A handful of local athletes returned home with medals from the Reno World of Wrestling (WOW) Championships held on April 2-4, including Dayton's Tyler Firestone, Owen Craugh and Bryce Moyle of Carson City, Fernley's Nico Ricci and Yerington's Lucas Mudloff.
The WOW tournament showcased nearly 3,000 age group wrestlers representing 40 states in competition held at the Reno Livestock Events Center.
Mudloff battled his way to the Division 6 (18-and-under age group) 215-pound weight class finals before losing to Schuyler Wilson from Redding, Calif. Both wrestlers were coming off highly successful high school seasons: Mudloff won the Class 3A state tournament for Yerington High earlier this year and Wilson placed second in the 275-pound weight class for Central Valley High School at California's Northern Section Tournament.
Meanwhile, Ricci placed fourth in the Division 3 (10-and-under) 73-pound weight class, Firestone took sixth in the Division 3 90-pound weight class, Craugh sixth in the Division 5 (16-and-under) 82-pound weight class and Moyle was sixth in the Division 1 (6-and-under) 40-pound weight class.
Firestone, 10, a Dayton Elementary School fourth grader representing the Dayton Heat Wrestling Club, advanced to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion, Destin McCauley from McCook Lake, S.D. McCauley pinned five opponents in a total time of 3 minutes, 18 seconds on his way to the gold medal.
Five wrestlers from Fallon also earned place finishes in the tournament. In Division 4, Collin Merkley placed second among 64-pounders and Trent deBraga was fourth in the 88-pound class; in Division 3, Franky deBraga placed third at 58 pounds; in Division 2, Hunter Mori placed sixth at 70 pounds; and in Division 1, David Hughes placed fourth at 49 pounds.
Dayton Heat notes: Other Dayton wrestlers who won matches included Jeremy Stanfield, Josh Coughlin, Travis Wade, David Grose, Chris Thompson, Kyle Firestone, and Shea Brewer. Others who competed in the tournament were Cody Desjardin, Brady and Bryce Rivera, Devin Galloway, and Sam Armstrong. ... The Heat parents ran one of the mat tables throughout the tournament and were awarded the mat table for the championship matches in the finals. ... Kyle Firestone, a Dayton Intermediate School sixth grader, was also a gold medal winner in the seventh grade 100-pound weight class at the Tah-Neva League championships held on March 27 in Yerington.
