SPARKS — For the fifth 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 at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks
The Longhorns ran away from the field of 16 teams to win the 2A title with 194 points. They now has 17 state championships, the most in state history. Lowry, a member of the Northern 3A had 16 titles.
“That number sounds pretty good right there,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. That means a lot right there and I want the kids to enjoy it. To say you are the best in Nevada means something pretty special.
Pershing County, who had two champions, was second at 154.50 points. Yerington finished third with 80 points and Tonopah (71) and White Pine (70 rounded out the top five.
Battle Mountain finished with five champions in Cameron Thompson (113), Jake Legarza (120), DeAndre Powell (126), Mason Chopp (170) and Zach Heese (285)
“The feeling never gets old,” Domagala said. “As I told the kids, it has been a goofy year for us. We were sick and hurt for much of the year. We did not see our full team until we went to the regional tournament. We saved it for when we needed to. We had three close matches in the semifinals that could have gone either way. Those kids just found a way to win. They dug and dug and found a way at the end. That’s what it takes to get over the hump and win a title.”
Unlike a season ago, Thompson had an easy path to his third consecutive state title. Thompson was on the mat for just 40 seconds in the first rounds, where he pinned Lauhglin’s Damian Chester and Lincoln County’s Chance Christiansen. Thompson cruised in the finals on Saturday afternoon, pinning Pershing County’s Jeffery Martin.
“He wrestled excellent all year,” Domagala said. “He wasn’t going to give anyone a chance of beating him.”
Legarza pinned his way to his second state title. He won all three of his matches in less than three minutes. He knocked off Pershing County's Kasey Brown in the championship in the second period.
Powell pinned Bryan Martinez of Beaver Dam in the first period and followed that with a 12-2 win over Wells’ Enrique Aguilar in the semifinals. In one wilder matches over the weekend, Powell knocked off Spring Mountain’s Jermaine Levy 7-6 after multiple overtimes.
“That was one of the crazier matches I have seen,” Domagala said.
Chopp had some tense moments during the weekend as well. He easily won his quarterfinal match by pin over White Pine’s Justin Mabson. He had to hold of Laughlin’s William Stevens 3-2 for a victory in the semifinals. After a tough second match, Chopp cruised in the finals to beat Pahranagat Valley’s Reece Thorton by pin.
Heese needed just 23 seconds in his first match to pin Tonopah’s Kordel Stark. Hesse made it out of the semifinals with an 80-3 win over Davis Murphy of Pershing County and her won his title with a pin over Logan Murphy in 61 seconds.
Matt Rochester (132), Fernando Carrillo (160) and Tristen Cordingley (182) finished in the runner-up spot.
Rochester pinned Kyle Zierow of Lincoln County and Anthony Ramirez to reach the finals on Saturday afternoon. Rochester came up short in a high-scoring title bout, losing 16-10 to Zachary Rowe of Lincoln County.
Carrillo was one of the wrestlers that scratched out a one-point win the semifinals. After pinning White Pine’s Ezekiel Vinsion in the opening round, Carrillo pulled out a 4-3 decision over Wells’ Waylan O’Neil. Carrillo came up short in the championship match, losing 9-7 to Pershing County’s Joaquin Wanner.
Cordingley began his weekend with a pin over Wells Steven Wright in the third period. Cordingley notched an 11-8 win over Laughlin’s Jeremy Coffey. He lost his championship match 10-6 to Anthony Medina of West Wendover.
Fabian Castaneda (152) and Cesar Tovar (195) were third. Castaneda split his first two matches of the tournament, but came back through the consolation bracket to beat Wells’ Corbin Madison and Indian Springs’ Devon Sickler.
Tovar lost his first match of the weekend, but came back with three wins. He avenged his loss to West Wendover’s Zachary Kyllonen to place third.
Those were the matches that were big for us,” Domagala said. “Getting those points in the consolation round was big. That is where you build points. We were able to win a lot of close matches.”
Thomas Amezcua (138), Owen Oakes (160) and Ricardo Carrillo (170) also wrestled for the Longhorns.
“We have a number of state champions to build on and a good nucleus back,” Domagala said. “We have some other kids that came up a little short, but are hungry to come back and get better. We are going to keep building to get better.”
