The annual Kiwanis Invitational Tournament provides an opportunity for the best wrestling teams in the region to come together to battle on the mats.
With teams from Idaho and throughout the state of Nevada gathering to do battle, the Longhorns were eager to see where they stacked up in the standings.
Spring Creek won its home tournament with 312 points, while Minico, Idaho, was second at 180.5. Lowry was third with 162 points and Reed (155) and Buhl, Idaho (141) rounded out the top five.
The boys from Battle Mountain secured a solid finish in the team standings at the end of the two day event. Battle Mountain was 12th with 93 points,
“We were anxious to see where we were at as far as competing against the best goes. Any chance we get to compete against top competition is great, it’s the only way to get better,” said BMHS coach Domagala.
With the majority of their wrestlers in the event, the Longhorns were well represented in the win column.
Jordan Gonzalez lead the way with a third place finish in his 126-pound weight class.
He was joined on the medals stand by Daegan McClary in fourth place and Jose Guizar brought home sixth place.
“These three had the biggest weight classes in the tournament and just continued to battle the whole way. They just kept fighting,” Domagala said.
Owen Oakes, Kris Hall and Ricardo Carrillo came within one match of placing as they all posted 4-2 records over the two day event.
Also racking up wins for the Longhorns were Declan McClary, Jose N. Guizar, Michael Malone, Catrina Shake, Jacee Herald, Dalton Shake, Alex Jones, Zach Duggan, Jorge Chavira, Brice Domagala, Tristin Cordingley, Tyler Rochester and Lyle Whitten.
“This group does a great job for our team. They continually score points for us at every event. With the way they practice, they’ll break through and be contenders at the end of the season,” addd the coach.
The Longhorn wrestlers will be traveling to Fernley this weekend to compete in the annual Vaquero Classic.
On Friday, Jan. 25, the Longhorns will host the Northern AA League Duals. Action starts in the home gym at 1 p.m.
The Northern 2A Regional Championship will take place Saturday, Feb. 2, at Pershing County High School in Lovelock. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.
The NIAA State Wrestling Championships take place Feb. 8-9 at the Winnemucca Events Center.
