WINNEMUCCA — Since the turn of the century, the Battle Mountain High School wrestling team has dominated the rest of its foes in the 2A Division.
Since 2000, the Longhorns have won 15 state championships and came into the 2019 tournament with a state-record 18 titles.
A bid for a 19th state championship came up short this past weekend in Winnemucca, as Pershing County captured its first sttae title in the sport. The Mustangs beat the Longhorns 209-173.50. Yerington was third at 154.50 and Pahranagat Valley (68) and Tonopah (64.50) rounde dout the top five.
“It’s not the ultimate result we were looking for, but it was still a good season,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “It was a great season, the kids wrestled hard and did everything we wanted them to do. We have a young team and we aboslutley have something to build with. I am pleased with everything we did. You have to give Lovelock credit, they wrestled well.”
Battle Mountain had seven wrestlers in the finals and had three individual champions.
That list starts with sophomores Jordan Gonzalez and Jose Guizarwon titles at 126 and 132 pounds, respectively. Its is back-to-back titles for the duo.
Gonzalez cruised in his first two matches, winning both by pin. He needed just 74 seconds to beat The Meadows’ Tanner Rubeli in round one and he pined Pershing County’s Colton Wanner in round two. The sophomore earned his second title with a 15-0 win over Lincoln County’s Jordan Free.
Guizar won all three of his bouts by pin, including a 23-match in round one against Robert Cliffors of Indian Springs. After beating Yertington’s Andres Christian in the semifinals, Guizar took out Pershing County’s Cody School in the final in the third period.
Tristin Cordingley won his second consecutive state title at 195 pounds. After a first-round bye, he beat teammate Jorge Chvira in the semifinals. He finished off the tournament in a high-scoring match, beating Pershing County’s Marcus Glanton 24-12.
“Those guys wrestled well and it is a goo accomplishment to win two state titles,” Domagala said. “Tristin just came out and dominated. We had seven guys in the finals and three champions. That’s not too bad.”
Declan McClary (113), Daegan McClary (160), Owen Oakes (170) and Kris Hall (182) earned runner-up finishes.
Declan McClary had a successful first state tournament with wins over Lake Mead’s Kyle Raybuck and Tonopah’s Austin Leach. The sophomore lost his title bout to Yerington’s Jonah Eriksen.
Daegan McClary opened with a 12-0 win over White Pine’s Luke Finicum and he advanced to the finals after a [in over Eureka’s Christopher Drayton. He was knocked off in the championship by Joaquin Wanner from Pershing County. Wanner won his third state title.
It took Oakes just 61 seconds to win his first match by pin over Laughlin’s Jack Tierce. He moved into the final after a pin over White Pine’s Zeke Vinson. Oakes was knocked off in the final by Pershing County’s Dylan Hultenschmidt.
Hall won his first two bouts by pin over The Meadows’ Giselle Kimbell and teammate Zach Duggan. He dropped the finale in an 8-5 decision to Yerington’s JayDan Vasquez.
Duggan came back to place third at 182 pounds, winning his consolation semifinal over Pahranagat Valley’s Jacob Griffin and he beat White Pine’s Nathanial Dolezal 11-6 to place third.
Lyle Whitten bounced back at 285 pounds to place third. He dropped his opening match to Pahranagat Valley’s Jon Michael Stewart by pin but came all the way through the consolation bracket. He got revenge on Stewart and beat him 9-2 to place third.
“I am happy for Lyle,” Domagala said. “He got pinned in the first round, fought his way back and beat the guy that pinned him to start the tournament.”
Michael Malone (138), Jorge Chavira (195) and Ricardo Carrillo (220) placed fourth. Each wrestler picked up two wins on the weekend.
Brice Domagala (170) and Tyler Rochester (220) reached the semifinals and Jaecee Herald stepped in for the Longhorns at 145 pounds.
“Everyone stepped up for us and that was good to see,” added Domagala. “We had an extra wrestler come in and place for us. It was a good season for us, a good tournament. I think our kids will build off of this and put in the effort to get better.
