The Winnemucca Events Center took on the entire state of Nevada’s wrestlers last weekend to determine the champions in each weight class.
The party started on Friday with wrestlers from more than 60 schools and continued through Saturday until the late afternoon, when they turned off the lights and turned on the spotlights for three mats of championship duals.
“I had a lot of people at the event approach me and tell me that they were very pleased with it,” said Lowry head wrestling coach John Brooks. “We put on a good show for the finals. The lights turned down with spotlights really showcased them. The last time that we hosted the State Championship was 2015 and we keep learning how to do things to make it even better. It was a good turnout and a good event. I think that we probably earned the chance to do it again.”
Lowry High School sat in fifth place after Friday’s grappling with 52 points, and they couldn’t make up any ground on Saturday.
The Buckaroos finished in fifth place in the 3A division with 58 points, well behind the Spring Creek Spartans, who logged in at 236.
Virgin Valley was second with 83, Boulder City had 77, and Churchill County (Fallon) was fourth with 69.
The nine Buckaroos that qualified to compete in the State Tournament were Angel Huerta (113), Isaac Mori (120), Taylor Corak (126), Jimmy Rackley (132), Caden Ricci (138), Cade Bell (145), Caleb Sanchez (170), Anthony Peterson (182), and Josiah Chapman (220).
“The town made a structured effort to be a good host," Brooks said. "They kept the restaurants open later and we got the kids out early on Friday so that they could get out and enjoy Winnemucca. This is a wrestling community and they get behind these things.”
Huerta lost his first match against Rudy Cannon from Bunkerville, and went to the consolation bracket. He took down Austin Tafoya from Overton in his second match, but then he fell to Spring Creeks’ Jacob Taylor.
In the 120-pound division, Mori also lost his first against Jay-Ar Briones from Chaparral, but then he took down Jorge Cervantes from Moapa Valley, before losing to Trey Walters from Reno to finish his season.
Corak started strong for the Buckaroos, taking down Coby Tillery from Pahrump and Walter Gudiel from Sparks in his first two bouts, before losing to Spring Creeks’ Josh Tripp in the final to finish second.
Rackley dropped his first contest to Joseph Valencia from Valley, but he turned it around on Jalen Williams from Chaparral, before losing to Gage Woods from Mesquite.
Ricci came out hard and took down Case Crandall from Bunkerville, but then he went down against Q Boyd from Spring Creek in the second round.
Bell made it to round three, taking down Ayden Fradella from Henderson and Isaac Cruz from Pahrump Valley in his first two matches, before Spring Creeks’ Dyllan Fuchs punched his ticket in the final.
“We ended up with three Lowry wrestlers in the finals, but we did not get a championship this year,” Brooks said. “We finished in fifth place, which is kind of unfamiliar territory for us, so we have to get better. A lot of our kids got eliminated early on Saturday, so we couldn’t score many team points.”
Sanchez went down to Mojave’s Sebastian James and Hayden Redd from Logandale.
Buckaroo sophomore Peterson made it to the final match by taking out Andre Mcgruder from Valley and Mekhi Brown from Mohave, before going down to Carl Hansen from Elko.
Chapman went out after two bouts, losing to Boulder City’s Ryan Vanario and Nicholas Service from Mohave.
“We have a good bunch of kids," Brooks said. "We are young, but we certainly have something to build on.”
