138 lb. Senator Kyle Rudy wrestles Modesto's Dylan Corpuz Thursday at the Sierra Nevada Classic tournament in Reno.
RENO — Izayah Pando has spent his freshman wrestling season at Carson High toiling on the junior varsity.
With Zach Bumby unavailable, Carson coach Nick Redwine gave Pando an opportunity to step up a level by taking him to the Sierra Nevada Classic at the Reno Livestock Events Center.
And, Pando made his coach look good by turning in an outstanding varsity debut with a 2-2 record on Thursday. Though Pando didn’t reach the second day, it was a good start.
“Oh yeah, big time,” said Redwine when asked if Pando did better than was expected. “I was just hoping that he wouldn’t get pinned. I told him originally he was going to be a non-scorer, but when we didn’t have Zach, we used him as our 145-pounder. He was surprised when I told him. He walked out of the wrestling room and did a couple of fist pumps.”
“It was surprising,” Pando said after his third match on Thursday. “I did not expect it at all. I think I’m mentally tougher than anybody on the team, but there are juniors and seniors ahead of me. My goal was to win at least one and not to get pinned.”
Well, he accomplished one half of his goal.
Pando started his day with a pin of Sparks’ Robert Pascual. He dropped into the consolation bracket after being pinned by Juan Garcia of Madera South. He remained alive with a 10-3 win over Matt Fregoso of Ponderosa, and his day ended when he was pinned in the second round by Lowry’s Zack Peters.
“We may have to switch the lineup around (moving forward),” Redwine said. “He wrestled well today.”
Pando wasn’t the only freshman wrestler to post a victory.
Luis Mayoral pinned Erik Favela of Citrus Hill before losing his next two via pin and technical fall at the hands of Chester High’s Bonner Montgomery and North Valleys’ Trey Walters.
The Senators’ third freshman, Ariel Vega, went 0-2, losing by pin and technical fall.
If nothing else, the trio competed hard and gave Redwine a brief glimpse of the future. Redwine said he likes the way Vega and Mayoral have competed since the season started.
Another surprising effort was turned in by David Remer, a non-scoring 182-pounder.
Remer opened his day by pinning Cody Fisher of Crater in the third round. Vintage’s James Robert put Remer in the consolation bracket with a 15-3 win, but Remer battled back to pin Kodi Cook of West Wendover and then shut out Adam Simpson of Nyssa, 7-0. He was eliminated, 4-3, by Elliot Houghten (Calaveras).
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Jesse Case (182) and Bryce Newhall (170) reached Friday’s second day by compiling 4-1 records on Thursday.
Case pinned Thomas Carrillo and then lost 5-3 to Servite’s Daniel Jurado. Case bounced back with a 9-5 win over Kevin Fernandez of El Capitan and a pin against Napa’s Chase LaRue.
He finished his day with a 7-1 win over Battle Ground’s Jordan Sullivan.
Newhall opened his day with pins of McQueen’s Ryan Vera and Mountain View’s Adam Miller. He suffered a first-round pin at the hands of Rocklin’s Hunter Gonzalez and then pinned Ryan Palecek in the second round.
Kyle Rudy (138) finished 1-2. He suffered a concussion in his second match and didn’t return for his third match.
Heavyweight Brandon Macias, after getting a bye, won by pin in his first match. Griffin Dalske (Corning) pinned Macias, and then Luca Anastacio won, 6-4, in sudden death.
Carson is 49th with 35 points after the first day of competition.
Action gets underway at 8:30 a.m. Friday.