Wave wrestling qualifies 6 for state tournament

The Greenwave wrestling team will send six, including three alternates, to this week’s state tournament in Mesquite.

“After this weekend, the first thing that strikes my mind is that I wish we had a few more weeks until regionals,” Fallon coach Trevor de Braga said. “The Greenwave wrestled very good this weekend and really stepped up, and I feel if they had another tournament or two under their belt, I’d have more state qualifiers. I had eight wrestlers who were in the consolation semifinal and needed to win that match to qualify for state.”

Senior Tommy McCormick won his fourth regional title, capturing the 182-pound division on Saturday at Sparks High School. Junior Wyatt Hatch (138) roared back in the consolation to finish fourth and freshman Isiah Diaz (113) became the first freshman to advance to state since McCormick with a fourth-place finish.

The state alternates include Everdmar Garcia (132), fifth; Steven Moon (138), fifth; and Joshua White (160), fifth. Jeremiah Prinz (106), Lucas Prinz (113) and Cody Shelton (145) each finished sixth. Nevaeh King (120), Xavier Capton (145) and Rodrigo Flores (152) fell short of placing

As a team, Fallon finished sixth with 97 points while Spring Creek dominated again with 313.5. Lowry finished second with 167 points followed by Fernley with 143.5, Elko with 139 and South Tahoe with 98.

McCormick, like he has all year in the Silver State, was dominant. The three-sport start won his only two matches by fall in the first period. He pinned Spring Creek’s Keefer Campbell in the semifinal and followed with a win over South Tahoe’s Ben Rohrbacher in the championship.

“He’s at the top of his game and arguably the best in the state pound for pound,” de Braga said. “He’s got one more gold medal to earn to cap off a great career and he’s in a mission to get his third state title.”

After dropping a 9-2 decision to Fernley’s Kyle Jones, Hatch pinned his next opponent and won 8-5 over Elko’s Ricky Calderon to qualify for state. Hatch faced Jones again in the third-place bout where he fell in the final period.

“Wyatt finally got the monkey off his back earning a chance for a state title,” de Braga said. “It seems like it’s been a long time coming for Wyatt and I’m very proud of him. He was just shy last year and I know he wasn’t going to have the same result at regionals this year. He works very hard and it’s rewarding to not only Wyatt but to me. He earned it and hope he continues that this week and gets on the state podium.”

Diaz advanced to the semifinal with a pin over South Tahoe’s Garrett Friederici but fell quickly in the first period to Spring Creek’s Kodis Campbell to drop into consolation. Diaz, though, pinned Elko’s Elliot Leaman to punch his ticket to state but lost to North Valleys’ Garrett Walker, 10-3, to finish fourth.

“He had a great tournament and his goal was to make it to state,” de Braga said of Diaz. “You can see his progression increase each weekend and he was able to punch a ticket down south. He will go in as the 4 seed but that doesn’t mean anything. He’s got the ability to knock off anyone at any time and I’m excited to see what he does this next weekend.”

Jeremiah Prinz won two-straight after losing in the championship quarterfinal, pinning Fernley’s Brady Garrett and North Valleys’ George Fisher. South Tahoe’s Aiden Breen eliminated Prinz from qualifying for state with a pin in the second period and Garrett exacted revenge with a pin to take fifth.

Lucas Prinz, like his brother, was bounced early but won two-straight in consolation to set up a state-qualyfing bout against North Valleys’ Adrian Ruscetta. Prinz, though, fell in the second period to miss on qualifying and then dropped a 9-3 decision to settle for sixth.

“Lucas and Jeremiah were one match away and both lost to some good opponents,” de Braga said. “They’re both young and there’s no doubt they will make it to state next year.”

Garcia advanced to the semifinals after a pin over Elko’s Alex Apodaca but the Fallon wrestler fell to Spring Creek’s Riley Fuchs in the first period. Garcia lost by fall in the consolation semifinal and was disqualified in the fifth-place match.

Moon fell in his first match to Spring Creek’s Terron Mogensen and then to Jones in the consolation semifinal to drop to the fifth-place match. Moon decisioned Calderson, 6-5.

“Steven had a great season also losing that final match to qualify,” de Braga said.” Steven has a lot of funk and strength. He’s going to only get better and better and I’m proud of the season he had. I’m excited for next year with him.”

Shelton fell in the quarterfinals but pinned his next two opponents, teammate Capton and Lowry’s Damon Fetty. Fernley’s Brandon Monteiro decisioned Shelton, 9-7, in the state-qualifying match and Shelton followed with a loss to Lowry’s Jesse Hawkins.

“One of the biggest heart breaks was Cody,” de Braga said. “In my eyes, Cody has grown the most as a wrestler and has been wrestling phenomenal. He lost a close match to get to state but it was a great match. He never stopped moving and you could just see it in his eyes how bad he wanted to win. He’s going to get there next year, I know it, and I’m already looking forward to next year for Cody.”

White fell in the semifinals of both the championship and consolation brackets but pinned South Tahoe’s Kesston Short in the third period to finish fifth.

“Josh had a great draw at regionals just couldn’t quite get over that hump,” de Braga said.