The Lowry High School wrestling team was back on the mats last weekend in Elko County for the annual Spring Creek Kiwanis Invitational that draws teams from Idaho and southern Nevada.
The Buckaroos placed seventh in the field of nearly 30 teams with 126 points, as host Spring Creek ran away with the title with 306 points. Fernley was second at 189.50 and Caldwell, Idaho (184.50), Virgin Valley (183) and Twin Falls, Idaho, (149) rounded out the top five.
“This is one of the better tournaments we go to,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “You had some of these weight classes that were stacked with some really good wrestlers. We picked up a couple good wins, but lost a couple that we shouldn’t have had. I am that guy that looks at those losses and thinks what we could have done better to win it.”
Anthony Peterson at 182 pounds and Kole Mattson (285) earned runner-up finishes for the Buckaroos.
After a first-round bye, Peterson cruised to the final with three wins by fall. The junior pinned Pahranagat Valley’s Jacob Griffin in the second period of his first match and collected another second-period pin in the quarterfinals to beat Reno’s Adam Clawson.
Peterson’s quickest match of the weekend was in the semifinals, when he pinned Fernley’s Nathan Glass in the first period. Peterson was knocked off in the final by Churchill County’s Tommy McCormick.
Mattson also had a first-round bye at 285 pounds and won his first three matches by pin as well.
When he got on the mat, Mattson opened with a third-period pin over Elko’s Alfredo Flores and continued that into the quarterfinals, pinning Reno’s Kedrick White with nine seconds left in the first period.
Mattson made his way into the final, beating Virgin Valley’s Wyatt Hillius in the second period and in the championship bout, Mattson lost 3-0 to Caldwell’s Miguel Pierce. Pierce is 35-6 on the season and Mattson is 21-6.
Caden Ricci (138) turned in a fourth-place finish, battling back through the consolation bracket.
After a first-round bye, Ricci pinned Moapa Valley’s Clay Whipple in the second period. The junior lost to Caldwell’s Armando Juarez in the quarterfinals by pin, but he would see Juarez later in the tournament.
Ricci dropped to the consolation bracket, where he pinned Buhl’s Alan Jaramillo and beat Wells’ 8-3 to reach the consolation semifinals.
Ricci picked up an 18-7 win over Fernley’s Kyle Jones in the semifinals, to take on Juarez again in the third-place bout. Ricci made it a much-tougher match, losing 7-6.
“Caden had a nice tournament,” added the coach. “He got pinned by the kid from Caldwell the first time and battled back to take him to the end in the third-place match. His win over the Jones kid from Fernley was good too.”
Taylor Corak (132) placed fifth and Angel Huerta (113) was sixth for the Buckaroos.
Corak made his way into the quarterfinals with pins over Churchill County’s Everdmar Garcia and Josiah Etchechoury and 8-0 win over Reno’s Colton Sellers.
The senior dropped his semifinal match 2-0 to Spring Creek’s Riley Fuchs and the consolation semifinal 2-1 to Caldwell’s August Pena.
Corak had go triple overtime to beat Rocky Mountain’s Kaden Hine 2-1.
“That was a tough weight class,” added the coach. “He lost two matches by a combined three points and win fifth place in overtime.”
Huerta had to earn his sixth-place finish the hard way, as the sophomore lost his first match of the tournament to Caldwell’s Hunter Bidiman.
Huerta fought through the consolation bracket to pin Churchill County’s Lucas Prinz, Yerington’s Jace Smith and Douglas’ Elzie Morris.
Huerta took on Birdiman again in the fifth round of the consolation bracket and beat the Caldwell grappler 7-6 after getting pinned in the first round. However, Huerta dropped his last two matches to place sixth.
Cade Bell reached the fifth round of the consolation bracket, picking up a pair of wins at 145 pounds. Bell reached the quarterfinals, suffering a 9-7 loss to Spring Creek’s Joey MacDiarmid.
Isaac Mori (126), Juan Lopez (195) and Boni Jacinto (285) all reached the fourth round of the consolation bracket.
Lowry travels to Fernley this weekend for its final tournament of the regular season. The Buckaroos will be in Elko on Jan. 31-Feb. 1, for the Northern 3A League Duals.
The Northern 3A Regional Championships take place Feb. 7-8 at Sparks High School.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the NIAA State Championships on Feb. 14-15 at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
