Award for Neville highlights wrestling action
Keith Trout
In a competitive tournament with close to 30 teams last weekend, the team results weren't that impressive, but several Lyon County wrestlers had some nice performances, including an outstanding wrestler award for Yerington's Reese Neville.
The junior Neville went unbeaten to claim the 160-pound title at the Cody Louk Memorial Tournament in Winnemucca. Fernley had five wrestlers earn medals (top six), despite only one wrestler seeded, and Yerington two while Dayton had several wrestlers come close to placing. Silver Stage hasn't yet started its competition season as the coach wasn't available sooner.
Top Yerington wrestlers will compete this Friday and Saturday at the Reno Tournament of Champions at the Reno Events Center, which features some of the top teams in the country in what is billed as the "toughest tournament in the United States." The less experienced YHS wrestlers and Fernley and Dayton teams will compete Saturday at a tournament in Lovelock.
Neville won the upper weight Cody Louk Memorial outstanding wrestler award, as voted on by coaches, after pinning all his opponents.
Coach Cody Neville said Reese wrestled in one of the toughest weight classes.
For Fernley, Chris Neiman (152) and Dillon Maguin (126) had the highest finishes with fifth places while placing sixth were Tyler Roemer (285), Riley Twitchell (120) and Devin Partain (106). For Yerington, the other placer was freshman Cade Draper with a fifth in the 132-pound class.
Dayton coach Sal Aquino said four wrestlers had three or four wins and finished one match or so away from placing, in Paul Langstaff (126), Nick Langstaff (132), Nate Braun (152) and Mitch Fialkowski (170) while Will Owen (120) finished 2-2.
"They're a young team coming up," he said. "We need a little more polishing."
FHS coach Scott Gillespie said he also had a few wrestlers finish out match away from placing.
"We're definitely getting better all the time," he said, adding they'll build on this performance. He said a few wrestlers "ate some humble pie" after the duals tournament the prior Saturday in Fallon but they gained some momentum in this Winnemucca tourney.
Gillespie said Dillon Maguin had a good tournament, losing only to the champion in his weight.
"He did a really good job," Gillespie said.
He said this was the first overnight trip for some wrestlers "and they got a little overexcited."
Coach Neville said Efren Campos, who missed the tourney the week before, at 182 and Beau Barrett (145) did well and came close to placing. He said junior Josiah Reizenstein was in his first high school tournament and "I thought he did really well."