With a few of its top wrestlers out of the lineup right now, the Lowry High School wrestling team is looking to keep the ship righted until they get back.
The Buckaroos made their rare appearance at home this past weekend, hosting the annual Cody Louk Invitational. The tournament included 25 teams from around northern Nevada.
The team title was all but wrapped up on the first day, as Spanish Springs of the Northern 4A built a big lead and went on to win the meet with 288.50 points. Lowry finished second with 170 points and Pershing County was third at 130.50. Fernley (127) and Elko (118) rounded out the top five.
Ryan Johnson remained undefeated on the season, as he won five matches at 160 pounds to win the title in the weight class. Johnson won his first three matches by pin, beginning with Carson’s Alex Wells in the second period. The senior needed just 47 seconds to pin South Tahoe’s Moises Valencia in the second round. Johnson made his way into the semifinals, pinning Elko’s Landon Dente in 94 seconds.
Johnson’s semifinal match was cut short after Sparks’ Brandon McCraney was hurt in the first period and could not continue. Johnson held off Reed’s Christian Richer 3-1 to win the weight class.
Matthew Souza placed second at 126 pounds. The senior received a bye in the first round and made his way into the semifinals after pinning South Tahoe’s Noah Ramos and Wooster’s Gabriel Morris.
Souza found himself in a battle with Fernley’s Jared Caulk and he came away with a 5-4 victory. Souza lost the championship match by pin to Spanish Springs’ Anthony Sissom.
Taylor Corak turned in a third-place finish at 120 pounds. The sophomore reached the quarterfinals by pinning Galena’s Ben Jaksick and Tonopah’s Brandon Jemeridge. Corak took on teammate Caden Ricci in the quarterfinals and won by a 12-0 decision.
Corak lost in the semifinals to Reno’s Eric Lopez but came back through the consolation bracket and beat Spanish Springs’ Dallin Gresko 7-2 and Damonte Ranch’s Ramon Alvarez 4-2.
Senior Bryan Day was third at 138 pounds. After winning his first match by pin over Spanish Springs Jose Andrade in 50 seconds, Day had to come through the consolation bracket after losing in the quarterfinals.
Day pinned Emilio Gomez (Pershing County), Nate Singelyn (South Tahoe) and James Daniels (Spanish Springs) to get into the third-place match. Day avenged his loss to Logan Blecher of Spanish Springs in the third-place match with a 7-4 decision.
Freshman Anthony Peterson placed third at 170 pounds, with four of his five matches going the distance. Peterson knocked off Wells’ Luke Escamilla 7-3 in round one and Douglas’ Chad Singer 13-8 in the quarterfinals.
Peterson dropped a 2-1 decision to Spanish Springs’ Robert Jackson in the semifinals. Peterson earned a 9-4 win over Wooster’s Brendan Reich in the consolation semifinals. After four consecutive decisions, Peterson pinned Elko’s Carl Hansen for third place.
Fellow freshman Isaac Mori finished fifth at 106 pounds. After a first-round bye, Mori was on the mat for just 22 seconds as he pinned Spanish Springs’ Ryan Thackaberry, Mori dropped his next two matches but came back to beat Gabriel Ortiz of Spanish Springs.
Sophomore Cade Bell was busy on the weekend with seven matches and he placed fifth at 132 pounds. Bell pinned his way into the quarterfinals with victories over Reed’s Morgan Norris and South Tahoe’s Hayden Waters.
Bell dropped a 14-6 decision in the quarterfinals to Pershing County’s Kasey Brown,
Bell bounced back with consolation bracket wins over Battle Mountain’s Michael Malone and Fernley’s Kyle Jones. Bell lost to Spanish Springs’ Cory Sego in the consolation semifinal but came back to pin Brown in the fifth-place match.
Freshman Dominic Hill finished sixth at 195 pounds. Hill picked up a 10-8 victory over Elko’s Darrin Legrand.
Lowry travels to Lovelock on Saturday for the Mustang Invitational at 9 a.m.
