Sometimes after winning a title the hunter can become the hunted.
The Battle Mountain Junior High School wrestling team, the defending Tah-Neva Champions, made sure that didn’t happen as they showed the rest of a crowded field that they intend to continue being the hunter as they finished ahead of eight other teams in the season opening tournament in Lovelock.
“The kids wrestled tough,” said coach Mitch Domagala. “They came out with a lot of aggression and really did a lot of things well. We definitely have things to fix, but for a first weekend, it looked good.”
The Shorthorns entered a total of 25 wrestlers into the tournament and came back with 20 medals. In their wake they left teams such as Winnemucca, Fernley, Dayton, Truckee, Lovelock, White Pine, Eureka and Silver Stage.
“Today answered a lot of questions,” Domagala said. “We saw our older kids do what they do and the new kids showed they have a whole lot of promise,” added Domagala.
Claiming championships for Battle Mountain were Jagger Whitlock, Zach Duggan, Declan McClary, Jose Guizar, Jordan Gonzalez and Jorge Chavira.
Finishing in the runner-up spot were Sean Scherer, Hunter Natoli, Brice Domagala, Vincent Rosas, Isaiah Powell, Nolan Chopp, Joey Huhta and Lyle Whitten.
Chris Leloup and Asher Bundrock captured the bronze medal, while Hafen Smith, Drayden McClary, Logan Youngblood and Wiatt Kelly brought home fourth place.
Also helping the team out with some tough wrestling, but coming up just short of the podium were Andy Wall, Anthony Natoli, Deacon Kyllonen, Dalton Shake, and Michael Lovelace.
“These guys wrestled hard all day,” said coach Mike Williams. “With a little more practice they should break into the medals soon.”
The Shorthorns travel to Fernley on Saturday for their next tournament.
