The annual Kiwanis Invitational Tournament in Spring Creek provides an opportunity for the best teams in the region to come together to battle on the wrestling mats.
With 29 teams from Idaho and throughout the state of Nevada gathered to do battle, the Battle Mountain High School wrestling team was eager to see where they stacked up in the standings.
“We were anxious to see what we could do against a bunch of schools we haven’t seen before,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “Any chance we get to compete against top competition is great, it’s the only way to get better.”
The boys from Battle Mountain secured a solid top 10 finish in the team standings at the end of the two-day event.
With the majority of their wrestlers in the event, the Longhorns were well represented in the win column.
Cameron Thompson captured first place as he dominated his 113-pound weight class, with four wins. Thompson won three of his four matches by pin in the first period. He beat Virgin Valley’s Gage Wood in the final by fall at 1:52. His only match that went the distance was against Lowry’s Taylor Corak, which ended in a 4-2 decision.
He was joined on the medal stand by Tristin Cordingley, who brought home a sixth-place finish. Cordingley went 3-3 over the two days.
“These two did a real good job throughout the whole weekend,” Domagala said. “Cameron was never challenged and he finally won this tournament. Tristin has been improving on a weekly basis and he had a solid tournament being the smallest wrestler in his weight class.”
Several wrestlers came within one match of placing. These guys battled their hearts out and came up just short in the blood round. Their performances were really impressive. This group does a great job for our team. They continually score points for us at every event. With the way they practice, they’ll break through and be contenders for state medals at the end of the season,” explained Domagala.
This group included Jordan Gonzalez, DeAndre Powell, Fabian Castaneda, Daegan McClary, Kris Hall, Mason Chopp and Lyle Whitten.
Also competing were Declan McClary and Tyler Rochester. “These two had some interesting matches this weekend,” added the coach. “Tyler had a couple back and forth matches that he was so close to winning. Declan wrestled the number one ranked kid in the state to a close decision, and I’m confident he’ll close the gap by season’s end.”
The Longhorn wrestlers will be traveling to Fernley this weekend for the 25-team Vaquero Classic.
Battle Mountain will host the Northern AA League duals next weekend on Jan.-27. The Northern 2A Regional Championships take place on Saturday, Feb. 3, in Lovelock.
The NIAA 2A State Championships are slated for Friday, Feb. 9, in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena.
