With just a month to go in the season, the competition is starting to get better and better every week for the Lowry High School wrestling team.
The Buckaroos closed out the calendar year at the Sierra Nevada Classic and were in Idaho last weekend for the Rollie Lane Invitational that featured over 80 teams from around the west.
Lowry’s Anthony Peterson finished sixth at 182 pounds and the Buckaroos were 38th in the team standings with 57.50 points.
Kuna, Idaho, won the tournament with 189 points and Post Falls was second at 171.50. Couer D’Alene (147), Nampa (138) and Lakeland (137) rounded out the top five. McQueen was the highest finishing Nevada team in 33rd and Elko was 45th.
“It’s a different kind of wrestling up here in Idaho,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “It’s one of the toughest tournaments if not the toughest we go to. We do it for a reason and that is to get better. We learned that we need to get better. I was disappointed that we lost some matches that we shouldn’t have.”
Peterson was the highest finishing Buckaroo, advancing to the championship semifinals, before suffering his first loss.
The junior opened with a pin over Crook County’s Arron Bowen in the first period. Peterson had to go the distance in his next three matches, beating Lakeland’s John White 3-2 and Lewiston’s Rueben Thill 3-2.
Peterson had to go into overtime in the quarterfinals, where he picked up a take down to beat Timberlake’s Joey Follini 3-1.
Peterson dropped his semifinal match to Remington Winmill of Wendell by a 15-5 decision.
He dropped to the consolation semifinals where Peterson lost to Redmond’s Austin Carr. Peterson came up short in the fifth-place match losing 11-1 to MaHonri Rushon of Baker/Powder Valley.
“Anthony had a pretty good weekend,” Brooks said. “Anytime you can finish in the top six up there, you have accomplished something. He had a lot of six-minute matches and his conditioning is getting there.”
Kole Mattson (285) reached the sixth round in the consolation bracket. After getting a first-round bye, Mattson pinned Idaho Falls’ Landon Gneiting in the second period.
Mattson lost in round three to Lakeland’s Sam Feusier, but rallied for two wins in the consolation round. He beat Century’s Muricio Gonzalez and Tempus Fugit of Timberline, before falling to Kuna’s Gavin Heindel.
Heindel was 30-1 on the season coming into the match.
Cade Bell at 145 pounds made it to the sixth round of the consolation bracket before being eliminated.
Bell pinned his first two opponents, Dawson Williams of Burns and Eagle’s Mathew Kelley within 73 seconds. Bell was defeated in the third round in a 1-3 decision to Couer D’ Alene’s Nolan Randels.
Bell bounced back with decision victories over Jake Eskew of Baker/Powder Valley and Adrian Vivanco of Eastlake. Bell was knocked out of the tournament in the next round with a 9-8 loss to Silverton’s Kody Kouments.
Taylor Corak at 138 made his way into the championship quarterfinals, starting with a pin over Elko’s Ricky Calderon. The senior then beat Dylon Fehrs of Ridgevue 5-3 and Gage Holt of Thunder Ridge 9-6.
Corak found himself in a battle in the quarterfinals, with the match tied at 1-1 after regulation against Riley Siegford of Lakeland. However, Siegford gained the upper hand in overtime for the 4-1 win. Corak ended the tournament in the next round with a 4-3 loss to Tyson Clark of Madison.
“Cade and Taylor lost a couple matches they probably shouldn’t have,” Brooks said. “It’s something they will have to learn from. It’s matches like that, we need to win at the end of the year.”
Caden Ricci reached the fourth round of the consolation bracket at 132 pounds. Ricci opened the tournament with a 16-1 win over Capital’s Jamison Hunt, but lost in the next round. He bounced back to win two matches in the consolation bracket, before being eliminated.
Jesse Hawkins picked up three team points with his win over Timberlake’s Paul Shaner.
In the second chance tournament on Saturday, Angel Huerta (113), Isaac Mori (126) and Ricci (132) each picked up wins.
Lowry is in Minden this weekend for the Douglas Tournament. The Buckaroos will be in Spring Creek on Jan. 17-18 for the Kiwanis Invitational.
Lowry will host a dual for senior night on Wednesday, Jan. 22 against Yerington at 5 p.m.
