Lowry coaches Joe and John Brooks in the corner.
FALLON — With just six wrestlers at the NIAA State Wrestling Championships this past weekend at the Rafter 3C Arena in Fallon, most didn’t give Lowry High School much of a chance to do anything team wise.
All the Monday-morning quarterbacks were wrong, as Pete Bengochea captured his first state title at 106 pounds and senior Jhett Harber bruised his way to the top spot at 175 pounds, his third state title overall.
More importantly, four of the other five Buckaroo wrestlers, finished in the top four, giving Lowry the runner-up spot with 87 points.
Lowry's Pete Bengochea jumps into the arms of head coach John Brooks after winning the 106-pound state title on Saturday at the Rafter 3C Arena in Fallon.
Moapa Valley won the state title with 143.5 points.
Elko, the reigning three-time champion, finished third with 86.5 points and Fernley (78) and Spring Creek (60.5) rounded out the top five.
“If you brought six kids about 10 years ago, you would have gotten laughed at,” said LHS coach John Brooks. “You can’t do that now — you have to give all the credit in the world to these six kids, they worked their butt off. This thing was decided last week (regional tournament). You have to give credit to Moapa Valley. If we had a few more guys, we could have made a run. These six did all they could do.”
A year ago, Bengochea finished second at the state tournament in Bullhead City, Ariz., and the junior refocused and made sure that did not happen again.
Bengochea was dominant all weekend, winning all three matches by pin in the first period.
He reached the final with a pin in 70 seconds over Truckee’s Ace Pena and needed just three more seconds to pin Fernley’s Archie Mendez for the title.
Lowry's Jhett Harber finishes a pin of Moapa Valley's Jared Evans for the state title at 175-pound on Saturday at the Rafter 3C Arena in Fallon.
“It is pretty exciting right now,” Bengochea. “I am just happy I won state, especially with Jhett’s last year. It was great to have him right beside me. It was tough losing in the finals last year and that lit a fire under my butt. I was up in the room all summer thinking about a state title.”
Harber, who will head to New York and work on getting his pilot’s license, advanced to the final with a 40-second pin of Sunrise Mountain’s Emilio Dominguez and a 15-0 win over Pahrump Valley’s Iyan Boskett.
In a wild 175-pound championship match, Harber go the pin over Moapa Valley’s Jared Evans late in the third period.
The senior won his first state title at 157 pounds in 2023 and the 175-pound class in 2023.
“It feels great right now,” Harber said. “It is just a culmination of hard work the last three years. Winning the Rollie Lane gave me the confidence to finish out the year. I got refocused after my regional match and there was no way I was going to lose this week.”
Lowry's Odyn Santos controls his 138-pound third-place match against Moapa Valley's Caleb Anderson.
“You can’t say much more about those two,” Brooks said. “They came and out and were focused all year. Jhett is rare territory with three championships.”
Freshman Odyn Santos placed third at 138 pounds in his first state tournament.
After an opening-round pin, Santos dropped his semifinal bout but bounced back to pin Otis Ruth of Boulder City and Moapa Valley’s Caleb Anderson for third.
“I was impressed with him all year,” added the coach. “he worked his butt off and has a great future.”
Carlos Gomez at 113 pounds and Erick Valencia (157) each placed fourth.
Lowry's Erick Valencia ties up with Moapa Valley's Max Bromley.
Gomez, a freshman won the regional championship, was leading his first-round match 12-2 but a mistake caught him and he got pinned.
However, the young wrestler battled back through the consolation bracket to the third-place match.
Valencia won his quarterfinal match by pin but lost in the semifinals. The junior came back in the consolation semifinal to pin Elko’s Zuriel Mildren.
Freshman Ethan Garcia won one match at 120 pounds.
“All in all, it was a pretty good year,” Brooks said. “It will be tough to lose Jhett but we have some young wrestlers coming up. I just want them to stick it out and finish. They can do some good things if they do.”
Lowry's Carlos Gomez turns Pahrump Valley's Joseph Scheer on his back in a 113-pound match.