By NICK YAMASHITA
The Progress
The Virgin Valley High School wrestling team placed three athletes at the Nevada 3A State Championships on Friday, Feb. 16 in Bullhead City, AZ.
The state placements included state champion Gunnar Cortez at 150 lb. weight class, state runner-up Ruben Silveyra at 157 lbs., and 4th placer Decker Lee at 144 lbs.
Other state qualified wrestlers included Ezequiel Plancarte (113 lb.), Kydd Blanthorn (138 lb.), Dominic Piazza (175 lb.), Gary Woods (190 lb.) and Jacob Nelson (215 lb.).
Both Piazza and Nelson fell one match short of making the consolation bracket championship for 3rd and 4th place. Piazza suffered a dislocation injury during his final match, but finished it losing by just two points, 7-5.
“We are proud of all the hard work our guys put in this year,” said VVHS Head Coach Skyler Woods. “They are a great bunch.”
The big news Gunnar Cortez who claimed his third straight state championship at the meet. He started the day against Connor Hennessee of South Tahoe in 0:28 by pinfall. In the quarterfinals he faced Fernley’s Brody Jones, dominating in 0:47. The championship round had him against the Northern Region top wrestler from Elko, Jesston Tkach. Cortez took command of the mat pinning Tkach in thirty-five seconds.
Cortez was previously the 2022-23 state champ in the 138 lb. weight class and 2021-22 state champ in the 132 lb. weight class. He only lost one match all season this year.
“Great!” Cortez said when asked how he felt about his season. “Lots of mixed emotions being in my last match and just grateful to have had all the work pay off. It felt good to make everybody proud.”
As the #2 seed from the Southern Region, Silveyra faced off against the top wrestler from the north, Kash Hendrick of South Tahoe. Silveyra won by decision 7-5 in the quarterfinals. He then competed against defending state champion Brennen Benedict of Pahrump Valley. The championship match went into three overtimes with Benedict winning by a close score of 5-4.
Lee ended up in the consolation bracket championship wrestling against Moapa Valley’s Bromley for third place. Lee just fell short in the third period by a score of 10-6.
“We really look forward to working with them during the off-season,” Woods said of his wrestlers. “We are really going to miss our departing seniors. We have loved having them lead our team and look forward to seeing where life takes them.”
