The Lowry High School wrestling team wrapped up its regular season with a second-place finish at the Walter Marrietta Vaquero Classic in Fernley last weekend.
Reno claimed the team title with 263 points, while Lowry scored 171. Reed of the Northern 4A was third with 160.50 points and Elko (148.50) and Battle Mountain (144.50) rounded out the top five.
Quint Bell at 152 pounds and Seth Hornbarger (160) earned runner-up finishes for the Buckaroos. Lowry had nine grapplers finish in the top six.
“Reno is pretty senior heavy and has a good team,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “I thought we wrestled pretty good. Everyone was scoring, which was nice. We need that to happen right now. If we are going to make a run in the next couple weeks, everyone has to score points.”
After receiving a bye in round one, Bell needed just 95 seconds to advance to the quarterfinals with a win over Dayton’s Jonathan Torres. That was the only pin for the junior on the weekend, as his other three matches went the full six minutes.
Bell took care of Yerington’s Anthony Madera 12-4 in the quarterfinals and Reno’s Cy Giovanetti 7-2 in the semifinals. Bell suffered a 9-4 loss to in the championship to Reed’s Israel Casarez. Casarez is 38-3 on the season.
“Quint wrestled well,” Brooks said. “He just ran into a tough kid. Quint should be able to put himself in a good spot this weekend at the duals.”
Hornbarger had little trouble on his way to the finals, winning his first three bouts by fall. He began by beating White Pine’s Justin Mabson and then knocked off Pershing County’s Dylan Hultenschmidt and Fernley’s Cameron Bowman. Hornbarger lost his title match to Wooster’s Christian Hanly.
“I was really happy with the way Seth wrestled,” Brooks said. “he had a nice weekend at the right time.”
Matthew Souza (120) and Cade Billingsley (170) each placed fourth for the Buckaroos. Souza was his first-round match by pin in 66 seconds over South Tahoe’s Tyler Njoten. However, the junior lost to Elko’s Kevin Villegas in round two.
Souza fought back to win three consolation bouts, beginning with Fernley’s Tyler Egan. Souza followed with victories over Pershing County’s Ricky Reitz and Elko’s Christian Quintana. Souza faced Villegas again for third place and lost 3-0.
Billingsley advanced to the championship semifinals, with just over a minute of wrestling under his belt. Billingsley needed just 18 seconds to pin Dayton’s Trinity Natividad in round one and 42 seconds in round two to beat North Valleys’ Bobby Crampton.
Billingsley lost to Douglas’ Blake Murray in the semifinals, but came back in the consolation semifinals to pin Manogue’s Lincoln Hauk. Billingsley placed fourth after losing to South Tahoe’s Jose Leon.
Taylor Corak (106) and Connor Starkey (182) finished fifth. Corak made his way to the championship semifinals, with three pins. He earned first-period falls over South Tahoe’s Gavin Breen and Chester’s Justin Contreras. The freshmen then pinned Lincoln County’s Benjamin Culverwell at the 5:33 mark in the quarterfinals.
Corak dropped his semifinal bout to Reno’s Eric Lopez and the consolation semifinal to teammate Isaiah Blanco. Corak did come back to beat Chester’s Bonner Montgomery for third place.
Blanco, wrestling for the Lowry Gold was fourth at 106 pounds. The freshman won five matches over the two days and advanced to the championship quarterfinals before his first loss.
Starkey had to earn his fifth-place finish the hard way. The lone senior on the squad lost his opening bout to Battle Mountain’s Tristin Cordingley by a 14-3 decision.
Starkey came back with wins over Fernley’s Gabriel Richards and Sparks’ Justice Rice-Mesa. Starkey faced Cordingley for a second time in the consolation semifinal and lost by fall. Starkey came back to beat teammate Joe Peterson for fifth place.
Cole Jones (113), Ryan Johnson (145) and Trent McKellips (195) each placed sixth.
Lowry’s postseason runs begins this weekend in South Tahoe with the Northern 3A Duals, which sets the seeding for the regional tournament.
The Northern 3A Regional Championships will be Feb. 3-4 at Truckee High School. The top three finishers in each weight class advances to the state tournament at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks on Feb. 10-11.
