Even though the other half of the Lowry High School wrestling team was forced to stay home because of the weather in Idaho, conditions were just good enough for a second group of grapplers to go to the Sparks Invitational last weekend.
The group, mostly freshmen and sophomores, finished 14th with 45 points. McQueen took home the team title with 211 points. Reed was second at 199.50 and Douglas (159) finished third. Spanish Springs (149) and Pershing County (127) rounded out the top five.
Bryan Day at 138 pounds placed fourth and Trent McKellips (195) was sixth. Day made his way into the championship semifinals, starting with a pin of Fernley's Thomas Chapin in 1:50. In round two, Day pinned Douglas' Christopher Merritt in just 74 seconds.
The junior battled his way to a 4-2 decision over McQueen's Tyler Green in the quarterfinals. Day was sent to the consolation bracket, after dropping his semifinal match to Yerington's Cade Draper. Day bounced back to beat Reed's Alexander Wells 4-0 in the consolation semifinals, but lost to Pershing County's Jace Leyva in the third-place bout.
McKellips made his way through the bracket the hard way. The freshman lost his opening match to South Tahoe's Andrew Herrera, but fought back through the consolation bracket.
After receiving a bye in the first round of consolations, McKellips notched a 4-2 overtime victory over Hug's Kenneth Martinez. The freshman advanced through the next round b ye an injury default against Spanish Springs' Caleb Wood. However, McKellips dropped his final two matches on Saturday.
Caleb Sanchez (152) made his way to the fourth round of the consolation bracket. Sanchez received a bye in round one, and was defeated by Sparks' Brandon McCraney in round two.
The sophomore answered back with pins over teammate Ethan Wood and Tonopah's Matthew Malendrez, before losing in the fourth round to South Tahoe's Josiah Bracket.
Anthony Cuevas (113), Cade Bell (120), Cole Jones (120), Jace Mentaberry 126), James VanKuiken (126), Cole Smith (132) and Jonathan Green (132) each picked up a victory in their respective weight classes.
