Lowry's Jhett Harber scores back points in his fifth-place match at the Sierra Nevada Classic against Sutter's Richard Creer. Harber won the match 17-1.
The calendar may have just turned to 2025 but the Nevada high school wrestling season is heading into its final stretch with the state championships on the horizon on Feb. 7-8.
Lowry High School was part of the 96-team Sierra Nevada Classic held last week at the Reno Events Center.
The tournament begins a brutal stretch of events for the Buckaroos, until the duals at the end of January.
Lowry had two wrestlers advance to the second day of the Sierra Nevada Classic. Jhett Harber placed fifth at 175 pounds and Pete Bengochea advanced to day two at 106 pounds.
Lowry finished 27th as a team with 78 points and Central won the meet with 224.50 points.
“We took 13 wrestlers to compete and as usual, the competition was very stiff,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “In the end, Jhett finished up in fifth, losing to the champion and the third-place finisher. Pete also had a solid showing. He got derailed by a heartbreaking loss to a kid from Burns. Those were the only two that made it to the second day, which is disappointing.”
Harber was in his second straight week of tough wrestling, after competing in the Reno Tournament of Champions the week before.
Harber picked up a pair of pins over Reno’s Maxwell Vohland and Coronado’s Ryder McEuen.
Lowry's Jhett Harber placed fifth at 175 pounds at the Sierra Nevada Classic.
The senior continued his way with a 13-6 decision over Lassen’s Quentin Maumoyiner to reach the quarterfinal. In that round, a possible state tournament match-up happened, as Harber pulled out a 12-8 decision over Moapa Valley’s Jared Evans.
In the semifinals, Harber lost a 17-1 decision to eventual champion Anthony Vargas of Central. Shadow Ridge’s Malahkai Berry beat Harber 8-1 in the consolation semifinal.
Harber bounced back to beat Sutter’s Richard Creer for fifth.
Bengochea moved down to 106 pounds for the Sierra Nevada Classic and had little trouble in the first two rounds, with a 17-2 win over Eagle Point’s Talen Elizando and pin over Churchill County’s Braylon Byrd in just 76 seconds in the second round.
In the third round, Bengochea trailed Burns’ Liam Shepherd 7-2 after the first period. Bengochea rallied to cut the lead to 9-8 at the start of the third period and led 11-10 with 53 seconds to go after a takedown but Shepherd scored the last three points to win the match.
Bengochea bounced back to beat Shasta’s Jaxson Headrick but was eliminated in the next round.
Ethan Garcia collected two wins at 113 pounds and Odyn Santos won three matches at 138 pounds for the Buckaroos.
“We are pretty young (four freshmen in the line-up),” Brooks said. “Odyn and Ethan are two freshmen that held up alright, with each putting up a few wins.”
Kruz Gomez (120), Bradyn Snyder (132), Teyo Gomez (144), Ben Marvel (150), Giovanni Monroy (157), Randy Patterson (165), Jose Villagomez (190) and Longan Jonas (285) picked up wins for Lowry.
Lowry heads to Idaho this weekend, taking a group to the extremely competitive Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa, with another group will compete in a tournament at Mountain View High School.