WINNEMUCCA - When the Lowry High School wrestling team comes home from the Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa, Idaho, it is usually the turning point in the season for the squad that has won five consecutive Division I-A state championships.
The Buckaroos finished its grueling stretch of three tournaments in Idaho and finished with 37 points. Among the 51 teams competing were Idaho state champions Centennial (5A) and Columbia (4A).
Crook County, Ore., won the championship with 106 points. Kuna was second with 94 points and Centennial was third at 80. Borah and Post Falls rounded out the top five with 67 and 59 points.
Reno, the only other Nevada school in the tournament, was sixth with 42 points.
"It is a tough tournament every time we go up there," said LHS head coach John Brooks. "There were probably two or three matches I think got away from us that we probably should have won. When you get to the final eight in each bracket, there is some pretty good wrestling. If you finish in the top eight, you earned it."
The Rollie Lane Invitational is run a bit different; wrestlers have to make it through their respective pods to advance to the bracket portion of the tournament.
Beau Billingsley finished second for the second consecutive week at 170 pounds and was the highest Buckaroo placer.
"Beau is getting there and he is looking good," Brooks said. "It was good for him to get that overtime win. He ran in to a tough guy in the finals."
Billingsley received a bye in the first round of the championship bracket, and he moved to the quarterfinals with a 9-2 win over Nik Fagen of Fruitland. The two-time defending state champion advanced to the semifinals, where he earned a 10-6 win over Brandon Wells of Meridian.
The junior pulled out a 6-4 victory in overtime in the semifinals over Caleb Woodworth of La Grande on his way to the finals. Billingsley lost in the championship to Seth McLeod of Post Falls.
After finishing fifth last year, Luis Cardenas placed third at 285 pounds. Cardenas earned a bye into the second round where he pinned Joseph Tonga of Nampa, 25 seconds into the second period. The junior lost 4-3 in the quarterfinals to JC English of Kuna.
However, Cardenas battled his way back through the consolation bracket. He started out with a 5-1 win over Jonathan Littlejohn of Blackfoot and followed that with a 34-second pin over Tayson Reid of Preston. In the fourth round of the consolations, Cardenas defeated Jason Williams of Crook County and he knocked off Garrett Larson of Fruitland in the third-place match.
"Luis is wrestling well right now," said the coach. "I liked the way he came back through the consolation bracket.
Tytin Johnson finished fifth at 195 pounds after reaching the championship semifinals. Johnson knocked off Brendan Hopkins of Green River 4-2 in the round of 16 and followed that with a 10-3 victory over Gunnar Robirts of Crook County.
The senior fell short in the semifinals to Samuel Colbray of Hermiston by pin. Johnson lost in overtime to Sage DeLong of Vale, but came back to beat Jonathon Gomez of Nampa in the fifth-place match.
Trase Bell (106) advanced to the second round of the championship bracket, but lost by pin to Liam Tarvin of Hermiston. The sophomore cane back with an 11-1 victory over Sean Ferguson of Capital, before losing to Shea Randall of Borah.
Brandon Okuma won his first-round match with an 8-1 decision over Tuekota Tate of Lakeland. The senior lost to Ryan Klemp of Lewiston, before coming back to beat Mack Turpen of Centennial and Laziah Vazquez of Idaho Falls.
Aaron Nelson (138) reached the championship quarterfinals with a 16-0 win over Justin Longhurst of Preston, but the senior lost his next two matches.
Eric Brooks (132) won one match after losing his opening round bout, while Nate Nelson (126), Lane Mentaberry (145) and Shaun Mentaberry (160) lost in the first round.
"We got most of our kids into the second day, which is pretty good in its own right," Brooks said. The theme for us going on is that everyone is going to have to score for us. We are getting out of these monster tournaments. In these smaller tournaments, we can't get away with kids not scoring. It's not acceptable any more."
Lowry travels to Sutter, Calif., on Saturday for the Sutter Invitational at 9 a.m.
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