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In what is normally one of the region’s biggest wrestling tournaments in January, weather and road conditions affected the number of teams attending the Spring Creek Kiwanis Invitational.
Elko won the two-day event with 238.5 points followed by a trio of out-of-state schools. Fallon finished ninth with 112.5 points as only Elko, Moapa Valley, Spring Creek and Virgin Valley made the trip from the 3A level. Sixteen teams competed over the weekend compared to 27 last year.
Fallon next competes Saturday when it travels to Corning, Calif., before ending the month in Fernley for the junior varsity squad while the varsity team travels to San Francisco.
The Greenwave sent four grapplers to the podium with senior Jaiden McFadden leading the team with a third-place finish in the 132-pound division. Manuel Barros (106) and Carson Melendy (138) finished fourth, and Andre Green (126) was sixth.
McFadden won his first two matches before falling to Elko’s Demetrius Ruiz in the quarterfinal. However, he won his last four bouts to finish 6-1 on the weekend, including a 9-5 decision over Buhl, Idaho’s Zan Parker in the third-place match.
Barros won his first two matches, coming one win shy of wrestling for the championship, but he fell to Caldwell, Idaho’s Camus Book with 40 seconds left in the first period. Barros won his next, a 7-5 sudden victory, before falling in the third-place bout.
Melendy, who won a state title as a freshman last year, fell in the second period of the semifinal round after he opened with two falls, including a tech. Melendy defeated Elko’s Kody Goss, 5-1, in the consolation but fell to Caldwell’s Marquez Arredondo in the third-place match.
Green won his first two by fall but lost by tech fall in the quarterfinals. He pinned his next two opponents but fell in the consolation semifinals to Battle Mountain’s Liam Bundrock. Green fell in his final match.
Evan Mackuliak (113), Nathaniel Zackery (132), Lonnie Adams (132), Caden McKnight (144), Quentin Hornbeak (165), and Colton Blankenship (175) each finished 2-2, while Evan Garcia (120), Manuel Karaway (157) and Avery DeAloia (175) finished 1-2. Maximillion Dahl (120), Rio Segura (126), Andrew Douglas (144), Troy Shelton (157), Carlos Valenzuela (190), Jason Lewis (215) and Sean Reeder (285) each finished 0-2.