Minus its head coach and a few wrestlers, the Lowry High School wrestling team made the short trip to Fernley this past weekend for the Walter Marrietta Vaquero Classic.
Despite not having an individual champion, the Buckaroos posted five runner-up finishes on their way to the team title with 233.5 points.
Douglas was second at 188.5 and Spanish Springs (170), Fernley (169.5) and Reed (148) rounded out the top five in the team standings.
“We had a few people out, including me, with Covid concerns and that’s the kind of year it is,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “We won the tournament in but we had no champions. On the positive side, every wrestler contributed points, which is how you win tournaments. On the down side, too many matches got away from us that we were winning. We are heading into the part of the season where you have to win those matches, or your season is over. We have this week and next to drive home how important this point is.”
Coda Nichols at 106 pounds, Marcas Ricci (113), Christopher Gildone (132), Wade Mori (138) and Damon Fetty (152) reached the finals for the Buckaroos and placed second.
Nichols made his way into the finals with three pins in quick fashion. The junior needed just 72 seconds to win his first-round match over Elko’s Carlos Marquez. Nichols was on the mat for just 31 seconds in the second round, pinning McQueen’s Jack Frankmore.
Nichols reached the finals with a pin over Spanish Springs’ Justin Ruiz, before getting knocked off by Battle Mountain freshman Cruz Jimenez in the final.
The 113-pound class didn’t have a bracket and was wrestled in rounds. Ricci wrestled seven times, winning six of the matches all by pin. Five of the victories were in 46 seconds or less, including wins over Bishop Manogue’s Vance Heit in 13 seconds, Bishop Mangoue’s Brock Bryant in 18 seconds and Tonopah’s Montana Strozzi in 20 seconds.
The only match Ricci lost was to Battle Mountain’s Sean Scherer.
Gildone had a much more relaxed weekend with just three matches. After an opening round bye, Gildone pinned West Wendover’s Joey Salas in 69 seconds.
Gildone reached the finals with a 10-6 win over Churchill County’s Lucas Prinz. In the championship, Gildone found himself in a high-scoring match against Wooster’s Ian Harshbarger, coming up short 15-10.
Mori earned two first-period wins by fall on his way to the semifinal. The junior pinned Fernley’s Emmanuel Galvan in the first round and Douglas’ Matthew Deaton in the quarterfinals in just 39 seconds.
Mori won by technical fall (16-1) in the semifinals over Reed’s Jacob Murdock, but was knocked off in the final by Churchill County’s Isiah Diaz in a 14-10 decision.
Fetty had five matches on the weekend at 152 pounds and the junior won the first four by pin. Fetty needed just 41 and 40 seconds, respectively, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Fetty pinned Pershing County’s Wyatt Hughes at the end of the first period and reached the finals when he used a second-period pin to beat Fernley’s Austin Kollar. Fetty lost the championship bout to Sergio Rivas-Martinez of Spanish Springs.
Brenton Baker placed third at 126 pounds. The junior picked up a first-round bye and quickly disposed of Tonopah’s Drew Otteson in 43 second sin the second round. Baker pinned Douglas’ Gunner Morris in the quarterfinals, but lost to Wells Jake Glascock.
Baker came back in the consolation semifinal to pin Yerington’s Travis otto in 38 seconds and Baker pinned Eureka’s Quinn Filippini for third place.
Boni Jacinto was fourth at 285 pounds, as the senior reached the semifinals with pins over Yerington’s Floyd Thomas and Elko’s Luke Bennett. Jacinto lost to Fernley’s Tyler Slaughter in the semifinals but bounced back in the consolation semifinals with an escape to win 1-0 over Wooster’s Gavin Halman. After beating Bennett in the quarterfinals, the Elko wrestler came back to beat Jacinto for third place.
David Walker was fifth for the Buckaroos at 220 pounds, picking up four wins. The sophomore pinned Battle Mountain’s Dalton Shake to claim fifth place.
Logan Ricci (120), David Hunter (145), Jhett Harber (160) and Luke Fentress (182) all finished sixth for Lowry.
Jorge Ochoa placed for the Lowry Gold squad, winning four of his seven matches.
