The Battle Mountain High School wrestling team took to the mats last Saturday at Pershing County High School in Lovelock with one goal in mind — qualifying as many individuals for this weekend’s state tournament as they could.
When the action was over in the Pershing County High School gym, the Longhorns qualified 15 wrestlers and in the process finished in second place in the Northern AA League Tournament. “We go into the post season focused on each individual. If each of the kids is ready to accomplish their goals, then the whole team thing will take care of itself,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala.
Heading into the day it was clear that it was going to be a three-team battle between familiar foes as Lovelock and Yerington high schools each hoped to grab the title.
Pershing County won its first wrestling regional title in school history this past Saturday in Lovelock, beating Battle Mountain 211-201.50. Yerington was a distant third at 176.
“Our kids had a great week of practice,” added the coach. “They focused in on what they needed to improve on and it showed today. At the end of the day, Battle Mountain had advanced 15 wrestlers to this weekend’s state meet in Winnemucca and accumulated 201.5 points but came up just short of the team title. We wrestled tough all day, we did a lot of pinning and that was good to see.”
Jordan Gonzalez, Jose Guizar, Kris Hall and Tristin Cordingley all claimed league titles with first place finishes.
Declan McClary, Daegan McClary, Owen Oakes and Ricardo Carrillo finished in second place.
Michael Malone, Zach Duggan, Jorge Chavira, Tyler Rochester and Lyle Whitten secured third place. Jacee Herald and Brice Domagala came home in fourth place, while Dalton Shake finished sixth in his weight class.
The NIAA State Championships take place this weekend at the Winnemucca Event Center. Action begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. with the 4A quarterfinals. The remainder of the tournament begins at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m.
