The Battle Mountain High School wrestling team successfully defended their Northern 2A Regional championship this past weekend in Lovelock.
The team race saw Battle Mountain on top of the scoreboard outdistancing second place Pershing County by a score of 197-159. Yerington was a distant third at 108, followed by Wells (88), Eureka (34), Incline (20) and Mineral County (17.5)
“We were able to score a lot of bonus points today, and that is why we won the tournament,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala.
As the wrestlers of the Northern 2A came together to battle it out for state tournament berths, the boys in green sent notice that they were finally healthy for the first time this season.
When the tournament came to an end and the list of entries to the Nevada State Tournament was finalized, 14 Longhorns had earned their way onto the brackets.
“The kids put together a good weekend. They started a little slow, but we always say it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and they finished strong,” added Coach Domagala.
Seven Longhorns claimed individual titles as Cameron Thompson at 113 pounds, Jake Legarza (120), DeAndre Powell (126), Matt Rochester (132), Mason Chopp (170), Tristin Cordingley (182) and Zach Heese (285) won gold medals.
In his only match of the day, Thompson needed just 68 seconds to pin Pershing County’s Jeffery Martin for the title. It was the same scenario for Legarza, who earned a 8-2 decision over Pershing County’s Kasey Brown.
Powell had two wrestle twice, and began with a pin over Pershing County’s Emilio Gomez. In the championship match, Powell defeated Pershing County’s Ramon Figueroa.
Rochester was one of the few wrestlers that had three matches. He got to the semifinals after beating Yerington’s Derrick McDaniel by pin in the second period. Rochester pinned Mineral County’s Anthony Ramirez in the semifinal and won his tile with an 11-6 decision over Pershing County’s Eric Wagner.
Chopp won both his matches by pin, including the championship over Pershing County’s Dylan Hultenschmidt. Cordingley pinned Pershing County’s Marcus Glanton in the se3ocnd period to win at 182 pounds and Zach Heese beat Pershing County’s Davis Murphy and Logan Murphy to claim the top prize at 285 pounds.
Fabian Castaneda (152), Cesar Tovar (195) and Tyler Rochester (220) finished in the runner-up spot. Fernando Carrillo (160) and Ricardo Carrillo (170) took third place, while Thomas Amezcua (138) and Owen Oakes (160) came home in fourth position.
Brandon Stallard (132) wrestled tough but came up just short of placing in a loaded weight class.
The Longhorns have one more weekend left as they travel to Spanish Springs High School this weekend for the NIAA State Tournament.
Battle Mountain will be looking to win its state record 17th state title. Wrestling is scheduled to begin on Friday at 1 p.m. and Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
