The more things change, the more they stay the same and that can be said for the Lowry High School wrestling team.
The Buckaroos continued their dominance in northern Nevada, winning their seventh consecutive Division I-A North regional championship this past weekend in Spring Creek.
Lowry captured its 20th regional title overall, the most in Nevada history, last Saturday scoring 291 points. Lowry finished with eight champions and had 11 wrestlers in the finals. The Buckaroos qualified 17 grapplers for state, including all 14 scorers.
Spring Creek was second with 218 points, Churchill County (157) was third 157 and Elko (139) and Fernley (101) rounded out the top five.
"We came in and wrestled well," Brooks said. "We did what we needed to do and we had some kids set themselves up in a good spot for this weekend. That is what the last two weeks was all about. It is a nice feeling to have eight champions and 11 kids in the finals."
Trase Bell (120), Kevin Blanco (126), Gabe Molina (132), Nate Nelson (145), Blake Duncan (152), Beau Billingsley (182), Anthony Hummel (195) and Luis Cardenas (285) were individual champions.
Bell wrestled just twice over the two days, receiving a bye into the semifinals. He pinned Churchill County's Dylan McAfee in the second period in that match and beat Elko's David Burden 6-2 in the final.
Blanco needed just 98 seconds in the quarterfinals to pin Sparks' Avery Arranes. From there he avenged two losses from the league duals the week before. Blanco earned a 3-2 decision over South Tahoe's Michael Valney in the semifinals and a 2-1 victory over Spring Creek's Anthony Chavez in the title match.
"Kevin flat out showed up," Brooks said. "He got two wins over kids that beat him the week before. He put himself in a good spot and he needs to take advantage of that."
Molina cruised to the finals, pinning Elko's Dalton Thomas and Fernley's John Hires-Caulk. Molina had little trouble in the final, beating Spring Creek's Tristin Fordin 15-4.
Nelson earned a bit of revenge in his championship match as well. The senior easily defeated Churchill County's Jordan Schultz 14-5 for the championship. A week earlier, Nelson lost to Schultz. Nelson also beat Elko's Tyler Vera and Spring Creek's Chris Brunson.
Duncan was one of the busier wrestlers on the weekend with four matches. The senior won his first two matches by pin over Elko's Skyler Brown and South Tahoe's George Rohrbacher. In his closest match of the weekend, Duncan beat Spring Creek's Bailey Porreca 7-2 in the semifinals. Duncan cruised in the final, pinning Fernley's Steven Ackerson in less than 90 seconds.
Billingsley won his fourth consecutive regional championship, beginning with a pin over Spring Creek's Sheldon Wilkinson in the quarterfinals. The three-time defending state champion spent 31 seconds on the mat in the semifinals, beating Churchill County's Juan Ledesma, and Billingsley finished off his tournament by pinning Spring Creek's Joey Halcrow.
Hummel wrestled just twice, beating South Tahoe's Blair Binns by pin the semifinals and Spring Creek's Brennan Reese 5-3 in the final.
"Anthony had a real nice weekend," Brooks said. "He is wrestling strong and that was a good win in the final. It's all about taking care of yourself and getting a good seeding."
It was an all Lowry final at 285 pounds. Cardenas, looking to win his second straight state tile breezed to the title, winning every match in 53 seconds or less. He pinned Elko's Bryson Hansen and South Tahoe's Jackson Binns. Cardenas beat teammate Chris Karchella in the final. Karchella, who was a non-scorer, beat Spring Creek's Van LeGrand and Churchill County's Robbie Schostag to reach the final.
Bryan Day (106) and Shaun Mentaberry (160) finished second for the Buckaroos. Day advanced to the semifinals with a pin over Churchill County's Tallon Amezquita in 22 seconds. The freshman earned a 3-0 win over Fernley's Devin Partain in the semifinals but lost to Spring Creek's Jace Saxton 3-0 in the finals.
Mentaberry had to wrestle four matches as well and he pinned his first three opponents on his way to the finals. Mentaberry lost his title match to Churchill County's Sam Goings.
Nathen Blanco (113), Cameron Okuma (138), Cade Billingsley (152) and Blake Hillyer were third. Billingsley was a non-scorer for the Buckaroos. Quint Bell (132) and Tristen Waller placed fourth and Seth Hornbarger (145) was fifth.
Lowry hosts the NIAA State Wrestling Tournament today and Saturday. Opening ceremonies begin at noon today with wrestling at 1 p.m. Wrestling continues on Saturday at 9 a.m.
"It is not going to be easy and we have nothing won," Brooks said. "Spring Creek, Pahrump and Virgin Valley are bringing strong teams. They have the kids to compete. All 14 of our scorers are going to have to win matches for us. I feel pretty good right now, but we just can't show up and expect things to happen. We can't have any let downs."
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