By Katy Granath Posted February 18, 2009
Lowry High School swept the NIAA 3A State Wrestling Championships on Saturday, February 14, emerging victorious with an overall team championship, five individual champions, two, second place wrestlers, and six wrestlers who placed third. “I feel relieved,” coach Brooks admitted later. “I knew we had the kids to do it, but you just don’t know if something will go wrong.”
Lowry sent sixteen wrestlers to compete at the tournament: seniors Tyler Spriet, Tanner Schmidt, Trevor Grant, Wacey Chabot, Sean Raynor, and Jake Manzo, juniors Jake Maga, Paedon Underwood, and Skylyr Bleck, sophomore Bobby Marley, and freshmen Ryan Nelson, Chris Pike, Eddie Poole, Jace Billingsley, Daniel Raynor, Gus Duncan, and Ivan Ramirez. Of those sixteen, seven athletes continued to the final round to compete for the title of state champ in their weight class.
Daniel Raynor, a freshman in the 103 weight class, took second in the finals after being pinned during his tough match.
Poole pinned his opponent for third place in the 103 division. At 119 pounds, Marley also placed third with a pin.
Weighing in at 125 pounds, Lowry’s Billingsley battled sophomore Blaine Tibbals of Yerington. Throughout the match, Billingsley retained control over Tibbals. At one point Billingsley caught one of his opponent’s legs and as Tibbals danced to keep his balance, the Lowry wrestler cut his opponent’s legs out from under him with a sweeping kick to the back of his knees. Tibbals went down and Billingsley went for the kill, keeping Tibbals under his thumb until time was called and he took first in his division, 9-1.
Lowry junior Maga, also in the 125 division, claimed third place after pinning a senior wrestler from Virgin Valley
Sean Raynor took second in the final round in the 130 division. Duncan claimed third place with a 14-4 decision in the 130 weight division. At 140 pounds Jake Manzo also took third with a pin.
Bleck, a junior, became Nevada’s state champion in the 145 weight division by pinning Spring Creek senior, Alex Baker. Nelson, a Lowry freshman, competed in the 152 division and defeated a junior from Boulder City 4-3, in a match Coach Brooks described as “incredible”. Schmidt took third by pin in his 160 weight class.
In the 171 division, Lowry senior Grant brought home his second state title. Grant, who was undefeated in league this season, made his state championship win the 186th win of his high school career as a wrestler. A.J. Estrada, a Fernley junior who had previously faced off with Grant at Zone and was defeated, came out looking for revenge.
“I planned on winning,” Grant said, “but I knew I would have to wrestle hard for it.”
Estrada fell victim to Grant once again, 6-2.
Lowry senior Chabot, wrestling at 189, defeated his opponent 4-3 to take third.
Underwood, a junior at Lowry who wrestles at 215, won his state championship match against one of Virgin Valley’s senior wrestlers, Wyatt Robinson. Both wrestlers battled aggressively, but Underwood eventually triumphed by a 5-3 decision.
The Bucks ended the night with a total of 221.5 points, more than fifty points ahead of the closest competition. Lowry’s wrestling team was particularly proud of their win over their arch-rivals, the Spring Creek Spartans.
“For the last couple of years Spring Creek has had some studs- wrestlers- and we’ve been battling them,” said senior wrestler Schmidt.
Wrestling season has come to a close, but for the athletes, the thrill of winning the state championship is going to linger.
