MESQUITE — After hitting a bump in the road a season ago, where its streak of six consecutive state titles was snapped, the Battle Mountain High School wrestling team is back on top in the 2A in Nevada after winning its state record 19th state championship on Saturday at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
The Longhorns have three more state titles than any other school in the state. Lowry is second with 16.
Battle Mountain had to sweat out the final team standings until the end, winning with 201 points, while Yerington was second at 189.50. Spring Mountain was a distant third at 83 and Pahranagat Valley (60) and Lincoln County (57) rounded out the top five.
“It was nice to get it back,” said BMHS coach Mitch Domagala. “We don’t like that trophy getting to far away from us. We had our ups and downs. We had kids sick and hurt like everyone else. The kids pulled together when they needed to. Everyone here scored points and that’s what we needed. It’s a real true team title when everyone scores points. We had some new guys show up. With Track Wrestling now, you know what you have to do. As a coach it’s easier on me when you win by 100 points. This one made us sweat.”
Battle Mountain had seven wrestlers in the finals and brought home five individual crowns.
That group included Declan McClary at 126 pounds, Jose Guizar (132), Stone Whitlock (152), Kasen Taylor (160) and Lyle Whitten (285). Guizar became a three-time champion with his win at 132 pounds.
McClary received a bye in the quarterfinals and cruised to the championship on Friday in his only match on the mat, pinning Yerington’s Brock Bader in the second period. McClary found it tougher going in the final against Yerington’s Logan Galvin, but still brought home a 14-6 win.
Guizar began his run at three straight state championships, with a pin over Lincoln County’s Alex Liscio in the quarterfinals. Guizar earned a 6-0 win over Pershing County’s Dmitri Zveniatckovskii in the semifinal and a 12-7 win over Yerington’s Jonah Eriksen in the final.
“Declan is just a workhorse,” said Domagala. “He walks into practice everyday with a lunch pail and goes to work. With a work ethic like that, success follows you. Jose is just brutal and explosive. He proved himself all year.”
Whitlock, just a freshman, wrapped up the team title with his win at 152 pounds. He needed just 51 seconds to beat Spring Mountain’s Isaac McCamery in the quarterfinals. His final two matches went the distance, starting in the semifinals, with an 11-0 win over Yerington’s Logan Davis. Whitlock claimed his first state title with a 7-3 victory over Pershing County’s Nikita Pavolov.
“Stone came in as a freshmen and helped out,” added the coach. “We expected state place but a championship was icing on the cake.”
Taylor cruised to the finals at 160 pounds with two pins on the opening day of the tournament. He beat Lake Mead’s Christian Brunson in the quarterfinals and Laughlin’s Jack Tierce in the semifinals. Taylor dominated his championship bout, beating Eureka’s Chris Drayton 13-4.
Whitten won all three of his matches and was on the mat for just over 90 seconds on Friday. He opened with a 30-second pin over Pahranagat Valley’s Ronnie Zander and Yerington’s Hunter Lujan in 1:04 in the semifinals. In the last match of the tournament, Whitten pinned Pyramid Lake’s Joel (Aaron) Chavez in 75 seconds.
“Lyle closed it out in style,” said the coach. “If it came down to the last match, we felt comfortable with him.”
Jordan Gonzalez (138) and Thomas Amezcua (220) earned runner-up finishes. Gonzalez came in as the two-time reigning state champion at 126 pounds, but moved up to 138 this year. Gonzalez opened with a 26-pin of Spring Mountain’s Mark Rojas-Resendiz and made it to the final after pinning Eureka’s James Filippini. Gonzalez suffered a 13-2 loss to Yerington’s Dante Reveiglio.
After playing basketball the past couple of years, Amezcua came out for wrestling and finished second at 220 pounds. Amezcua pinned Laughlin’s Marcus Nolan in the quarterfinals and reached the finals with a 10-3 win over Lincoln County’s Seth Patrick. Amezcua dropped a 9-5 decision in the title bout to Pahranagat Valley’s Reece Thompson.
“Thomas wrestled as a freshman and played basketball for two years,” said the coach. “If it’s not for a shoulder injury, I think he beats that kid. Jordan stepped up take on the toughest kid in the state. He said bring him to me and lets go. He battled his butt off. We have a couple things to work on and he will battle Dante.”
Sean Scherer (106), Julio Torres (120) and Brice Domagala (195) placed third.Scherer won his opening bout by pin over West Wendover’s Andre Haro, but dropped a 9-2 decision in the semifinals to Spring Mountain’s Angel Ramirez. Scherer battled back through the consolation bracket to beat Lake Mead’s Bo Bryant and Yerington Travis Otto for third.
Torres reached the semifinal with a pin over The Meadows’ Brandon Riedy, but lost in the semifinals to Yerington’s Thorne Milligan. Torres came back through the consolation bracket and beat Riedy for a second time for third place.
Domagala drew a bye in the quarterfinals, but lost in the semifinals to Lake Mead’s Bryan White. After another bye, Domagala beat Smith Valley’s Owen Streeter for third.
“Sean came in as a freshman and really got our finals started,” Domagala said. “Julio came to us and had never wrestled in his life. He is a little Tazmanin Devil. Brice grew a lot and got in a bigger weight class and did good things.”
Jose N Guizar picked 11 points for Battle Mountain and finished fourth. Guizar won two matches over the weekend. Dalton Shake (170) and Cody Ostler (182) earned points but did not finish in the top four and Asher Bundrock wrestled as an extra at 160 pounds.
“Dalton showed so much improvement,” Domagala said. “He was a nice surprise this year. Cody just stepped up for us and came out of the hallway for us. I needed at 182 pounds and he took one for the team and for the school. He didn’t fell good this weekend, but stepped huge for us. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. We had 18 kids in the program and all 18 contributed. We even had our manager wrestle during practice and she was a big help.”
