Three Carson wrestlers earn regional gold medals

RENO - A lot of tenacity - not to mention a little bit of good footwork - paid big dividends for Carson High senior David Cadwallader Saturday night at the Northern 4A Regional Wrestling Championships.

Cadwallader scored on a reversal with 35 seconds left as he rallied for a 3-2 victory against Elko's Louden Sharp in the 215-pound weight class finals on a night when Carson had three individual champions crowned at Galena High School.

Sophomores Travis Lamborn and Owen Craugh also won gold medals in their respective 160- and 103-pound weight classes as the Senators scrambled to second-place as a team. Fallon won the team by a 187-171 margin over defending champion Carson, while Galena finished third with 140 points and Douglas fourth with 126.

Scrambled would be a fitting word from a weekend when the Senators didn't experience the best of fortune. The Senators had three team points deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct and one wrestler was disqualified during the tournament, another wrestler was unable to continue on Saturday due to health-related reasons, not to mention other assorted disappointments.

"It was definitely a roller coaster ride," Carson coach Tim McCarthy said. "The effort was there, but a lot of things didn't work out in our favor. But we are taking seven kids to state and they are all very deserving."

Among those is Cadwallader, who shook off the effects of a knee injury in December and rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win at the end.

"It's great," Cadwallader said. "I worked hard for this. I didn't picture myself being here a couple of years ago."

Assistant coach Guy Rocha echoed those words.

"He's earned everything," Rocha said. "He's not the most talented athlete, but he listens well and he learns well. He had a tough opponent (Louden), they matched up well, and David just won that match on sheer fortitude."

With the clock ticking down, Louden was in control when he reached for Cadwallader's ankle. Cadwallader planted his foot, leaned back, and simply stepped around Louden for the switch - and the go-ahead points.

"I don't know where that came from," Cadwallader said with a smile. "I knew I had to do something and I knew I had to do it fast. Coach Rocha worked on that with me, and it paid off."

Lamborn wasn't 100 percent health-wise, though it was hard to tell on the mat because he pinned two opponents and beat Reno sophomore Chad Monticelli 12-0 in the finals.

"I had an ear infection and lung infection, so I've been on antibiotics for the last week," Lamborn said. "But I had the support of my coaches and my family. They told me the mind is a powerful thing, that if I didn't think about being sick, I could still win."

He beat Galena's Nick Williams 7-3 in the semifinals and then went to Galena's small gym to take a nap.

"I had a four-hour break and I knew I was going to have a tough (finals) match that was going to go three rounds," Lamborn said. "I just wanted to rest and to think about what I needed to do."

Lamborn took a 2-0 lead on a single-leg takedown at the end of the first period and never looked back.

Meanwhile, Craugh won his gold medal with an 8-6 overtime victory against South Tahoe sophomore Mike Crouse.

Craugh is making a return trip to state, and this time, he is a little closer to actually approaching 103 pounds. Last year, he weighed in the mid-80s. Friday, he weighed in at 94, then went out and opened his tournament with an impressive 9-0 win against McQueen's Justin Lee.

"He was supposed to win, so that did give me confidence, especially since he's so much stronger than everyone else," Craugh said of his first-round win.

Crouse, another strong opponent, got an early takedown for a 2-0 lead and led until Craugh scored three points on an escape and takedown to tie the score 6-6 in the final 12 seconds of the second period. Craugh was able to ride out the South Tahoe wrestler through the third round, then ducked under for his decisive takedown with 31.5 seconds showing on the clock in overtime.

"It was a shrug," Craugh said of his move. "It's not my best move, but He tied up with me and he's a lot stronger than I am, but I saw an opening there and I just went for it."

"He has great balance," Carson coach Tim McCarthy added.

The only downside was that Craugh didn't score any points for Carson because he was the team's No. 2 entry into the weight class behind Todd Banko.

"Wrestling is both a team and individual sport. It would have been nice to have the team points, but it was great to see Owen win out there," McCarthy said. "We had two good 103 pounders."

Carson had one other finalist as sophomore Robbie Bozin placed second at 119 pounds when he dropped a 15-11 decision to Galena sophomore Kevin Gerow in the finals. Gerow got a takedown and near fall for a 5-0 lead at the end of the first period, then iced his victory on a reversal with 30 seconds remaining.

Carson's other state qualifiers were Adam Carmazzi and Loren Wooldridge, who placed third in their respective 112 and 152-pound weight classes. Wooldridge, who missed a state berth by one spot last year, lost his semifinal to Fallon's Tommy Diaz 12-4 but rebounded to outscore two opponents in the consolation bracket by a combined 25-1 margin to earn his third-place medal. Meanwhile, Carmazzi lost his quarterfinal by a 5-3 decision to Devin Barker of Douglas on Friday, then came back to beat three straight opponents on Saturday (two by fall) to punch his ticket to state.

Todd Banko (103), Ahron Osheroff (140) and Jonas Schenzel (171) were fourth-place finishers for Carson. Senior 130-pounder Kevin Riggin won twice on Saturday and was one match away from the consolation finals before he was eliminated by Reno's talented Flint Reno.

Douglas had two silver medalists: Brad Johnson, who dropped a 9-2 decision to Galena's Joel Rivadeneyra in the 140-pound finals, and Devin Barker, who dropped a 7-4 verdict in the 112-pound finals against Reed's John Lau. Douglas picked up one other state qualifier when junior heavyweight Matt Castro pinned South Tahoe's Cody Reeder in the consolation finals. Sophomore 135-pounder Ryan Pruitt also placed fourth.

For Johnson, this was his third runner-up finish at the regional tournament and the fourth time he has earned a trip to state. Not bad - especially considering Rivadeneyra is a two-time state champion - although Johnson couldn't help but express at least a little disappointment afterward.

"It could have been better," she said. "He (Rivadeneyra) is a well-rounded wrestler; he lives up to his reputation."

There will be another day, and Johnson is looking forward to another opportunity to face the Galena wrestler.

"Yes, I would very much like to see him again at state. I'm looking forward to that."

Notes: Johnson also received the Northern Nevada Officials Association's 2004-05 season individual Sportsmanship Award, while the team award went to Spanish Springs. ... Wooster senior Josh Wilson pinned Fallon freshman Trevor de Braga to win his fourth regional title.

NORTHERN 3A REGIONAL

Yerington's Ryan Gilmore and Steven Gutierrez won individual titles in their respective 215- and 145-pound classes and Dayton's Jeremy Stanfield won at 171 pounds during the Northern 3A Tournament held at Sparks High.

The big news of the day came in the team race when Lowry upended Spring Creek, previously ranked No. 1 in the Sierra Nevada rankings, 231-220. Yerington was third with 197 points, Fernley was fourth with 106.5) and Dayton fifth with 102.

Gilmore only needed 57 seconds to pin Spring Creek's Wood Grinsell in his final and Gutierrez never went longer than 1:21 in any of his three matches, capped by a 52-second pin of Spring Creek's Nate Carmody in the final. Stanfield pinned two opponents and beat Lowry's Dillon Ham in the finals 13-6.

Travis Wade also placed second at 119 pounds for Dayton, while Yerington's Tommy Gutierrez (275) and Tim Skrotch (140) both placed second.

The top five in each weight class moves on to the 3A state tournament next weekend in Winnemucca.

Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1220.