Fallon's Sean McCormick defeats Curtis' Adrian St. Germain in the quarterfinals of the Reno Tournament of Champions on Saturday.
It’s been more than 10 years since the Greenwave last had a high school All-American.
All of that changed on Saturday when junior Sean McCormick finished third in the Reno Tournament of Champions to become Fallon’s first All-American since Lyle Gardner won his division.
“One word to describe Sean’s performance this weekend was phenomenal,” Fallon coach Trevor de Braga said.
It’s been one of McCormick’s goals in his career to not only place at the RTOC but for him to also become an All-American. He achieved that task on Saturday at the Reno Events Center after three grueling matches against some of the nation’s best.
“I’m glad to finally accomplish that this year,” he said. “The difference (this year) was my confidence and that I can believe I can win every match.”
McCormick (160) barely lost to the eventual champion in the semifinals when Choctaw’s Jaryn Curry won, 3-2. McCormick came back with a 5-2 win over Carlsbad’s Marlo Carrasco in the consolation round before winning the third-place bout by forfeit. Outside of his lone loss, McCormick’s most exciting match of the day came when he scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds to defeat Curtis’ Adrian St. Germain, 9-7.
“One point is all that separated Sean,” de Braga said of the semifinal bout. “Sean had a big scramble on the edge and the kid ended up getting a take down. Sean wrestled his heart out all weekend and it’s what you really love to see as a coach. He works hard and loves the challenges.”
McCormick and fellow junior Ben Dooley (285) were the only Fallon wrestlers to advance to the second day of one of the nation’s toughest high school tournaments. Dooley lost both matches to the Nos. 1 and 2 wrestlers in the bracket on Saturday to fall short of placing.
“It came down to the final seconds when Ben couldn’t quite finish his shot when he had the kid’s leg lifted off the mat,” de Braga said of Dooley’s second loss. “Ben is getting better and better every weekend and he’s getting in better shape every day. He’s a big strong kid and is going to have a great rest of the year.”
McCormick said Fallon was represented well at the RTOC. He said Dooley faced a tough draw in his weight class, going up against the top two seeds.
“He was good enough to be on the podium. He’s been working hard,” McCormick added.
In Lovelock, Fallon finished with one champion and three runner-ups in the Lovelock Mustangs Invitational on Saturday.
Drew Kramer (141.5) won his weight division with a 4-0 record, pinning Spring Creek’s Marc Piazza with 19 seconds left in the first period.
Mason Smith (126) took second with a 3-1 record after winning three-straight matches by pin. Smith lost to Lowry’s Matthew Souza, 11-6, in the championship match. Marcel Poracky (170) also took second, scoring a pair of pins over Lowry and Spring Creek before losing to Pershing County’s Joaquin Wanner by major decision (17-6) in the title bout.
Tommy McCormick (145) pinned his first three opponents before dropping a 5-3 decision to McQueen’s Kai Ward to finish second.
Wyatt Hatch (120) finished 2-2 after losing by pinfall to Pershing County’s Jeffery Martin in the consolation’s third round. Blane Aicher (152) also split his four matches, losing to Pershing County’s Eric Wagner in his final bout of the day.
Mark Moyle (220) finished 1-2 while Case Cornmesser (113), Josiah Rosario (113), Trent Thorn (195) and Ben Otuafi (285) each finished 0-2.