4 Muckers going to state wrestling tourney in Winnemucca
Lake Mead Christian Academy was the site for the 2023 Nevada 2A Southern Regional wrestling tournament over the weekend where 98 wrestlers fought for their spot in the state tournament.
Nine schools from the 2A division had representatives in the tournament.
White Pine High School had the most wrestlers in the tournament with 18 spread across the 14 weight classes.
The Muckers finished in sixth place in the team portion of the tournament with 104 total points.
They had four wrestlers finish in the top four of their respective weight classes to clinch a spot in this week’s 2A state tournament.
Freshman Brekken Miller and sophomore Mitchell Miller each won their respective weight classes.
Brekken went 2-0 in the tournament after receiving a first-round bye, while Mitchell went 3-0 in the tournament following his first-round bye.
Two of Mitchell’s three wins came via pinfall with the third win coming by a decision.
In the 126-pound championship match, Mitchell won with a 10-6 decision thanks to a strong first and second period. He went into the third period leading 8-5 on the scoreboard and held his opponent to just one point in the third period which came on an escape.
Brekken defeated his first opponent with a pin in the second period. At the time of his pin, he was leading on the scoreboard 8-4.
In the 132-pound championship match, Brekken would go to overtime tied at 3 points. He got a takedown against his opponent to get the 5-3 victory.
Senior Montana Strozzi and junior Sam Nichols would also finish in qualifying positions.
Nichols finished second in the 175-pound weight class. He went 2-1 on the day with a win by pin and a win by decision.
The third period was back and forth between Nichols and his opponent with both wrestlers being able to reverse each other. Ultimately, it was Alec Thornton of Pahranagat Valley who was able to get the final reversal and get the win over Nichols.
Strozzi took third place in the 113-pound weight class.
After dropping her first match of the day, Strozzi went on to win her next two matches, including a first-round pin victory in the bronze medal match.
For finishing in the top four of their weight classes, all four wrestlers will be moving on to participate in the Nevada 2A state tournament this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10-11.
The tournament will take place at Winnemucca Events Center in Winnemucca.
You can follow along with the tournament by going to trackwrestling.com.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.