Fresh off a strong effort in its home tournament, the Lowry High School wrestling squad headed off to Lovelock on Saturday, Dec. 15 to test their mettle against 30 other teams in the Lovelock Mustangs Invitational.
Spanish Springs won the battle once again with 195.5 points. Lowry was close behind with 148.5 and Fernley finished third at 137.5. Bishop Manogue was fourth with 128 ponts and Douglas clocked a fifth place finish with 118.5.
“We took second place in Lovelock. We can’t seem to find a tournament where Spanish Springs isn’t there.” said LHS coach John Brooks. “They have beaten us in all three of our tournaments so far this year.”
Isaiah Blanco won the 113-pound class by pin over Carter Tate from Bishop Manogue in the third period. Blanco won all three of his matches by pin.
Angel Huerta won a special 123-pound weight class medal over his teammate Christian Cuevas. Huerta collected four wins on the day, all by pin. Cuevas was 3-1 on the day.
Taylor Corak finished second in the 132-pound division with a 7-0 loss to Callum Kremer from Chester, Calif. That was Corak’s first loss of the season. Corak defeated Fernley's Mason Sloan and Hug's Sebastian Hatzi in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
“Taylor ran into a buzz saw against that kid from Chester,” Brooks said.
Jessie Hawkins finished third in the 135-pound weight class, and Joseph Garcia was fourth at 148 pounds.
Cade Bell lost 14-1 to Pershing County’s (Lovelock) Jayce Leyva to finish second at the 152-pound level.
Bell won his first three matches by pin and did not have a match reach the third period before the finals.
Caleb Sanchez grabbed third place at the 170-pound spot.
After a first-round bye, Sanchez lost his first match to Pershing County's Joaquin Wanner.
Sanchez battled back to win his final four matches to notch third place
Anthony Peterson defeated Parker Luthy from Spanish Springs by pin to win in the first period to the 182-pound division title. Peterson cruised in his first three matches, winning them all by pin in the first period.
Josiah Chapman rounded out the Lowry squad with his third-place finish in the 220-pound weight class.
Chapman dropped his opening match but fought his way through the consolation bracket and won his last four matches.
He pinned North Valleys' Bobby Crampton in the second period to claim third place.
“We are not there yet, but we are getting better,” Brooks said. “This was another big tournament, and we saw a lot of the same teams, but it was nice to get it done in one day.”
The Bucks’ next matches will be held at the Douglas Tournament on Saturday in Minden.
It will be a short Christmas break for the Buckaroos, as they travel to Reno for the Sierra Nevada Classic on Dec. 27-28.
More than 85 teams from around the west converge on the tournament held at the Reno Livestock Events Center.
