A night that started with a handful of mishaps and disappointments, ended with a little joy for the Carson High wrestling team on Wednesday.
The Senators pulled off a 66-6 win against South Tahoe, although most of the wins came from forfeits. The scheduled event was delayed for quite sometime due to lack of an official which caused much frustration for Carson coach Tyson Thivierage.
"We put a lot of hard work and energy into the raffle and senior night," he said. "I'm just glad referee Les Rasmussen was available, he's our savior."
The Vikings showed up with four wrestlers, among several issues causing Thivierge to become frustrated.
"I'm very disappointed in Northern Nevada Wrestling, Carson athletics, and the support in general," said Thivierge, who wouldn't sugar coat his comments.
As for five senators, it was a night to remember, for it was senior night and the last time to walk on the mat on their own turf. Todd Banko, Aaron Jolcover, Garrett Truesdell, Trent Simpson, and Martin Azzam stood under the spot light next to their parents while Thivierage told about their impressive records, fondest memories, and future plans. The crowd laughed when Jolcover, Azzam, and Truesdell reveled their fondest memory being two years ago when they got locked out of the hotel room at an away tournament and having to sleep in the team van. As for all of the seniors, college was the next step after graduating high school.
Azzam, who has impressive academic achievements, would like to be a doctor and study at Boston University. Jolcover wants to play rugby at the University of Nevada and Simpson has aspirations of being a musician and to attend Nevada. Truesdell and Banko were highly recognized for their outstanding career records; Truesdell is 61-29 while Banko is 143-32.
"Our seniors are putting their noses to the grind stone," Thivierage commented when talking about his seniors.
When time finally came for the teams to wrestle, Carson was more than ready.
At the 103 weight class, freshman Patrick Craugh had a quick takedown and first period pin in 1:38 against Cody Shindlebower. Carson's 112 pound Nick Schlager and 119 pound wrestler Ricky Ugarte had tougher matches, but both ended with pins. Schlager's fall was in 4:49 and Ugarte got a quick reversal and stacked his opponent, Cameron Caysin, with 39 seconds remaining in the second period.
Urgarte said he did wrestle a little poorly but gave Caysin credit in the match. "He was just really strong," Urgarte said.
Wrapping up the night, Senator heavyweight Max Schadeck was unable to hold on for the shutout when he fell to Tahoe's John Faggo't.
Notes: When referring to the drawing, the Carson wrestling team worked all season to sell $100 tickets for a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle worth more than $13,000. The winner was Carson City resident Michael Bayliss. A even bigger fundraiser is hoped for next year.