The Lowry High School wrestling team ended its regular season in style by winning the Vaquero Invitational this past weekend in Fernley.
The Buckaroos claimed their first tournament win of the season, scoring 235.50 points to beat Battle Mountain, who was second at 198.50. Fernley, the host, was third at 193.50 and Yerington (158.50) and Pershing County (145.50) rounded out the top five.
Lowry had a pair of champions on the weekend, with Isaiah Blanco winning at 113 pounds and Anthony Peterson at 182 pounds.
Blanco won his first two matches by pin against Reed’s Arturo Espinoza and Fernley’s Morgan Zalyniak.
In the semifinals, the senior defeated Reno’s Landen Keller 15-0 and he recorded another technical fall in the finale, beating Yerington’s Jonah Erickson 17-2.
Peterson had bye in round one and none his first three matches went longer than two minutes.
He pinned Hug’s Bernardo Velasquez, Battle Mountain’s Jorge Chavira and Reed’s Robert Carlbom to get to the 182-pound final.
Peterson needed just 2:55 to pin Battle Mountain’s Kris Hall in the final.
Taylor Corak at 126 pounds, was the lone runner-up for the Buckaroos.
After an opening-round bye, Corak pinned Wells’ Morgan Johnson with 12 seconds left in the first period.
He made his way to the final, beating teammate Ivan Contreras 17-1. Corak lost in triple overtime 6-4 to Battle Mountain’s Jordan Gonzalez.
Jimmy Rackley (132) and Cade Bell (145) finished third for the Buckaroos.
Rackley made his way into the semifinals with a forfeit victory and pins over Tonopah’s Anthony Gromis and Elko’s Ricky Calderon.
Rackley lost 15-0 to Battle Mountain’s Jose Guizar in the semifinals but secured an 8-6 overtime win over Reed’s Marco Budija to place third.
Bell pinned his first two opponents (Logan Davis, Yerington) and Aodan Farlow, Reno) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Bell reached the semifinals, when Luca Budija couldn’t continue due to injury.
Bell was knocked off by Pershing County’s Jayce Leyva in the semifinals but Bell won his next two matched by pin to claim third place.
Caden Ricci (138), Caleb Sanchez (170), Josiah Chapman (220) and Kole Mattson (285) all placed fourth.
Ricci used an 8-6 overtime victory over Fernley’s Kyle Jones to reach the semifinals.
He lost his semifinal bout to Chester’s Bonner Montgomery. Ricci won his consolation semifinal bout, but lost to Yerington’s Dante Revigilo for third place.
Sanchez won his first two matches by pin, when he was knocked off in the semifinals by Fernley’s Carter Chapin. Sanchez rebounded to beat Tonopah’s Brighton Skiles but lost to Battle Mountain’s Owen Oakes for third place.
Chapman cruised to two pins to start the tournament, before dropping his semifinal bout to Fernley’s Setriano. Chapman bounced back top pin Hug’s Angel Hernandez in 49 seconds in the consolation semifinals. He dropped the third-place bout to White Pine’s Kegan Hexem.
Mattson earned his fourth-place finish the hard way. He dropped his opening match to Battle Mountain’s Lyle Whitten. Mattson won his next three consolation matches, before losing to Whitten again for third place.
Isaac Mori (120) finished fifth and Ivan Contreras (126) was sixth.
Lowry is in Spring Creek this weekend for the Northern 3A duals.
The Buckaroos travel to Fernley on Feb. 1-2 for the Northern 3A Regional Championships. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.
The NIAA State Wrestling Championships will be held Feb. 8-9 at the Winnemucca Event Center.
For a full schedule of the state tournament, visit.www.niaa.com.
