After beginning the season at the opposite end of the state, the Lowry High School wrestling team had a much shorter trip last Saturday to the Mustang Invitational in Lovelock.
The Buckaroos ran away with the team title, scoring 202.50 points, as Battle Mountain placed second at 152.5. Fernley was third with 135 points and Reno (104) and Reed (102) rounded out the top five.
Lowry had five individual champions on the day, including Wade Mori at 120 pounds, Taylor Corak (138), Cade Bell (152), Anthony Peterson (182) and Kole Mattson (285).
“It was a good day for us,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “I was a little surprised by how much we won by. “It’s good for the kids to pick up some wins and get some confidence. It’s only going to get tougher from here.”
Mori, a freshman, continued his strong start to the season winning the 120-pound weight class by a 15-0 decision over Luke Bell of Damonte Ranch. Mori won his other two matches by pin, beating Galena’s Logan Obert and Douglas’ Elize Morris.
“Wade is wrestling well right now,” Brooks said. “He has just one loss on the season and is 7-1. We have had a couple young guys step up and that’s nice to see.”
After pinning Pershing County’s Dimitri Zveniatekovskii in the first period of his 138-pound quarterfinal match, Taylor Corak had to battle his way through the next two rounds to win the title.
In the semifinals, Corak beat Eureka’s James Filippini 5-4 and in the championship bout he controlled his match over Battle Mountain’s Jordan Gonzalez to win 7-2.
Cade Bell needed to win four matches to claim the 152-pound championship. He needed just 60 seconds to pin Fernley’s Bronson Lyman in the first round. The senior made his way into the final with two more first-period pins over Reno’s Garrett McSweeney and Battle Mountain’s Stone Whitlock.
In the championship, Bell handed Yerington’s Donovan Coplin his first loss of the season, winning the match 6-5 and he improved to 8-1 on the season.
After missing the opening week at the Green Valley Duals, Anthony Peterson was a perfect 4-0 at 182 pounds.
He won all four of his matches by pin. His longest match of the day was in the opening round when he beat Fernley’s John Owens with 12 seconds left in the second period.
He needed just 18 seconds to advance to the semifinals and he beat Fernley’s Nathan Glass with seven seconds remaining in the first period.
Kole Mattson improved to 7-1 on the season, winning his title by disqualification over Wooster’s Joseph Garibay-Perez. He made his way into the final with a 3-2 win over Sparks’ Justice Risa.
“It was nice to come home with five champions,” Brooks said. “Those guys have been wrestling well to start the season. It was nice to get Anthony back as well. He brings a lot for us.”
Angel Huerta was third in the 113-pound weight class, coming back to win his final two matches.
After a first-round bye, Huerta pinned Pershing County’s Devin Moura to reach the semifinals. Huerta suffered a loss to Fernley’s Brody Garrett in that round, but rallied to beat Elko’s Titan Kennedy and Connor Cuddy by fall.
Jesse Hawkins was third in the 152B-pound bracket. Hawkins lost his first match of the day, but rallied to win his final four bouts, including the third-place bout by pin over Fernley’s Austin Collar in 53 seconds.
Isaac Mori was fourth at 132 pounds, winning his first two bouts by pin to reach the semifinals. Mori dropped a 9-2 decision to Battle Mountain’s Jose Guizar in the semifinals. He beat Reed’s Chayton Johnson in the consolation semifinals, but lost a 9-0 decision in the third-place match.
Caden Ricci was fourth in the 145-pound weight class. After a first-round bye, Ricci needed just 84 seconds to pin Damonte Ranch’s Gage Savant to reach the semifinals. Ricci dropped a 13-9 decision to Reed’s Marco Budija in the semifinals. He reached the third-place match by beating Fernley’s Kyle Jones 11-9 in overtime.
Coda Nichols (106), Brenton Baker (126) and Juan Lopez scored points for the Buckaroos but did not finish in the top four.
Lowry is hosting the hosting the Cody Louk Invitational this weekend at the Winnemucca Event Center. The tournament concludes on Saturday and features schools from Nevada and California.
The Buckaroos travel to Reno on Dec. 27-28 for the Sierra Nevada Classic.
“It’s been good for the kids in the first couple weeks,” Brooks said. “We have pretty much put everything in that we need to. There are things we still need to work on. For the younger guys, we are putting everything in. They just got get some technique down and they will be okay.”
