Jaymie George, Landen Burt and Ayden Anderson admire their wrestling certificates.
There’s nothing like the end of a Pershing County High School sports season.
Last week, on winter sports awards night, Lovelock families gathered in the high school auditorium to honor the spirit squad, the boys and girls basketball teams and wrestlers.
The 2024-25 sports year was loaded with firsts, almost and dramatic moments.
For the first time, the spirit squad cheered not only for basketball but for wrestling.
Lily Anderson-Burt Alejandra Pineda, Hailey Charles, Lillian Wagner, Lauren Poffenroth, Ariana Garcia, Sugeily Valtierra and Diana Pineda had plenty to cheer about.
As coaches Mike and Buzz Brooks handed out the wrestling awards, the 2A runner-up trophy gleamed on a table in the center of the stage.
The wrestling program had another huge turnout after years of near dormancy.
The team came within one point of winning the state championship and sent the first girl in the school’s history, Magdalena Ramirez, to the state competition.
Of the 15 wrestlers who qualified to compete at state, two won first-place medals for their weight classes.
Angelo Gibson, a senior, won for the 157s. Jeffrey Elerick, a junior, won the 144-pound title.
It was Gibson's first time bringing home the gold and Elerick's third.
Israel Knight, a sophomore, claimed second place in the 150-pound class.
Freshman wrestler Landen Burt (113), senior Wyatt Hughes (165) and Jake Trowbridge, a sophomore (190), each won third-place medals.
The boys basketball team finished 10-8 in conference and 14-14 overall.
It was the best year their program had in the last seven years according to coach Jesse Canchola.
They closed out the regular season with a five-game winning streak against Yerington, Wells, North Tahoe, Oasis Academy and Sierra Lutheran but came up short against North Tahoe on the first day of the zone tournament which was hosted by Lovelock.
Travis Donaldson made the All-State second-team and All-League first-team. Trenton Rhodes and Amare Rosas made the All-League second team.
Honorable Mentions went to Efrain Aceves, Michael Reitz, Denzel Zaldivar and Izayuh Mcglothin.
Next, it was time for the Northern 2A girls regional basketball trophy to shine. It stood in the place of honor on the table by the school’s banner as the girls assembled onstage.
“We had 13 total girls walk through the gym doors this season. We had girls play down on JV and up on varsity throughout the season to keep the program afloat,” said coach Lee Houston.
The team rose to the challenge. They finished the year with 22 wins and the zone title for the first time since 2017 but victory eluded them in the semifinal round of state competition in Las Vegas.
They lost to the Lincoln County Lynxes by one point 48-47.
The coach gave awards to five girls who made it to every practice- Kyra Cerini, Anika Happy, Riley Harvey, Arya Garland and Aaliyah Allen.
Allen never missed a practice throughout her four years in the program.
She and Riley Harvey made the first All-Conference team. Khloe Montes is the First Team/Defensive Player of the Year.
Kyra Cerini made the second team. Arya Garland and Kenya Vaughan earned Honorable Mentions.
“While individual achievements are recognized our true success lies in what we accomplished as a team,” Houston said.
He recalled the game in Battle Mountain where Lovelock was down 14 points early in the fourth quarter. The team stepped up its attack and outscored the Longhorns 18-3 with the clock ticking.
The Mustangs were down one under their basket with three seconds to go when Garland found Montes at the free throw line.
“Khloe shoots it, it hits the rim, and bounces around while the whole gym holds their breath, and it goes in. It was pandemonium. What a great moment,” he said.
Speaking directly to the parents, JV boys basketball coach Rich Campbell summed up the thoughts of all the coaches and said,
“As far as I’m concerned, they are my kids, every one of them. When they leave your house and come to my gym, they belong to me and I’m proud to have coached every one of them.”
Now most of the student-athletes transition to track, baseball or softball. There’s nothing like the end of a Mustang sports season unless it’s the start of a new one.