BY MIKE HOUSER
Nevada Appeal Sports Writer
The Carson Senators wrestling team showed it is still a force that other Northern Nevada squads must reckon with, placing third in the 11th annual Capitol City Duals Saturday at Morse Burley Gym at Carson High School.
Carson, whose only returning state qualifier is 125-pound Nick Schlager, won four of five rounds, losing only to Lowry, 36-34, for a chance to compete in the championship round.
Douglas beat Lowry, 42-28, to win the tournament, while Carson topped Reno for the third-place finish. Galena took fifth, followed by Fallon, Bishop Manogue and North Valleys.
"I actually thought we wrestled really well overall," said Tim McCarthy, who is in the first year of his third stint as Carson's head coach. "We very easily could've been in first or second."
The Senators' best shot to eventually face Douglas in the finals came when Senators senior 152-pounder Brett Allen took a 10-0, second-period lead over the Buckaroos' Ryan Nelson.
Allen, who would finish 4-1 on the day, went for a lateral drop, but Nelson caught him standing straight up, took him down and notched the pin, giving Lowry six points and eventually the round.
"He was pushing against me when I went for the lat drop," Allen said. "I didn't twist enough and landed straight on my back. I look forward to it again, though."
That Allen even showed up for the tournament was testament to his determination. He woke up with a sore throat and attempted to vomit, but was too dried up from not eating in an effort to make weight.
"After the first match with Galena (a three-period decision victory for Allen), I was dead," he said. "I didn't think I was going to make it. I should've been 5-0."
Allen finished strong, though, and pinned Reno's Sam Gill at the 1:47 mark.
After taking off his junior year, Allen is looking to return to the form he was showing as an undersized 140-pounder wrestling at 152 as a sophomore.
In addition to shooting for a state berth, Allen said he was looking forward to a rematch with Bishop Manogue's Ricky McDonald, who pinned him in a dual on Wednesday.
"I haven't lost (much) from the end of my sophomore year," Allen said. "Once I get it back I think I'll be better, hopefully. From now on out, I'm going to get in better shape."
Conditioning was also on the mind of Carson senior heavyweight Max Schadeck, who went unbeaten in the tournament and passed a gut-check with a come-from-behind win over Galena's Jeremy Byrnes.
Schadeck trailed Byrnes, 8-7, but scored a reversal and a near fall at the buzzer for the win in the second-round match.
At 6-foot-4, Schadeck often cuts weight to come in at the heavyweight limit of 285 pounds, which can be either a good thing against a lighter opponent, or a bad thing.
"It can also drain me," Schadeck said of cutting weight. "I should practice a lot harder."
Schadeck, who with his shorn skull resembles World Wrestling Entertainment star Kane, said his conditioning boils down to balancing weight training and working on technique.
"You can't have speed without strength or strength without speed," Schadeck said. "Now I'm low on both. It didn't go as well as I thought it should. I should be able to do it better in the future."
Schadeck, who is so big he could go by the nickname "Max Bear" (he prefers "Thunder Man" or "Mad Max"), said his goal in his final season is to "at least win first at zone."
"It's a little pressure," Schadeck said, "but a lot of fun."
And for the most part, a lot of fun was had by all of the Senators.
"Every kid that wrestled today had moments of greatness," McCarthy said. "Overall they did a real good job for us."
Although he didn't want to indulge in what might have been if Carson had made it to the finals against Douglas, McCarthy did give the notion some fleeting consideration.
"Douglas has certainly got a tough team," McCarthy said. "They probably would've handled us in the finals, but it would've been nice to have been in the finals in our own tournament."
Carson will compete in Saturday's Green and Gold Tournament in Nevado, Calif.
JV WRESTLING DOES WELL AT HUG TOURNEY
The Carson junior varsity wrestling team got solid performances from several of its competitors in Saturday's Hug Takedown Tournament at Hug High School.
Team points weren't kept, but Carson had three first-place finishers in Adan Ortega (at 103 pounds), Ty Welch (119) and Ryan Hoskins (189), who went 3-0.
Will Florez went 4-0 and finished second at 215-pounds and Collin Grischott was the runner-up at 171 pounds after taking an overtime victory.
Nick Garcia took third at 152 pounds and Nate Stevens, who took third, was one of three Carson wrestlers at 119 pounds. Logan Dargert didn't place at 119, but had a good tournament, according to JV coach Jim Franz.