Students visit community pond to release classroom-grown trout
After going undefeated the week before at the Northern 3A duals, the Lowry High School wrestling team had a mixed bag of results this past weekend at the Northern 3A Regional Championships at Wooster High School in Reno.
The Buckaroos crowned four individual champions but will send just six grapplers to Fallon and the Rafter 3C Arena this weekend in Fallon.
Pete Bengochea at 106 pounds. Carlos Gomez (113), Odyn Santos (138) and Jhett Harber (175) won individual titles.
Harber is the only senior in that group, with Gomez and Santos qualifying for state in their freshman year. Bengochea is a junior.
Erick Valencia finished second at 157 pounds and Ethan Garcia placed third at 120 pounds.
Elko won the team title with 252 points, while Lowry placed second at 213. Spring Creek (170), Churchill County )155) and Fernley (152) closed out the top five.
“Well, we had a mixed bag of proud moments and disappointments,” said LHS head coach John Brooks. “We got five wrestlers into the finals, winning four of them. The disappointing part is that we only qualified six wrestlers for next week and we certainly expected several more. These tournaments can be strange sometimes. Elko simply had the better day. Three of our qualifiers (two champions) are freshmen, which is promising.”
After an opening-round bye, Bengochea won his opening match by pin but faced his toughest opponent in the semifinals.
Bengochea earned a 10-4 decision over Fernley’s Archie Mendez and then cruised to a first-period win over Elko’s Bradley Nelson in the final.
In a small 113-pound weight class, Gomez wrestled only twice on his way to the title, winning both by pin.
He knocked off Uriah Webber of North Valleys in the second period.
Following a first-round bye, Santos needed just 95 seconds to pin Elko’s Octaviann Cordova to reach the semifinals.
The freshman quickly blanked Hug’s Sergio Olivera 15-0 and he defeated Fernley’s Isaid Solis in the title bout.
Harber faced just two wrestlers as well, winning the first by pin. He won the 175-pound weight class with a wild 22-17 win over Elko’s Chaddrick Kappes. Harber led comfortably at 6-1 after the first period, when Kappes scored the next nine points on a reversal, including a 4-point near fall. Kappes led 9-7 after four minutes of action.
Harber came back with the first five points in the third period and then got a takedown with 24 seconds left to get the win.
Valencia reached the semifinals with a 17-0 demolition of Spring Creek’s Nick Lusk and advanced to the final at 157 pounds with a second-period pin over Dayton’s Cash Schneider. Valencia lost to Fernley’s Riley McCullar in the championship.
Garcia, a freshman at 120 pounds, was one of the busiest wrestlers at 120 pounds.
He won his quarterfinal bout by pin but lost in the semifinals to Spring Creek’s Joe Gillespie. Garcia rallied for two wins, including a 10-4 decision over Truckee’s Schnurrenberger for third place.
Kruz Gomez at 126 pounds, Teyo Gomez (132), Randy Patterson (165) and Logan Jonas (285) each placed fourth and were one spot out of advancing to state. Jayden Howard was sixth at 144 pounds.
The NIAA State Wrestling Championships start at noon on Friday at the Rafter 3C Arena in Fallon. The wrestling continues on Saturday at 9 a.m., with the finals at 1:30 p.m.
Carlos Gomez
Jhett Harber
Odyn Santos
Pete Bengochea