great tournament for us and its one we needed. We let a few matches get away that surprised me a little bit."
Gabe Molina (132), Beau Billingsley (182) and Luis Cardenas (285) all claimed first-place honors for Lowry.
Molina opened his tournament by defeating Dalton Thomas of Elko by pin in 1:55. The senior won by a 9-6 decision over Ben Solis of Caldwell in the quarterfinals.
Molina continued his run though the bracket with a pin over Caldwell's Robert Hudson and he won the title with a 4-1 win over Springs Creek's Tristan Fordin.
Billingsley had little trouble on his way to the 182-pound title, winning his first four matches by pin. The senior disposed of Virgin Valley's Dayden Payne in the first round in 40 seconds. Next, he needed just 48 seconds to beat Yerington's Efren Campos in the round of 16 and 34 seconds against Reed's Austin Rutt in the quarterfinals. Billingsley needed to go to the third period to pin Twin Falls' Dallin Hatch and the three-time defending state champion won the tournament with a 6-2 decision over Battle Mountain's Jeff Oakes. For his efforts, Billingsley was named one of three most outstanding wrestlers.
Cardenas picked up a bye into the round of 16, where he beat Battle Mountain's Eddie Alvarenga by pin in 45 seconds. The senior reached the semifinals with a win by pin over Lucio Carrillo of Jerome and he beat Osiris Tapia of Nyssa 1-0 in the semifinals. Cardenas closed out the weekend by beating Pahrump Valley's Jace Clayton 5-0. It was a rematch of the 2014 state championship that Cardenas also won.
"Those three are wrestling well right now," Brooks said. "If everything goes as planned. Luis will probably wrestle the Pahrump kid again at the state tournament.
Tristen Waller placed third at 172 pounds, avenging an earlier loss in the tournament. Waller started the weekend off with a win by pin over Tonopah's Gabe Jones. The senior defeated teammate Ty Scott to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost 7-2 to Sam Tucsnak of Pahrump Valley.
Waller bounced back in the consolation bracket to pin Buhl's Mark Poehler and Spring Creek's Sheldon Wilkinson. Waller knocked off Jose Candelas of Byssa 3-1 in overtime in the consolation semifinal and he came back top beat Tucsnak 5-4 for third place.
"Tristen wrestled tough," said the coach. "I love seeing a kid battle back through the bracket and beat a guy he lost to in the tournament. That was big for us and he might see him at the state tournament."
Shaun Mentaberry (160) reached the championship semifinals and finished fourth for the Buckaroos. Mentaberry won his first two matches by pin and defeated Reno's Devyn Cox 11-7 to advance against Yerington's Reese Neville. Neville, a defending Division III state champion, beat Mentaberry 16-0. Mentaberry beat Minico's Boe Boston 6-4 in the consolation semifinals but lost 10-1 to Churchill County's Sam Goings for third place.
Nate Nelson (138) also placed fourth for the Buckaroos. After getting a first round bye, the senior won his first two matches. Nelson held a late lead over White Pine's Nate Ashby in the semifinals, but Ashby came back for the 7-6 win. Nelson won his consolation semifinal bout but lost to Adrian Adame of Caldwell for third place.
Nathen Blanco (113), Trase Bell (120) finished fifth and Blake Duncan (152) and Anthony Hummel (195) were sixth.
Lowry travels to Fernley Friday and Saturday for the Vaquero Invitational.
"We have one more tournament to get better," Brooks said. "We haven't won anything yet and we still need to get better. There will be some good teams in Fernley."
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