The Winnemucca Junior High School seventh and eighth-grade wrestling team was in Lovelock on Saturday, March 26, for the Tah-Neva Championships.
The Warrior eighth-graders won the team title with 178 points, beating out Churchill County at 147.50. Yerington (89), White Pine (69) and Fernley (64) rounded out the top five.
Fernley won the seventh-grade team title with 207 points and Winnemucca was seventh with 156.50 points.
Dayton was a close third with 155 points and White Pine (117) and Churchill County (82) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
“We qualified 30 wrestlers to compete in the Tah-Neva Championship,” said coach John Brooks. “I was proud of the way the kids wrestled and I certainly hope that they continue to wrestle for the years to come.
In the eighth-grade division, Kruze Gomez at 95 pounds, Erick Valencia (130), Donovan Walker (140) and Amador Guzman (heavyweight) won individual titles.
Gomez pinned Carson Valley’s Cole Liles and Churchill County’s Evan Mackuliak to win his title.
Valencia won both of his matches by pin as well over Oasis Academy’s Chase Ackerman and Dayton’s Jax Jones.
Walker had just one match on the day and earned a 6-4 decision over South Tahoe’s Jayden Cenidoza. Guzman won his first two matches by decision and pinned Pau-Wa-Lu’s Izaak Conkle in the final.
Pete Bengochea (85), Jory Harber 990), Maddux Hislop (110), Adan Morfin (120) and TJ Mattson (160) each finished second. Anthony Perez finished third at 135 pounds and Chase Cheever was fourth at 125 pounds.
In the seventh-grade division, Ethan Garcia at 80 pounds and Ale Huerta (155) won individual titles for Winnemucca.
Garcia opened with a pin over Dayton’s Alexander Chandler and advanced to the finals with an 8-5 decision in the semifinals over White Pine’s You Guevarra.
In the championship, Garcia earned a 13-2 major decision over Dayton’s Maddox Orion.
Huerta was on the mat for a combined 49 second sin his first matches.
In the quarterfinals, he pinned Yerington’s Korbin Sencion in 25 seconds and it took 24 seconds to beat Dayton’s Kasen Barbee. Huerta closed out the day in style, pinning Churchill County’s Trayden Huckaby I 16 seconds for the top spot.
Aiden Matthews 975), Teyo Gomez (90), Odyn Santos (100) and Kaszin Gonzalez (heavyweight) placed second.
Maddux Nichols (75) and Uriah Davis (120) were third and Michael Braun placed fourth at 135 pounds.
