The Lowry High School wrestling team wrapped up its regular season this past weekend with a third-place finish the 20th annual Walter Marrietta Vaquero Classic in Fernley.
Spanish Springs, the two-time defending 4A state champion, won the tournament with 258 points, while host Fernley was second at 211. Lowry had 178.50 points and Carson (147) and Yerington (143) rounded out the top five.
“Spanish Springs came in with a lot of their A guys,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “They are a tough team. I wasn’t too happy finishing behind Fernley. They were missing a couple guys and was still able to beat us. We have some work ahead of us in the next couple weeks.”
The Buckaroos’ Anthony Peterson at 182 pounds and Kole Mattson (285) won individual titles over the weekend.
Peterson did not have a match go beyond the first period, winning all four bouts in less than two minutes. The junior knocked off Carson’s Zach Gafford in the opening round and Eureka’s Kaden Briones in the quarterfinals. Peterson needed just 34 seconds to pin Douglas’ Sam Harley in the semifinals and he closed out the tournament, beat Fernley’s Nathan Glass in 74 seconds.
It was an easy weekend for Mattson as well, winning three matches by pin. He had a first-round bye and in his first match, he pinned teammate Hunter Smith in the first period. Mattson was just on the mat for 30 seconds in his semifinal bout against Battle Mountain’s Lyle Whitten. His longest time on the mat was in the finale, as he pinned Spanish Springs’ Wyatt Lallement a minute into the second period.
Isaac Mori at 126 pounds and Cade Bell (145) earned runner-up finishes for the Buckaroos. Mori received a first-round bye and made his way into the quarterfinals with a 10-2 win over Fernley’s Lucas Jurich. The junior knocked off Elko’s Kristopher Logue and Yerington’s Logan Galvin by pin to reach the final against Spanish Springs Devin Griffin.
After a first round bye at 145 pounds, Bell spent just a little over a minute on the mat in his next two matches combined. Bell pinned Chester’s Joe Garrett in 38 seconds and Fernley’s Ashton Brownwell in 30 seconds to reach the semifinals. Bell went the full six minutes against Eureka’s James Filippini in an 8-1 victory, but lost a 7-4 decision to Yerington’s Donavan Coplin in the finale.
Angel Huerta (113), Wade Mori (120) and Taylor Corak (132) placed fourth for Lowry.
Huerta advanced to the semifinals with wins over North Valleys’ Adrian Rusceetta and White Pine’s Nafanua Vinson. Huerta dropped to the consolation bracket after a semifinal loss to Douglas’ Elzie Morris. Huerta bounced back to beat Fernley’s Morgan Zolyniak, but lost to Carson’s Ariel Vega in the third-place bout.
Wade Mori, a tougher battle through the bracket, after a quarterfinal loss to North Valleys’ Andrew McClung. The freshman won his next three matches over Smith Valley’s Chad Giovacchine, North Valleys’ Alex Conner and Bishop Manogue’s Luke Kozlowski by pin. Mori suffered an 11-7 loss to Elko’s Blaze Jones in the third-place match.
Corak had little trouble getting to the semifinals, winning two matches by pin and another 13-0. The senior took on Chester’s Callum Kremer in the semifinals, with Kremer earning a 7-2 win. Corak came back to pin Douglas’ Jaden Blanchard in the consolation semifinals, but lost the third-place match 9-6 to Spanish Springs’ Dallin Gresko.
Caden Ricci at 138 pounds advanced to the consolation third round. Ricci had a tough opener, losing 7-5 in overtime to Carson’s Max Harris. The junior won his next two matches, before being eliminated.
Juan Lopez and at 195 pounds Jeremiah Simmons at 285 pounds also reached the third round of the consolation bracket.
Lowry is in Elko this weekend for the Northern 3A Duals, which determines part of the seeding for the Northern 3A Regional Championships. The Northern 3A Regional Championships will be Feb. 7-8 at Sparks High School. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the NIAA State Championships in Mesquite on Feb. 14-15.
