By Gregg Chappell
Moapa Valley Progress
The Pirates traveled to Boulder City on Saturday to compete in the 3A Southern Division Tournament. Going into the tournament the local wrestlers had high hopes of doing very well.
The Pirates had only two wrestlers in the number one spot entering the tournament. But four more athletes could have been ranked in the number one seed. Injuries had prevented some from competing in the final weeks of wrestling and had prevented a first place standing in division.
Each of the teams was allowed to bring a full 14 man line-up plus four JV wrestlers. The top three wrestlers in each weight class are seeded into the eight man bracket at the state tournament.
Moapa failed to qualify a wrestler in any of the lowest three weight classes. The first MVHS wrestler to medal in the tournament and qualify for state was Kaleb Bodily at 126 pounds. Kaleb had to wrestle the number one seed Garvin from Boulder City in the first match. He was defeated by Garvin by 11 – 5 which knocked him into the consolation bracket.
Bodily advanced and wrestled Guzman of Virgin Valley. Bodily pinned Guzman in 1:11 which sealed a third place finish.
At 132 pounds Jake Repp defeated Loya from Virgin Valley by a decision of 8 – 4 and then went on to wrestle Smith of Virgin Valley. Repp was defeated by Smith in a close bout of 4 – 1. This gave Jake a second place finish.
Nathan Sprague at 138 pounds lost to Pratch of Boulder by a decision of 8 – 5 which dropped Nathan to a third place finish.
At 145 pounds Schyler Postma wrestled Anderson of Virgin Valley and was pinned in the final seconds. This gave Postma a third place finish.
In the 152 pound weight class, Tyler Washburn from Boulder City defeated Justin Boren by a tech fall in the first round. Then later Washburn pinned Jared Repp in the championship round. This put Jared Repp in second place and Justin Boren in the third place spot at 152 pounds.
Trevor Durham at 160 pounds pinned Palmeri from Boulder City and then in the championship round defeated Viera also of Boulder City with a decision of 8 – 7. This gave Durham the first place division title.
Robbie Babb at 170 pounds was pinned by Simonson of Boulder City which knocked him into the consolation side. Babb then pinned Aleman of Virgin Valley in the second period which advances him to the state meet in third place.
Parker Chappell at 182 pounds had a bye in the first round. He met Reynolds of Boulder City in the championship round. Chappell pinned Reynolds in 1:49 to give him the first place division title.
Colton Millington at 195 pounds had a bye in the first round. He advanced to the championship round and was pinned by Badgely of Boulder City and finished in second place.
In the 220 pound weight class Tyson Mortenson was pinned by Reyes of Boulder City which dropped him to a third place finish.
The division title was won easily by Boulder City with a total of 201.5 points. Virgin Valley finished with 135.5 points and Moapa finished with 100 points.
Moapa advances 11 wrestlers to the state tournament. Two wrestlers will go to state ranked number one from the south, three wrestlers go as second place and six athletes in the third place slot.
The state tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday February 17-18 at the Cox Pavillion in Las Vegas.
