STATE CHAMPS Battle Mountain cruises to state championship; 21st in school history
There are three givens in this world. Death, taxes and the Battle Mountain High School wrestling team.
The Longhorns claimed the NIAA 2A State Championship this past Saturday in Winnemucca.
The Longhorns won their 21st title overall, the most overall in the state of Nevada. Lowry is second with 16.
Cruz Jimenez at 106 pounds, Sean Scherer (113), Liam Bundrock (120), Asher Bundrock (157) and Stone Whitlock won individual championships.
Battle Mountain won with 157 points, easily out-distancing Yerington at 95. Pahranagat Valley was third at 91 and Lake Mead (90) and White Pine (86) rounded out the top five.
“I am just so proud of the kids, they came a long way from the start of the year,” said BMHS coach Torrey Vezina. “This being my first year as coach it takes the kids a while to get adjusted to my style. It turned around for us at the Fernley tournament. A couple days before we got a big dual win over Fernley then got our butts kicked by Lowry. We had a heart-to-heart talk after that and we showed up in Fernley and we got after ever since.”
Jimenez cruised in his first two matches, with first-period pins over Alexandra Lopez of The Meadows and Yerington’s Seth Otto.
Jimenez had to work for his state title with a 3-2 win over Yerington’s Eric Pineda. Jimenez finished second last year.
Scherer claimed his second state title in style with three pins. He opened with a 46-second pin of Andy Savio of The Meadows and reached the finals with a pin of Cyler Leeds of Lincoln County.
In the final, Scherer though for a moment he was going to be disqualified for taking White Pine’s Casetin Gubler hard to the mat on a slam. Gubler continued and Scherer pinned him for the win.
Bundrock picked up two pins and a decision on his way through the tournament to claim his second title. Bundrock opened with a first-period pin over Lake Mead’s Joseph Calavano. He reached the final with a pin over Lincoln County’s Trustin Bazil.
He overcame a slow start in the final to beat Rio Hughes of Pahranagat Valley 8-4.
Asher Bundrock closed out his senior season with a state championship at 157 pounds. Bundrock was his opening match by pin over Pahranagat Valley’s Devon Lake but had to fight his way from there.
In the semifinals, he beat Lincoln County’s Jay Gussie 2-0. The match was tied 0-0 after two periods, when Bundrock got a reversal in the third period.
It was the same story in the final with a 1-0 victory against Levi Schmidt of Lake Mead. Bundrock got an escape in the first period to lead 1-0 and withstood a flurry from Schmidt in the final two minutes.
Whitlock had one of the most impressive weekends and was on the mat for just over 90 seconds. He pinned Lake Mead’s Matt Camby in 37 seconds in the quarterfinals and needed just 16 seconds to pin Brock Lasike of Pahranagat Valley in the semifinals.
He won his second title with a 40-second pin over Lincoln County’s Aiden McRory,
Wyatt Madalena at 150 pounds finished second. Madalena opened with a 4-2 win over Stetson Perkins of Lincoln County. He advanced to the finals with a pin over Wells’ Thomas French but lost in the finals to Zach Ramsey of The Meadows.
Ben George in his first year with the program finished third at 285 pounds. He notched a 4-3 win in the quarterfinals over Laughlin’s Juan Gavan and then lost in the semifinals.
George won his consolation semifinal match by pin and captured third with a pin over Wells’ Vander Strong.
James Spealman finished fourth at 126 pounds with a pair of wins.
Aiden Ruggles at 144 pounds and Scott Wall at 175 also picked p wins for the Longhorns.
“We were kind of off and on for much of the year,” Vezina said. “We weren’t sure which Battle Mountain team would show up to what tournament and which kid would perform well or not. Late in the year something clicked and we found that next level. I appreciate the kids so much. They came with a purpose in the final weeks and it showed. We will get back at next year and see what we can do.”