Carson wrestlers send six to state

SPARKS - The Fallon Greenwave brought the numbers and then brought its "A" game in the championship round of the Northern 4A Regional Wrestling Championships Saturday at Spanish Springs High School.

Six of the seven Greenwave finalists took home championships and Fallon ran away with the team title with 212.5 points, followed by Douglas (164.59), Galena (153), Carson (145), Damonte Ranch (139.5) and McQueen (124).

Although the fourth-place Carson Senators didn't bring home any championships, they will be well represented with six wrestlers in Saturday's 4A State Championships at Cimarron Memorial High School in Las Vegas.

Robbie Bozin (135 pounds), Kyle Banko (130) and Todd Banko (112) all reached the finals for the Senators, while Travis Lamborn (160), Ahron Osheroff (171) and Jonas Schenzel (189) each placed third.

The top three wrestlers in each weight division advanced to the state championships.

Douglas' Shane Miller was the lone champion for the second-place Tigers, pinning Reed's Calder Cohen in 5 minutes, 22 seconds. He will be joined in Las Vegas by runner-ups Cameron Ames (140) and Garret Hekhuis (103) and placers Jake Williams (145), Ryan Pruitt (152), Matt Castro (275) and Bryan Kaplan (125).

Doug Del Porto (112), Joey Milegich (152) and Nick Williams (160) took home championships for third-place Galena and will be joined by runner-ups Kevin Gerow (125) and Cole Dowty (171).

First-year Carson coach Casey Schweitzer said he was happy with his team's performance in the tournament.

"My personal goal was eight placers for the team," Schweitzer said. "I never discussed that with the team - i t was just my goal. I thought we should have six kids go (to Las Vegas). I try to set lofty goals, but attainable goals. For eight kids to have gone, one or two would have had to have done something unexpected to go."

Sophomore Todd Banko tried to be aggressive against Del Porto in their 112-pound match, but Del Porto was able to ward off Banko's single-leg takedown in the first period by sprawling before taking an early 4-0 lead.

After Del Porto scored a takedown to go up 6-0 in the second period, Banko nearly got a reverse, but Del Porto once again sprawled his way out of trouble and eventually went on to a 10-2 major-decision victory.

Todd's older brother - junior Kyle Banko - entered his 130-pound match with Elko's Mitch Schroeder banged up. Banko was wearing a headband to protect a cut over his left eye (which he suffered in his first match and which required three stitches) and had cotton wadding stuffed up his left nostril prevent blood from dripping out.

Banko and Schroeder battled to a scoreless first period before Banko notched an escape and a takedown to go up 3-0 in the second. An escape at the end of the period by Schroeder cut the margin to 3-1.

Following another escape by Schroeder to make it 3-2 in the final period, he appeared to takedown Banko out of bounds and a whistle blew. Some of the crowd booed when Schroeder was awarded two points for the takedown to go up 4-3.

With 1:06 to go, Banko nearly scored on an escape to tie the match, but Schroeder caught him off-center and pinned him at 5:40.

"When Kyle stood up (to escape) he switched into the guy (Schroeder) and he hooked his bottom leg. You want to travel forward until your leg is free or you're out of bounds. The kid was real long and strong and was a cradle guy."

Although his runner-up spot was an improvement on last year's third-place finish at regionals, Banko wasn't enthused.

"That shouldn't have been a takedown, but it was still my fault that it happened," Banko said. "I can't wait to wrestle again. Hopefully I'll get in the finals again at state."

Last year at state, Banko lost in a pig-tail match and was eliminated early.

"I gotta go out and be better and not make mistakes," Banko said of his plan.

For his part, Bozin was in a relatively upbeat mood following his loss to Trey Edmunds of Damonte Ranch in their 135-pound match, which Edmunds took by pin fall at 1:57. It was the third time the 16-year-old Bozin has been a runner-up at regionals.

"I've known Edmunds my whole life - I've wrestled him for six years," Bozin said. "He's always been a really tough kid. I've never beaten him. That's one of my goals."

Another is to beat his teammate and friend Kyle Banko before state.

"We have a little rivalry," Bozin said. "Our whole lives, we've been good friends. We push each other the whole time. That's what's driving me. I just want to go out there and do my (program) at state and capitalize on mistakes."

Osheroff took a 16-4 major-decision over Anthony Koch of Spanish Springs to place, while Lamborn pinned North Valleys' Mitch Tolley at 2:34 and Schenzel pinned Fallon's Ryan Seeley at 5:10 to take third and qualify for state.

Schweitzer said he remains optimistic heading into Las Vegas.

"Our goal is to be better next week than we were this week," Schweitzer said. "We have six kids in the top three that have a shot to place down there. Next tournament is a clean slate. It's all been basically practice to get here. If we can put it all together for one tournament, anything can happen."

Lyle Gardner (215), Riley Orozco (171), Tanner Jones (145), Trevor de Braga (140), Mark Thomas (125) and Trent de Braga (119) each won championships for Fallon, while James Stubbs (152) was a runner-up for the Greenwave, which will be seeking its first-ever team state championship.