In order to win a state tournament, you need to catch a break every now and then. Unfortunately for the Lowry High School wrestling team, that did not happen this weekend at the NIAA State Wrestling Championships in Winnemucca.
The Buckaroos had a rare off weekend and Pahrump Valley used that to its advantage in ending the Buckaroos' run of six consecutive state championships. The Trojans had just two individual champions, but picked up scoring from everyone else to beat the Buckaroos 124-110. Virgin Valley (94.50) was third and Spring Creek (91) and Churchill County (60) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
"I had it down to four teams that had a shot at doing it," said LHS coach John Brooks. "We were one of them and Pahrump Valley was obviously one of them. You have to give Pahrump all the credit in the world. They did what they needed to do to win. We had an off weekend and it didn't go our way. I told the kids at a state tournament, you have to make it go your way. You can't wait around like we did. Pahrump made it go their way. You want to have a weekend like this in December and not at the state tournament. You look back and we beat them pretty soundly at Spring Creek. They went back did their homework and got it done. They are a good program."
The Buckaroos did have two individual state champions crowned in front of the home crowd. Gabe Molina won at 132 pounds and Beau Billingsley (182) became a four-time champion.
Molina was on the mat for just 19 seconds in his opening-round match against Pahrump Valley's Nick Nelson. Molina picked up a quick takedown, but Nelson re-injured his leg he hurt at the regional tournament and could not continue. Molina knocked off South Tahoe's James Sorenson 12-3 in the semifinals and Western's Alex Richardson 7-5 in the final.
"I am happy for Gabe," Brooks said. "He has worked hard from the beginning of the season and was a different wrestler than he was in the past couple of years."
Billingsley had an easy time as well, pinning Boulder City's Nelson Van Diest and Desert Pine's Jorge Magana in the first two rounds. The senior, who will attend Air Force next year, knocked off Pahrump Valley's Jon Corrow 12-3 in the final.
Kevin Blanco (126) was the third Buckaroo to reach the final and the senior placed second to Spring Creek's Anthony Chavez, who won 5-0. Blanco earned two wins by decision over Clark's Gabe Camacho (6-2) and Chaparral's Miguel Guerra to reach the final.
"Kevin had a nice couple last week's," Brooks said. "Him and the Spring Creek kid had some good matches all year, with them beating each other."
Shaun Mentaberry (160) earned a third-place finish for the Buckaroos. Mentaberry started off the weekend pinning Spring Valley's Zac Pakulak, 56 seconds in to the second period. Mentaberry lost to Virgin Valley's Broc Smith in the semifinals, but came back in the consolation round to beat Cheyenne's Elagio Schuler 7-2. The junior finished off the weekend, by defeating Elko's Jacob Pengally.
A year after winning the state title at 285 pounds, Luis Cardenas finished third this year. The senior pinned Sunrise Mountain's Thomas Butler in the opening round, but lost 2-1 to Clark's Mervyn Penniston in the semifinals. Cardenas came back to beat teammate Chris Karchella in the consolation semifinals and Del Sol's Jesus Olivas 3-2 for third-place.
Nathen Blanco (113) and Trase Bell (120) each finished fourth. Blanco, a freshman, lost to Virgin Valley's Jacob Baird in the first round, but came back to get two wins in the consolation bracket. He beat Faith Lutheran's Trenton May 6-1 and Spring Creek's Cole Campbell 5-3 in overtime. He met up again with Baird in the third-place match, with Baird winning again.
Bell cruised to an 11-2 victory over Sierra Vista's Edris Omar in the opening round, but lost 11-9 in overtime to Chaparral's Luis Hernandez in the semifinals. Hernandez scored a takedown in the extra period to to get the win. Bell came back to beat Elko's David Burden 7-3, but lost to Pahrump Valley's Gino Gusman for third place.
Nate Nelson (145), Blake Duncan (152), Tristen Waller (170) and Anthony Hummel (195) each won one match, but couldn't get past the consolation semifinals.
"We had a great bunch of seniors and it just did not fall our way for them and I feel bad about that," Brooks said. "It just came down to where we needed everybody to score points and we just didn't do that. Pahrump had just champions, but scored points from everyone they needed to. I will wear this for a while, is going to be tough to take. I will agonize over it and look where we could have picked up 14 points. It wasn't Lowry wrestling. We lost overtime matches that we usually don't lose. We didn't get it done. Are underclassmen has to look at today and see hoe we can get better. We need to find a way to beat those guys next year."
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