Over 350 wrestlers from 25 teams fought for the upper hand at the Cody Louk Invitational tournament this past Friday and Saturday at the Winnemucca Events Center.
Mike Brooks coaches the Pershing County wrestling team.
“We started off great on Friday but were not able to finish as strongly on Saturday,” he said.
Fourteen Pershing County wrestlers took their turns on the mat. Win or lose, they’d gain chops for their next contests. But each athlete fought to gain and keep control of their opponents.
Jeff Martin (120 pounds), Kasey Brown (132), Lupin Gomez (138), Khris Jackson (152), Sean Gottschalk (152), Eric Wagner (160) and Ben Plimpton (195) graduate this spring. It was their last Cody Louk.
The rest of the team are juniors. Cody Scholl (126), Jayce Leyva (145), Joaquin Wanner (170), Dylan Hultenschmidt (170), Marcus Glanton (220), Axel Gonzalez (285) and Davis Murphy (285) will be back again next year.
Gonzalez and Wanner each placed second in their respective weight classes. Leyva finished third, Plimpton and Murphy came in fifth and Brown, Wagner and Glanton took sixth place.
Gonzalez got a bye in the first round. He won his next match by fall against Acilino Thomas of Owyhee at 1:29.
Gonzalez won the quarterfinals over Byron Hansen of Elko by a 12-5 decision. In the semifinals, Gonzalez beat Kyle Leak of South Tahoe by fall in 52 seconds. Finally, Gonzalez lost the first-place match to Fernley’s Lonnie Slapinski by a 7-4 decision.
Wanner beat Caleb Sanchez, from the Lowry Gold team by major decision (12-2). Wanner continued to the quarterfinals to defeat Carson’s Bryce Newhall by fall at 1:14.
In the semifinal match, Wanner won by fall against Elko’s Carl Hansen in just :55 seconds. Finally, Wanner lost the first place match to Spanish Spring’s Robert Jackson by fall at 4:55.
Overall, Pershing County scored 130.5 points for third place in the tourney. Spanish Springs (288.5) grabbed the win. Lowry Blue (170 came in second. Fernley (127) and Elko (118) rounded out the top five.
“It was outstanding to finish as highly as we did against many 3A and 4A schools,” said Brooks. “We have a lot to build on.”
JV wrestlers compete
at McQueen
On Saturday, four Pershing County wrestlers competed at the McQueen JV Tournament in Reno. Zeke Jackson placed second. Haydon Burrows finished third.
Lovelock hosts tourney this weekend
The home crowd can see the Mustang wrestlers in action this Saturday at PCHS. Pershing hosts the Lovelock Invitational starting at 9 a.m.
Then the squad hits the road until Saturday, Feb. 3, when they host the Northern 2A regional championships at PCHS.
