The winningest high school wrestling program in the history of Nevada is leaving its perch above the gym at Battle Mountain High School and moving down the street.
The Battle Mountain wrestling program, which has won a state-record 19 state championships, including 16 under 27-year head coach Mitch Domagala, has taken over the old junior high gym that has been used for storage the past few years.
After months of work on the building, Domagala was set to leave football practice for a few minutes on Tuesday, Nov. 9, to show the Lander School District Board of Trustees the nearly complete project.
What the coach did not know was that former wrestlers, coaches as far away as Fernley and Reno and members of the community were on hand in the gym as the group walked into the gym.
To his surprise, the board was there to honor the coach for his 27 years of service to the program. In addition, the facility will be known as the “Mitch Domagala Wrestling Center.”
“That was not the sign I approved for the building,” Domagala told the crowd, as he did his best to hold back his emotions. “I expected to show the board what we have done and I did not expect this. I was ready to go back to football practice. In the end it’s not about me. It’s about the wrestlers, coaches, families and community that have helped build this program.”
Domagala came to Battle Mountain in 1995 after a stint as a teacher and coach in Tonopah. Since then, his teams have won 16 state championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.
The Longhorns were the state runner-up in 1995, 2009, 2011 and 2019.
Those 27 years as head coach adds up to 350 weeks, over 2,100 days and 85,000 hours, which equals over 40-hours a week during the wrestling season.
Domagala is the all-time winningest coach in Nevada history with a dual record of 449-131-3. He has coached 93 individual state champions and 238 state placers.
Domagala has coached six All-Americans in Artie Clark, Brandon Schultz, David Dominguez, Andrew Cox, Jeff Oakes (twice) and Cameron Thompson.
He has had 11 wrestlers go on to the next level and wrestle in college. That group includes Richard Cox (Gardner-Webb), Carlos Beccera (Dickinson State), Artie Clark (Lassen and Western Colorado), John Sandru (university of North Dakota), Kasey Jones (Oklahoma City College), Erick Haney (Dickinson State), Jonas Norman (Simpson College), Andrew Cox (Waldorf College), Jeff Oakes (Northwestern Wyoming) and Cameron Thompson (Big Bend College).
“Wrestling is his passion,” said Lander County School District Board of Trustees President Mike Chopp to the crowd on hand. “He has dedicated his career to helping BMHS wrestlers be successful on and off the mat.”
