Four Carson wrestlers place at Sierra Nevada

RENO - Carson wrestling coach Tyson Thivierge's "Four Horsemen" - Kyle Banko, Robbie Bozin, Travis Lamborn and Owen Craugh - made a good charge in the Asics Sierra Nevada Classic on Thursday, but fell short in the back stretch.

Banko was the runner-up at 130 pounds, Bozin and Lamborn each placed fourth at 125 and 160, respectively, and Craugh placed eighth as the Senators finished 16th in the 93-team tournament with 101.5 points.

Burns (Ore.) won the team title with 175.5 points, followed by Redmond (Ore.) with 166.5, Buhach Colony (Calif.) with 164.5, Kelso (Wash.) with 148 and Del Oro (Calif.) with 147.5.

Damonte Ranch finished 11th and led all Northern Nevada teams with 122.5 points. Fallon was 13th (115), followed by Carson, Galena (17th, 100.5) and Spring Creek (24th, 85).

Galena's Nick Williams was the only Northern Nevadan to win a title, pinning Buckwalter Duggan, of Shasta (Calif.), at 3:15, in the 215-pound final.

"We got up there," said Carson coach Tyson Thivierge. "It was nice to finish ahead of Palo Verde (18th, with 100.5 points). "Each one of the matches we lost were matches we could've won. I'm a constantly belittling person. I'm constantly saying we are better than we showed.

"It was a tough day. We got four guys (placed). They are a real tight group. Some stuff went our way; some stuff didn't go our way. Each one of them was in a dogfight. They were good matches. We could've come out on top.

"But you learn from it then flush it down the toilet. In the words of (Carson football coach) Shane Quilling, 'The sun will come up tomorrow.' I love that quote. They can't dwell on this. Like I said (Wednesday), this was just a steppingstone to our ultimate goal of winning state."

Banko, the defending Sierra Nevada Classic 130-pound champion, lost 8-3 to No. 2 seed Daniel Osmer, of Buhach Colony, who won last year's SNC in the 125-pound division.

Banko won a 7-0 decision over Daniel Hamilton, of Sentinal (Mont.), in the quarterfinals and took a 6-4 win over Tim Navarette, of Shasta, in the semis. But even though they weighed the same, Osmer looked to be the bigger, more muscular wrestler.

"He's a beefcake," Banko said of Osmer, who led only 2-1 before a first-period takedown and a pair of reverses in the second and third periods. "He just overpowered me and everything I tried. It sucks, winning last year and coming in and losing in the finals. I'm getting ready for state now. This definitely gets me ready. It was good competition."

"I don't think that kid cuts weight," Thivierge said of Osmer with a smile. "He's a brick, a tree trunk. It was hard to move him. It was an exciting match, to say the least. Kyle had some moments he couldn't overcome. Not to say that Kyle wasn't wrestling well. He just wrestled a solid opponent."

So did Bozin, who was pinned in 1 minute, 36 seconds by Josh Sandhaus, of Buhach Colony, in the third-place match.

"I wanted to win. I'm not pleased at all," said Bozin, whose fourth-place finish outdid last year's fifth at the SNC. "I need to wrestle a lot better than I have been. I tried a foot sweep and got caught on my back. He was a big, heavy guy."

No. 9 Bozin opened the quarterfinals with a 2-1 triple-overtime win over No. 1 seed Glenn Terrano, of Palo Verde. Terrano chose the bottom in the third overtime and Bozin rode him out for 30 seconds to score the deciding point.

The victory avenged a loss to Terrano in the finals of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic.

Bozin then lost in the semis, 8-0, to Tanner Robertson, of Redmond. Robertson eventually lost a 17-2 technical decision to Naveed Bagheri, of Los Gatos (Calif.) in the finals.

Bozin took a 3-2 decision over Emmanuel Lanuza, of Watsonville (Calif.), in the consolation bracket before meeting Sandhaus.

Bozin said the win - and the fact that no other Nevadan placed at 125 pounds - gives him confidence that he will be able to win at the regional and state level in February. Bozin is a three-time regional runner-up.

Thivierge said he felt that Bozin left his best match with Terrano.

"That kid (Terrano) was solid," Thivierge said. "Bozin sucked it up. With (Terrano), you can't get out of position. Bozin did a good job in the starting position and riding it out. But after that match Bozin shut down. I'm disappointed. He's an explosive wrestler.

"I think he focused so much on that match - I think it took a lot out of him to win in triple overtime. He was flat and didn't come out as strong after that. He'll have to learn from it."

Lamborn opened with an 8-5 victory over Chris Navarrete, of Shasta, in the quarters before losing 3-1 to the acrobatic Taylor Sare, of Red Mountain, Ariz., in the semis.

Holding onto one of Sare's legs, Lamborn kick-swept Sare's other leg from under him, but each time Sare would perform a back-handspring move back on to his planted foot and would then roll out of bounds and save points.

All Lamborn could do after the fourth time was look at Thivierge with a look that said, "What the heck was that?"

Sare went on to win in the finals, 4-3, over Robert Hart, of Eldorado (Calif.)

Lamborn rebounded with a 5-1 win over Joe Stafford, of Del Oro (Calif.), in the consolation bracket before Navarette reversed the quarterfinal loss with a 7-4 win in the rematch.

"The kid came back," Thivierge said of Navarrete. "He is what the epitome of what wrestling is about. He is in your face. If you beat him, you'll be banged up. That match for Travis was great for learning. He got out of position and (Navarrete) scored on him.

"That kind of pressure is hard to keep up with. I like to see that. I had no problem telling (Navarrete) he had a hell of a match."

The fourth-place finish matched Lamborn's best effort at the SNC.

Although Craugh lost, 8-5, to Alec Ward, of Sandpoint, Idaho, the eighth-place finish was the first time he placed at the Sierra Nevada Classic.

"It feels pretty good," Craugh said. "I feel I could've done a lot better. The match before, I didn't wrestle too good. I lost in overtime. (Ward) was really strong. I prefer to mat wrestle."

When Ward was top man, he conceded the escape point, electing to stay on his feet. Craugh beat Ward in their first match on Wednesday.

Craugh opened Thursday with a 7-5 loss in the quarterfinals to Jake Love, of Sentinal. Love defeated Steven Fitzgerald, of Clovis East (Calif.), in the championship match.

Craugh scored a technical fall at 5:07 over No. 9 Garrett Hekhuis, of Douglas before losing, 6-4, to A.J. Swartzlender, of Burns.

"The kid (Ward) came back and got revenge," Thivierge said. "It's frustrating. Owen's better than that. In the medal matches it comes down to positioning. You can get caught out of position in half a second and it will cost you the title."

Thivierge said his team would learn a valuable lesson from the experience.

"I can't say I'm too excited how it ended in the tournament," he said. "We're better than that. I sound like a broken record saying that. But our other guys in the consolations had a chance to make something happen and didn't. That has to change. You win championships through the consolations."

In the finals at 145, Tommie Hooper, of Burns, won a 17-2 technical decision over Fallon's Trevor deBraga and at 152, Palo Verde's Kyle Barrett defeated Damonte Ranch's Trey Edmunds, 4-3. Fallon's Lyle Gardner pinned Rafael Sanchez, of James Lick (Calif.) for third place at heavyweight.