The weather played a role for the Lowry High School softball team last weekend in their first games of the season in California. They started with an improvised scrimmage game against Saint Francis High School in Sacramento on Thursday and lost 8-1. “Because they had a ton of rain over there we ended up facing different teams than we were scheduled to play, but we were able to get a scrimmage and five games in over the three days,” said LHS softball coach Austin Mayo. “You go over there and it is a different level of softball than we are normally used to. You run into some teams that play year-round, it is good for us. We are kind of a young team, so we knew that going over there it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew we were going to have a lot of questions and answers afterwards. We saw improvement in each and every game and that is all you can ask for. We wanted to get the live pitching and the at-bats at that level of competition.”
Lowry High School boys basketball team senior Dorsey Naveran was voted to the first team for the 3A league for his efforts in the 2018-2019 season. Naveran averaged 8.5 points per game and snagged 9.9 rebounds each contest for the Buckaroos. Joining Naveran on the first team were Alex and Michael Klekas from Elko, John Cooley, Elijah Jackson, and Thomas Steele from Fallon, and Fernley’s Rei Robinett.
The Lady Bucks had Sydney Connors nominated as first team in the 3A North and second team in State. Connors averaged 9.8 points per game this season and 4.9 rebounds. Fallon seniors Lani and Leta Otuafi were voted Co-Players of the Year. The other first team 3A players included Alexis Elquist from Elko, Jaiden Sullivan from Fernley, Jasmine Yadeskie from Spring Creek, and Truckee’s Ava Seelenfreund.
A light but persistent snow fell on the Lowry High School baseball field last Friday morning, a day that brought South Tahoe to town to start the boys 2019 season. The Vikings were not scared of a little weather and made the trip down the mountain, and it turns out the Buckaroos are battle born as well. The game was moved from 2 p.m. to noon, and then back to 2 p.m. on Friday due to weather and field conditions. LHS coach Andy Harmon was on the field working with his team all morning
The Winnemucca Events complex was the site of the 30th Annual Ranch Hand Rodeo competition on Feb. 27- March 3 with locals and visitors from the western U. S. and Canada. Kim Peterson is the Director of the Convention and Business Authority in Winnemucca.
The seventh-grade Winnemucca Junior High School wrestlers brought home three champions from Fernley last Saturday. Brayden Casalez, Chris Gildone, and Anthony Guzman all grappled to win the prize. Sixth-graders Jhett Harbor and Erick Valencia triumphed as well, as did Pete Bengochea for the Fifth-grade squad. “We took about 30 wrestlers to Fernley to compete and they did a great job,” said WJHS wrestling coach John Brooks. “The competition seemed a little tougher than the previous week, but we did come away with some champions.”
McDermitt High School junior Jagger Hinkey was named as the Co-Player of the year in the Eastern 1A Division along with Jerry Martinez from Jackpot. Hinkey averaged nearly 19 points and eight rebounds a game this season..The junior was near three assists, three steals and two blocks a game. MHS junior Ben Draunidalo was placed on the first team.
The McDermitt and Lowry high school basketball teams made the long trip from Northern Nevada to Las Vegas this past weekend for the NIAA State Basketball Championships. The weekend did not go the way the Humboldt County teams wanted it to. Lowry was knocked off by Moapa Valley 43-38 in the 3A semifinals at the Orleans Arena, while the McDermitt girls suffered a 57-51 loss to Mineral County (Hawthorne) in the 1A semifinals at SLAM Academy in Henderson on Friday night.
The Winnemucca Junior High School girls volleyball teams are half-way through their season and are putting up a good showing at this point. The seventh-grade squad has a 6-2 record and the eighth-graders are sitting at 5-3. “This season is going really well," said WJHS Eighth-grade volleyball coach Tawnya Root. "I have thrown a lot on these girls as far as getting them ready to play in high school. I have shown them rotations and made sure that we always have three blockers; our transitioning on and off the net has been good. Those things are more important to me over the wins and losses at this point.”
Coming into Friday’s 1A state semifinals game against Mineral County, McDermitt High School girls basketball coach Jaimi Wilkinson knew it was going to be a tough battle from the start. The Lady Bulldogs were coming off a regional championship win the week before in Reno, while the Serpents lost their regional championship game on a last-second shot to Coleville.
With just six returning players and a new head coach, there were a number of unknowns this season for the Lowry High School girls basketball team. After finishing third in the Northern 3A, the Lady Bucks’ streak of six state tournament appearances in a row looked to be in jeopardy. However, after losing twice to Spring Creek in the regular season, Lowry beat its rival in the regional semifinals to advance to the state tournament for the sixth straight season.
The Humbold County Rural Basketball League was back in action on Saturday, Feb. 16. The action started with a Division 2 match-up that saw McDermitt White beat Denio/Fields 23-21. Warrick Crutcher scored 12 points, assisted by Clay Harney with five (two shots and a free throw). Aiden Teeman also scored four points and Kiara Crutcher had two. Denio/Fields had 18 opportunities to score free throws, but only capitalized on three. Two of those were scored by Matti DeLong and the other by her little sister Louise.
The Winnemucca Junior High School (WJHS) wrestling team went to Lovelock last weekend and got of to a good start. “We took 28 wrestlers and finished with 12 champions,” said WJHS coach John Brooks. “That is not bad for our first outing.” Eighth-graders Damon Fetty, Felix Munoz and Coda Nichols all brought home the top prize, while Rodger Facey grappled to a second place finish. Braden Hammargren and Jeremiah Simmons were third in their respective weight classes and Juan Lopez was fourth.
The Lowry High School boys basketball team brought its 13-5 league record to the NIAA 3A Northern League basketball tournament at North Valleys High School last Thursday as the No. 3 seed to take on the No. 6 seed Fernley (9-9). The Buckaroos put up a strong showing in their first game of the tournament, taking down the Vaqueros 62-32.