SPARKS -- It was a long wait for Carson High School wrestlers Paul Carter and Nick Shine. Long, yet worthwhile, as the two Senators came to realize Saturday night when they were crowned as champions of their respective 140- and 189-pound weight classes at the Northern 4A Championships on Saturday night.
Carter defeated Galena's Kyle Knox 8-2 in the finals and Shine pinned Reno's Joe Sturgis to pick up long-awaited titles and help Carson finish fourth as a team on the final day of the regional tournament at The Brickhouse at Sparks High School.
Churchill County scored heavily in the consolation bracket and then held off Galena to capture the team championship. The Greenwave had 11 state tournament qualifiers, including seven third-place medalists, to finish with 210.5 total points. Galena, with three individual champions and seven finalists overall, finished second with 183.5 points, followed by Elko's 176.5.
Carson scored 155 points and qualified seven wrestlers for state. The top five in each weight class advances to the 4A state tournament this coming Friday and Saturday at Reno High School.
While Carter and Shine won their weight classes, Allen Wooldridge placed second in the 215-pound class. Eric Aguilera placed third at 112 pounds and Chris Ceccarelli third at 160 pounds, Chandler Brown was fourth at 135 pounds and Chris White fifth at 130 pounds.
"We have seven going to state and that's not bad," Carson coach Dean Schmanski said. "We had some kids step up today and I was proud of them."
Shine and Carter certainly erased some bad memories from last year when they missed regional gold medal opportunities with losses in the semifinals.
"I've been waiting for this a long time," said Carter, a senior who improved his season record to 27-7 (61-18 for his career).
He led virtually all the way in his first meeting against Knox (36-9).
"This was the first time so I really didn't know what to expect from him," Carter said. "I just wanted to attack, to get up early and not fall behind."
Shine, who placed third at both the regional and state tournaments as a sophomore last year, pinned Sturgis with 59 seconds remaining in the third round of the finals. Even though Shine had won two previous matches against Sturgis, he knew it wouldn't be easy this time.
"He's a tough wrestler," Shine said. "I pinned him once before, but that was a close match. He's so strong, he's hard to pin. I tried to prepare myself all week because I knew he was on the other side of the bracket and I knew there was a chance I could see him in the finals."
This was definitely better than last year, when Shine was pinned in the semifinals during the regional tournament.
"I was pretty disappointed last year," Shine said. "This gave me a chance to redeem myself and I'm glad I got it."
In the consolation finals earlier in the afternoon, Carson's Aguilera won by pin and Ceccarelli defeated Raymond Gabriel of Douglas 12-0. Brown clinched his state trip with an 8-6 victory against Elko's Bryan Jones, the No. 1 seed from the High Desert League, and then lost a narrow 6-3 decision to Churchill's Reese Jones in the third-place match.
Carson heavyweight Jason Klug, 152-pounder Joe Roman and freshman 125-pounder Ahron Osherhoff all placed sixth and stand as state tournament alternates in case any of the wrestlers who finished above them are unable to compete. Roman lost a tough 2-1 decision to McQueen's Shayne Wallace in the 152-pound fifth-place match.
Galena produced three individual champions: Joel Rivadeneyra at 112 pounds, Mike Sanford at 119 pounds and Spencer Christian at 130 pounds. Christian came from behind to tie the score at the end of regulation and then pinned Churchill's Ryan Thomas in the finals.
The Grizzlies also had four silver medalists: Joe Sanford, who lost 8-6 in overtime to Elko's Juan Avila in the 103-pound finals; Micah Parker, who didn't wrestle in the 135-pound finals; Jeremiah Jones, who lost in the regional heavyweight finals for the third year in a row to Kelly Anundson of Sparks; and Knox.
Rounding out the Carson Country results, Douglas finished fifth as a team with 142 points behind Grant Hall's second-place finish at 171 pounds while Brad Johnson and C.J. Keith placed third in their respective 130- and 145-pound classes.
Hall dropped a 6-4 decision to Reno's Jake Kileen in the finals. Keith rebounded from a loss to Churchill's Tommy Diaz in his first match, came back through the consolation bracket and then beat Diaz in a double overtime rematch for third-place. Johnson, a regional silver medalist last year, came back from a loss in his first match to place third.
"The kids wrestled well today," Douglas coach Mike Gamberg said. "I think they were all riding on the fact that Dan Molina was well after last night. They all said they wanted to do it for Dan."
Molina, one of the team's co-captains and a state tournament veteran, was rushed to Washoe Medical Center Friday night with respiratory problems after he was pinned in his first match. He was diagnosed with a cervical sprain and was released from the hospital later that night and was in the Sparks gym Saturday to root for his teammates.
