LAS VEGAS — The Lowry High School wrestling team got off to a quick start at the NIAA State Wrestling Championships last Friday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas but could not keep the momentum in the final two rounds.
Virgin Valley and Boulder City jumped ahead in the final standings, as 7.5 points decided second through fifth place. Spring Creek repeated as state champions and ran away with the team title with 197 points. Virgin Valley was second at 99 points and Boulder City (98) and Lowry (96.50) were third and fourth, respectively. Churchill County (92) finished fifth.
The Buckaroos failed to score any points in the final two rounds.
“The day started out great for us,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “We just didn’t finish well. It was the same thing that happened to us in the regional tournament. We had some matches go the wrong way on us and it just snowballed on us. We could not ever recover. We had some matches in our hands and lost it.”
Lowry did not have any individual champions but had four wrestlers finish second. That group included Matthew Souza at 126 pounds, Bryan Day (138), Quint Bell (152) and Cade Billingsley (170).
Souza made his way into the semifinals, winning by forfeit over Cheyenne’s Christopher Monzon. The senior made his way into the finals in a high-scoring match, beating Boulder City’s Zayne Dennington 20-13. Souza battled tough with Elko’s Kevin Villegas in the championship match but lost 5-3.
Day took out Boulder City’s Hayden Moore 5-0 in the quarterfinals and Pahrump Valley’s Dylan Grossell 9-6 in the semifinals. Day came up short in the finals, dropping a 6-1 decision to Spring Creek’s Dyllan Fuchs.
Bell had all three of his matches go the distance. The senior opened with a 7-1 decision over Boulder City’s Jimmy Dunagan. He followed that with a 16-11 victory over Mojave’s Matthew Rodgers. Bell took on Spring Creek’s Beau Chacon in the finals and suffered a 3-1 loss in overtime as Chacon recorded a take down in the extra period.
“I feel bad for Quint,” said Brooks. “I really wanted him to see him win. He’s a great kid. Those guys that finished second had great years. You just want to see them get that championship.”
Billingsley earned a 7-4 decision in round one over Boulder City's Thorston Balmer. The senior then pinned Sunrise Mountain's Alexander Herrera in the semifinals. Billingsley dropped a 4-3 decision to Churchill County's Marcel Poracky in the finals.
Zack Peters finished third for the Buckaroos but did not score any points. As Lowry’s second wrestler in the 138-pound weight class, Peters was not allowed to collect points.
Peters started his tournament by pinning Mojave’s Akil West in the third period. The senior lost to Fuchs in the semifinals but bounced back to beat Boulder City’s Moore 5-3 in overtime. He claimed third place by beating Pahrump Valley’s Grossell 10-6.
“It was a good day for Zack, he wrestled well,” added the coach. “The bad thing is, it did not score us any points.”
Cade Bell (132), AJ Gonzalez (145), Anthony Peterson (182) and Joe Peterson (195) placed fourth.
Bell puled a close 9-6 decision in the quarterfinals over Chaparral’s Marc Gonzalez. The sophomore dropped his semifinal bout to Churchill County’s Tommy McCormick. McCormick went on to win the 132-pound title.
Bell bounced back to defeat Virgin Valley’s Case Crandall 6-4, but lost to Spring Creek’s Q Boyd in the third-place match.
Three of Gonzalez’s matches were decided by two points or less.
He won his quarterfinal bout 1-0 over Virgin Valley’s Josh Abbott. He lost 5-3 to Boulder City’s Ladd Cox in the semifinals and came back top beat Elko’s Josh Bourland in another 1-0 match. Gonzalez lost the third-place bout by pin to Pahrump Valley’s Dylan Wright.
Anthony Peterson started his first state tournament with a pin in 49 seconds over Boulder City’s Adam Clary. Peterson lost his semifinal bout to Virgin Valley’s Cresent Crandall by pin but he came back to pin Pahrump Valley’s Cole Walker in the consolation semifinals. The freshman drooped the third-place match to Fernley’s Gabriel Richards.
Joe Peterson dominated Chaparral’s Brian Hernandez in round one with a 15-0 win. He battled Boulder City’s Ryan Vanario in a back-and-forth contest, with Vanario winning 9-6 in the final seconds.
The senior came back with an 8-2 win over Pahrump Valley’s Jeremy Albertson. He was beating Sparks’ Aleki Pooi in the third-place match but got caught in another move and lost by pin the third period.
Taylor Corak, the Buckaroos’ regional champion at 113 pounds, had a tough tournament going 1-2. Corak won his first match 6-0 over Chaparral’s Jay-Ar Briones but lost his last two matches.
Trent McKellips (220) was a late addition after the Southern 3A could not provide a fifth wrestler. McKellips lost both matches by decision.
“Even though we had a pretty good season but I wanted to end better,” Brooks said. “I am down a little right now but we will be OK. We need to get our numbers back up and get ready for next year. That is on me.”
