The Battle Mountain High School wrestling was able to make its way through the weather and road conditions to the Kiwanis Invitational this past weekend in Spring Creek.
The Longhorns finished 12th in the team standings with 69 points. Elko narrowly defeated Buhl (Idaho) for the team title (238.5-237). Caldwell (224), Weiser (204) and Moapa Valley (157.5) completed the top five.
Liam Bundrock at 126 pounds and Ben George (285) placed fourth and Cruz Jimenez at 120 pounds placed fifth.
Bundrock made his way into the semifinals with three pins in his first three matches. In the quarterfinals, he pinned Tonopah’s Dustin Otteson in 11 seconds.
Bundrock lost in the semifinals to Caldwell’s Draven Johns. Johns came into the tournament with a 46-2 record for the Idaho school. Bundrock cruised to a victory by pin in the consolation semifinals over Churchill County’s Andre Green but lost in the third-place match to Weiser’s Cole Ingle.
Geroge fought back to the third-place match the hard way after losing a quarterfinal match to Weiser’s Dylann Ashley. That was Geroge’s first bout after receiving two byes.
George came back to beat to Weiser wrestlers in the consolation bracket, including a 2-1 overtime victory over Kaiden Peck.
Jimenez advanced to the championship semifinals with pins over Wells’ Johnny Glascock and Spring Creek’s Trent Whitely.
Jimenez lost in the semifinals to Elko’s Marco Romero, who was 30-1 on the season.
After a medical forfeit in the consolation semifinals, Jimenez beat Buhl’s Dryssen Loos for fifth place.
Wyatt Madalena (157), Logan Brizzee (165) and Leo Mathias (215) reached the consolation fourth round and earned 14 team points.
In the girls tournament, Battle Mountain’s Dani Madalena finishes fourth in the 114/120-pound weight class.
Madalena received byes into the semifinal round, where she lost to Wells’ Tegan Remmington.
Madalena bounced back to pin Elko’s Jazmein Vasquez in 31 seconds in the consolation semifinals but lost the third-place bout to Douglas’ Jasmine Tamondong.
BMHS takes on Moapa Valley at
Gold City Duals
On Thursday, Jan. 11, Battle Mountain traveled to Elko for the Gold City Duals. The Longhorns took on Moapa Valley, with the Pirates winning 47-30.
Battle Mountain took a 12-0 lead in the dual with pins from Liam Bundrock and Aiden Jenkins. Moapa Valley returned the favor and cut the deficit to 12-11 with wins at 138 and 144 pounds.
Andy Wall beat Jayden Stanley 14-8 at 150 pounds and Wyatt Madalena pinned Ryker Katich at 157 pounds to give the Longhorns a 21-12 advantage.
However, the Pirates won the next four matches — two by pin and two by forfeit to take control of the dual.
Ben George won by forfeit at 285 pounds and Cruz Jimenez collected a 4-0 win over Caleb Anderson at 103 pounds.