With four teams within six points of each other after the first day of the Northern 3A Regional Wrestling Championships in Truckee last weekend, it appeared the championship was up for grabs.
However, Spring Creek pulled away from the field in the semifinal round to win the title with 247 points, while Churchill County was second at 214 and Lowry (207) was third. Elko (196.50) and Fernley (108.50) rounded out the top five.
“It was a pretty good weekend for us,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “We had to do some reshuffling with an injury. With only the top three guys advancing, you have earn your way into the state tournament. It should be interesting to see what happens. Fallon finished third last year in the regional and won the state championship.”
Isaiah Blanco (106), Bryan Day (132) and Quint Bell (152) won individual titles for the Buckaroos.
Blanco, wrestled three times over the two days, pinning Truckee’s Chase Montgomery in 11 seconds to reach the semifinals. He defeated Spring Creek’s Joey MacDiarmid by a 4-0 decision in that match and beat teammate Taylor Corak in the final.
Corak, who was a non-scorer for Lowry, won hits first-round match by pin over South Tahoe’s Joshua Brackett and the semifinals 2-0 over Spring Creek’s Kodis Campbell.
Day cruised to the finals, beating Churchill County’s Ilyes Taleb by pin with two seconds left in the first period and Sparks' Colby Bowman in 65 seconds in the first period. The junior held on to beat Spring Creek’s Drake Kennedy 5-4 to claim the title.
“Bryan had a really good weekend,” Brooks said. “The kid he beat is a good wrestler.”
After picking up a first-round bye, Bell had to wrestle teammate Caleb Sanchez in the quarterfinals, where he won by pin in the third period. Bell took down Sparks’ Brandon McCraney 15-4 in the semifinals, and he won his weight class by injury forfeit over Churchill County’s Jack Swisher.
The Buckaroos’ Cade Billingsley finished second at 170 pounds. After getting a bye in round one, Billingsley needed just 42 seconds to pin Sparks’ Justice Rice Misa to advance to the semifinals.
The junior picked up a 10-0 win over Bayley Porreca in the semifinal, but lost a 6-2 decision to South Tahoe’s Jose Leon in the title bout.
Matthew Souza (120), Ryan Johnson (145) and Seth Hornbarger (160) placed third.
Souza had to get through a close 7-5 decision over Spring Creek’s Austin Wirth in the quarterfinals. Souza lost 9-3 to Kevin Villegas in the semifinals, but bounced back in the consolation semifinal to beat Elko’s Christian Quintana. The junior stamped his state tournament ticket, with another win over Wirth, this time a 7-2 decision.
Johnson pinned Sparks’ Robert Pacaul in the second period to advance to the semifinals. Johnson lost to Spring Creek’s Anthony Chavez in the round of four, but came back with victories over Fernley’s Carter Chapin and Sparks’ Nathaniel Perez.
Hornbarger wrestled four matches, pinning Truckee’s Trevor Schroeder in 53 seconds in the opening round. The junior lost to Elko’s Joel Hansen in the semifinals, but came back through to knock off Fernley’s Tyler Kollar and Spring Creek’s Trevor Greener.
The NIAA changed how many wrestlers in each weight class advances to the state tournament from four to three.
The Buckaroos had four wrestlers finish fourth in Cade Bell (126), Zack Peters (138), Joe Peterson (195) and Trent McKellips (220). Peterson lost his third-place match by a 6-5 decision over Elko’s Roman Tomten. Jimmy Rackley and Sanchez finished sixth.
Lowry travels to Spanish Springs High School in Sparks for the NIAA State Wrestling Championships that starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, The action can be followed at www.trackwrestling.com.
“We look alright,” Brooks said. “We are going to need everyone to score for us to win. That is the formula. There will have to be a couple upsets. It’s not out of the realm of the possibility.”
