Carson wrestling finishes third in tourney

Despite missing two valuable starters, Carson High's wrestling team managed to finish in third place at the Douglas Invitational on Saturday.

Spanish Springs won the meet and Lowry was second. Team scores were not immediately available.

"We only brought 10 wrestlers and to finish a solid third was good," Carson coach Tim McCarthy said. "We're in good shape."

Carson was missing Pat Craugh (103) and Junior Valladares (171). Craugh was sick, but could return this week. Valladares has an injured left knee and is out of action for a while.

The performance gives Carson momentum heading into Wednesday's dual against Damonte Ranch in Reno (JVs start at 5:30 p.m.).

Carson had two champions - Nick Schlager (135) and Nicolas Garcia (145). Schlager upped his record to 22-2.

It was Schlager's second straight tournament championship. He won three straight matches, two by pin. He knocked off Blaine Tibbals of Yerington 6-1 in the finals.

Garcia, who reached the second day at the Sierra Nevada Classic last week, compiled a 4-0 record, including two pins. He trailed Fernley's Hayzn McGrath 9-3 in the second round, but came back to post an 11-9 victory in the championship match.

"Nicolas' match was wild," McCarthy said. "It seemed like the guy Nick wrestled just wanted to keep it close."

Cole McCarthy (112) and Ricky Ugarte (119) finished second in their respective weight classes.

McCarthy won twice (decision and technical fall) to reach the finals where he was pinned by Curtis Lampert of Spanish Springs, this year's Sierra Nevada Classic champion and last year's state champ. Ugarte went 3-1, losing by technical fall in the finals to Spanish Springs' Todd Pearson.

"He (Cole) ran into a buzzsaw," said the elder McCarthy.

Luke Carter (189) and Justin Barlow (heavyweight) both finished third with 3-1 records. Carter won the third-place match by technical fall and Barlow won by pin.

"Luke wrestled awesome, definitely the best I've seen," McCarthy said. "The switch turned on today. Justin was real aggressive. He's learning how to wrestle now."

Tristan Wadsworth (103), Jordan Luhrs (140) and Ryan Hoskins (215) all went 2-2.

TWO JV WRESTLERS TAKE TITLES

Nate Stevens (119) and Jordan Woodward (heavyweight) took home titles at Saturday's Carson High JV Tournament at Morse Burley Gym.

Dustin Garza (112), Sean Robles (119) and Cruz Kerver (125) all finished second. Jake Kerkla (112), Ben Osherhoff (125) and Carlos Valladares (189) all finished third, while Alex Cunningham (119), Andrew Cunningham (130), Dillon Winkelman (145), John Borges (152) and Caleb Shadeck (189) finished fourth in their respective classes.