The Lowry High School wrestling team completed the regular season in style by winning the Walter Marrietta Vaquero Classic this past weekend in Fernley.
The Buckaroos ran away with the team title with 299.50 points. Battle Mountain (172) was second and Fernley (166) placed third. Reno (135) and Chester (126) rounded out the top five.
Quint Bell at 152 pounds was the lone champion for the Buckaroos. The senior pinned Reed’s Iliya Vasey and Eureka’s Preston Hubbard to reach the quarterfinals. In his only match that went the distance, Bell defeated Yerington’s Justin Barnes 14-3.
Bell continued his weekend by pinning Battle Mountain’s Fabian Castaneda and White Pine’s Eric Pickens in the finals.
Taylor Corak (113), Matthew Souza (126), Bryan Day (138), Ryan Johnson (160), Cade Billingsley (170) and Anthony Peterson (182) earned runner-up finishes.
Corak won his first three matches, beginning with a pin over Tonopah’s Damian Price in 80 seconds. He needed to go into the third period against Elko’s Zethery Kinterknecht before pinning him. The sophomore was on the mat for less than a minute against South Tahoe’s Patrick Brown, winning the quarterfinal match in 52 seconds.
Corak earned a 2-0 decision in the semifinals over North Valley’s Trey Walters but lost by pin to Battle Mountain’s Cameron Thompson in the finals.
Souza split his four matches, winning by pin and decision. The senior opened with a 15-7 win over Pershing County’s Cody Scholl. He followed that by pinning Incline’s Zachary Fragoso and South Tahoe’s Derek Robbins. Souza advanced to the finals with a 7-2 win over Sparks’ Walter Gudiel. Souza went to overtime in the finals against Elko’s Kevin Villegas, but dropped the match.
Day picked up four wins on the weekend, all by pin. The junior opened the tournament by beating Douglas’ Jonathan Cockman, Day was the on the mat for two combined minutes to beat West Wendover;s Ricardo Cervantes and Quincy’s Zach Jensen. Day reached the finals with a victory over Hug’s Christian Culver but lost 9-5 to Pershing County’s Jayce Leyva.
Johnson received a first-round bye at 160 pounds and won his opening match by forfeit. The senior followed with wins over Fernley’s Josh Owens and North Valleys’ Joseph Castleberry. Johnson took on another North Valley’s wrestler in the final but lost 3-1 to Garrett Pennington.
Billingsley moved to the 170-pound weight class and had just three matches. After a first-round bye, the senior pinned West Wendover’s Tristan LaCombe in 70 seconds. Billingsley advanced to the finals after beating Pershing County’s Joaquin Wanner by injury forfeit. Billingsley lost in the finals to Elko’s Carl Hansen.
Peterson had to get through two close matches to reach the finals. The freshman defeated Coral Academy’s Emmanuel Colocho in 23 seconds in round one. He earned a 4-2 win over Fernley’s Gabriel Richards in the quarterfinals and a 3-2 victory over Reed’s Zachary Johnson. Peterson was knocked off in the finals by Douglas’ Blake Murray.
Isaac Mori (106), Cade Bell (132) and A.J. Gonzalez (145) finished third. Caden Ricci (120), Joe Peterson and Trent McKellips (220) each placed fourth.
Mori won his first two matches by pin, before losing in the semifinals to Reno’s Ryan Lopez. However, the freshman came back to beat Reno’s John Bass and Yerington Pedro Maldinado for third.
Bell collected victories over Reno’s Levi Jackson, Tonopah’s Brian Fosset and Fernley’s Allen McKibben to reach the semifinals. The sophomore dropped a 7-6 decision to Yerington’s Dante Revigilo in the semifinals, but came back to beat Battle Mountain’s Jake Legarza and Jackson again for third place.
Gonzalez used two pins to make his way into the semifinals against Yerington’s Cade Draper. Draper won the match by pin but Gonzalez answered back with wins over Elko’s Josh Boulard and Battle Mountain’s Bobby Kester.
After a 9-6 win over Galena’s Ben Jaksick in round one, Ricci cruised to the semifinals with two more victories. Ricci was knocked off in the semifinals by Reno’s Eric Lopez, but Ricci bounced back in the consolation semifinals over North Valley’s Freddy Henderson. Ricci lost his third-place match to Battle Mountain’s Jose Guizar.
Peterson needed just one match to advance to the semifinals at 195 pounds and he beat Pershing County;s Marcus Glanton to do that.
The senior dropped a 10-3 decision to Battle Mountain’s Tristin Cordingley in the semifinals, but he bounced back to beat Tonopah’s Kevin Ope in the consolation semifinals. Peterson dropped the third-place match, losing 11-2 to Chester’s Mathew Brooks.
McKellips had to come through three rounds of the consolation bracket to get into the third-place match. McKellips lost to Reed’s Seth Cooke 6-4 in overtime in the quarterfinals. McKellips won his next three matched by pin but lost to Hug’s Kenneth Martinez in the third-place bout.
On the Lowry Gold side, Zack Peters finished sixth at 145 pounds. He reached the championship semifinals but lost his last three matches all by decision.
Kole Mattson 220) collected two wins and reached the fourth round of the consolation bracket.
Hunter Mullins (106) made his way into the third round of the consolation bracket.
