PRIMM — For the fourth time in as many years, the Battle Mountain High School wrestling team left little suspense in the outcome of the NIAA State Wrestling Championship held this past Saturday in Primm.
Wrestling on the California/Nevada border outside of Las Vegas, the Longhorns ran away from the field of 19 teams to win the Division III title with 221 points. They now has 16 state championships, tying for the most in state history. Lowry, a member of the Division I-A, also has 16 titles.
Pershing County, had two champions, was second at 154.50 points. Yerington finished third with 105 points and Spring Mountain (91) and Lincoln County (81.50) rounded out the top five.
Battle Mountain finished with seven champions in Jake Legarza (106), Cameron Thompson (113), DeAndre Powell (120), Andrew Cox (132,) Jeff Oakes (195), Zach Heese (220 and Cooper Burkhart (285).
“Oh goodness gracious,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “What a way to finish. Zach wins his first ever tournament and Cooper decides to win the last two weeks for the first time. From the fifth grade on, Cooper had not won a tournament until last week and now. It could not have happened at a better time. We had 12 kids and they all won matches. That is what you need to do at a state tournament. Eleven of the kids placed. It was a total team effort. We won 10 of our last 11 matches. That was huge. It was just a great year with a great bunch of guys. You look through our lineup and each guy contributed in one way or another. To tie the record for 16 championships is pretty nice.”
Legarza made his way into the finals in easy fashion, pinning Tonopah’s Austin leach in 29 seconds in the quarterfinals. It was much of the same in the semifinals, with Legarza pinning Lincoln County’s Bejamin Culverwell in the second period. Legarza won his first state title with a 10-7 decision over Spring Mountain’s Anthony Martinez.
“He has done a good job since he went down to that weight,” Domagala said. “It was a struggle for a while. Once he got there he was OK. Cameron was ready to go up.”
The state tournament was likely decided at 113 pounds, when Thompson was in danger of losing. Thompson won his opening match by forfeit and took on Pershing County’s Jeffery Martin the semifinals. Martin picked up a large 7-2 lead in the second period, when he made one wrong move and Thompson took advantage and won by pin moments later. He went on to beat Wells Enrique Aguilar 14-0 in the final.
“That was just a huge change in momentum,” Domagala said. “That is a 26-point turnaround. That kick-started everything for us. That was just crushing for Lovelock and we stole their dream from there.”
Powell began his run at his title by pinning Tonopah’s John Shiflet in the second period. Powell knocked off Pahranagat Valley’s Oscar Heredia in the semifinals by pin and he defeated Spring Mountain’s Jeremaine Leavy 9-2 in the finals.
Cox became a three-time state champion breezing through his first two matches, pinning Spring Mountain’s Dejon Burnett and Lincoln County’s Alexander Samson by pin. Cox earned his state title with a hard-fought 12-11 decision over Tonopah’s Tanner Otteson.
Oakes had an easy road to his championship, needing just 46 seconds to pin Pahranagat Valley’s Jon Stewart in the quarterfinals. Oakes pinned Yerington’s Efren Campos 83 seconds into the first period in the semifinals. The senior needed to wrestle all six minutes in the finals to beat Eureka’s Wyatt Gibbs 11-3.
Burkhart was on the mat for less than 90 seconds in his first two matches. He pinned Agassi Prep’s Tristan Navajo in 56 seconds and Pershing County’s Ty Gentry in 31 seconds in the semifinals. Thirteen seconds into the second period in the final, Burkhart pinned Spring Mountain’s Fred Stevenson.
“Andrew, Jeff and Zach were our three seniors,” said the coach. “All three were able to win state. They had great years and plugged away for us. They brought all the kids together. This is the closest group of kids that we have had.
Heese earned his first state title by beating two defending state champions. He was on the mat for just 25 seconds in the first round, pinning Spring Mountain’s Roman Dabeny. Heese took down the first defending champ in the semifinals by pinning Pershing County’s Ty Arnett. In the final he defeated Wells’ Hunter Escamilla 7-4.
Matt Rochester (138) was the lone runner-up. He pinned White Pine’s Jay Mabson with one second left in the quarterfinals, and beat Yerington’s Cade Draper 7-3 in the semifinal. Rochester lost to another Yerington wrestler in the final in Adan Pineda.
Bobby Kester (126), Mason Chopp (152) and Tristen Cordingley (182) were third. Deagen McClary (145) reached the consolation semifinals.
Kester lost his opening match to Brandon Lewis from Agassi Prep, but came back with three wins in the consolation bracket. He kept his tournament alive by beating Yerington’s Scott Spurlock 10-0. In the consolation semifinal, he pinned Gabbs’ Anthony Ramirez. Kester claimed third place with a 14-5 decision over West Wendover’s Lisandro Rojas.
Chopp quickly advanced to the semifinals, pinning West Wendover’s Carlos Quintero in the second period. Chopp was knocked off by Lincoln County’s William Culverwell in the semifinals, but Chopp bounced back to win his final two matches, including the third-place bout against Yerington’s Ryan Barnes.
Cordingley had to go the tough rout as well after losing his quarterfinal match to Rashad Taylar of Spring Mountain. The freshmen fought back to win his next two matches by pin, and he avenged his early loss to Taylar, pinning his southern Nevada opponent in the third-place match.
“You have a freshman in Tristen come as a freshman and place third,” Domagala said. “Everythiong came into place for us.”
McClary reached the consolation semifinals before his tournament ended.
“It was a good season for us,” Domagala said. ““We did a good job of mixing kids around to get them to the right place.”
