Wrestling: Douglas takes 3rd at Lowry Invitational

The Douglas varsity wrestling team entered the Lowry Invitational in Winnemucca over the weekend with an important unanswered question.

Did the Tigers have enough fire power up throughout their lineup to compete in the individual format?

The answer was a resounding yes as Douglas put three wrestlers in the championship finals and five more in the consolation finals en route to a strong third-place team finish in the 30-team tournament.

Douglas was the highest placing team from Nevada behind second-place Nampa, Idaho and tournament champions Burns, Ore.

Kuna, Idaho finished fourth.

Douglas junior Garrett Hekhuis (112 pounds) and senior Sean Molina (189) each claimed tournament titles in their respective classes.

Senior Ryan Pruitt (152), wrestling with an injured neck, brought home a silver medal after losing to three-time 3A state champion Trinity Perkins from Spring Creek in the finals.

Sophomore Nico Barker (125) and senior Devin Barker (140) each earned third-place medals while senior Nick Ceglia (145) and junior Ryan Olsen (119) wrestled to fourth-place finishes.

Douglas picked up its eighth medal when junior CJ Wynar (119) took fifth in the consolation finals.

Hekhuis, last year's 4A regional runner-up at 103 pounds, started the finals off for Douglas with a 5-4 victory over AJ Swartzlander from Burns.

Down 4-3 in the third period, Hekhuis scored on a reversal to take a 5-3 lead with less than a minute left in the match. Swartzlander was awarded a penalty point when Hekhuis was called for stalling, but the Douglas junior was able to hold on for the win.

Molina locked up with South Tahoe's Miles Wallace in the final.

Molina was down 4-2 in the third period when he escaped Wallace to close the score to 4-3. With less than 30 seconds remaining, Molina made his move, scoring a solid double leg takedown and earning three additional near-fall points to win 8-4.

Nico Barker won his consolatio final match against Patrick Mills from Burns 4-3. Devin Barker helped solidify Douglas' third-place finish by defeating Kuna's Brandon Delao 6-4.

Douglas hosts South Tahoe Wednesday night at 5:30.