BATTLE MOUNTAIN - The Battle Mountain High School 2011-2012 wrestling season officially got underway this past weekend, as the Longhorn grapplers took off for Ely bright and early Friday morning as they went to take on most of the top 2A and 3A teams in the state of Nevada.
It was a trip that ended with good results for the Longhorns, as they finished in second place behind the Pirates of Moapa Valley.
The tournament started off Friday in a round robin format with all the kids wrestling at least three matches and some many more than that. After a very dominating performance on Friday, the Longhorns were well positioned for the bracketed tournament on the following day, and the Longhorns continued to be tough.
Battle Mountain wrestled in an aggressive manner from the opening whistle to the very last whistle of the day. Returning state champions Tyler Sparks and Tugi Cordova (voted outstanding wrestler of the tournament) started their quest to improve upon last year's results as they controlled their weight classes en route to capturing first place.
They were joined at the top of the medal stand by Eric Haney, Alvaro Martinez and Tyler Dunlap, who won the first high school tournament championships of their careers.
"These guys started off exactly as you would want to," said BMHS head coach Mitch Domagala. "To see the way they completely destroyed all of their competition was impressive."
Devin Barton finished in the runner-up place, Parker Rochester, David Sanchez and Chris Johnson were bronze medalists, while Jonas Norman rounded out the placers with a fourth-place finish. "These guys wrestled like crazy for two full days," Domagala said. "They are still fine tuning their stuff and with some more practice time they will be improving their finishes in the near future."
Wrestlers that competed but fell just short of placing were Dillon Thompson, Stephen Williams, Jacob Rochester, Luis Tovar, Tyler Long, George Mayberry, Andy Jordan and Joey Cross.
"All of these kids wrestled tough, they showed great effort and determination to improve with each match," added the coach. "They are going to experience a great deal of success this season and beyond if they continue to go at this rate. I can't say enough about how hard this group went all weekend. I'm sure excited about the rest of the season."
The Longhorns were scheduled to host Elko in a dual on Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. Battle Mountain will split up its wrestlers over the weekend, with the varsity traveling to Boise, Idaho, for the Capital Classic on Friday and Saturday and the junior varsity traveling to Carlin on Saturday.
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