Wrestling: Tigers wrestle with growing pains

The Reno Tournament of Champions didn't earn its "Toughest Tournament in America" label by accident.

The Douglas wrestling team experienced the highs and lows of running the gauntlet of the highly-touted national tournament over the weekend.

On one hand, senior standout Dillon Spates performed so well that he walked away with a college scholarship.

On the other, Douglas' other top standout, 215-pounder Zach Falanga, saw his high school career likely end with a shoulder injury.

In between, Douglas managed only five individual wins in the tournament while the bulk of the varsity lineup went 2-and-out in the double-elimination brackets.

Spates was the highlight of the weekend, both on and off the mat, for Douglas.

He went 3-2 with his first loss coming against the tournament's top-seeded wrestler in an 8-5 decision. His second loss was 4-2.

While he didn't advance to the tournament's second day, he did draw the attention of several college coaches in attendance.

Both North Dakota State and Montana University expressed interest in Spates during the tournament, but Waldorf College, an NAIA school in Iowa, offered Spates what worked out to be a full-ride scholarship.

Spates verbally-committed to Waldorf Monday morning, where he is expected to wrestle in the 133-pound class.

Waldorf entered the year ranked in the NAIA top 20. The school has also produced 44 All-Americans and 75 national qualifiers.

Reno High's Bo Bettison also committed to Waldorf over the weekend.

On the low side, Douglas likely lost its upperweight anchor for the year when the senior Falanga injured his shoulder in a second round match. He'd won his first match with relative ease.

Falanga is expected to learn this week what the extent of his injury is.

Douglas' only other victory Friday came from Junior Zach Fiene, wrestling in the 125-pound weight class.

"It was a tough tournament and the kids got some good experience out of it," coach Justin Shine said. "They got their eyes opened as to how good the competition is out there.

"We're young and inexperienced and we're just going to have to take our lumps for a while."

Douglas will turn around to compete in the Sierra Nevada Classic next week before hosting Galena when league action resumes in January.