Wrestling: Three Tigers qualify for state

RENO - No wrestler wants to end any tournament with a loss. But there is a pretty good measure of consolation for Douglas High's Mike Sepulveda, Dillon Spates and Patrick Miller coming off second-place finishes at the Northern 4A Regional Tournament at Reno High School on Saturday night.

All three have a chance to come back and wrestle again this coming weekend at the NIAA 4A State Championships in Las Vegas.

Sepulveda, a senior, placed second at 130 pounds while Spates and Miller, both juniors, earned runner-up honors in their respective 125- and 215-pound weight classes to qualify for the state tournament Friday and Saturday at the UNLV Cox Pavilion.

Douglas scored 74 points to finish ninth in the regional team standings with a lineup of only seven wrestlers. Not bad, if you ask coach Justin Shine.

"It was a very nice day," Shine said. "We came here with seven wrestlers and three of them are going to state. Three of seven, that's a pretty good percentage."

Sepulveda lost 5-4 against Damonte Ranch freshman Drew Smith in the 130-pound gold medal match. Spates lost to Reno freshman Joey Lavallee in the 125-pound final 9-3. And Miller was pinned by Elko senior Zach Stetler in the 215-pound final.

"All three of those matches were winnable," Shine said of the finals. "We've got a tough week of practice ahead. We've got to refocus and come back. We've got to be 110 percent better than we were tonight if we want to win those matches."

Sepulveda rallied back from 3-0 deficit and had an opportunity to win at the end.

Sepulveda scored on an escape to cut the deficit to 3-1 at the start of the third period and his reversal with 39 seconds left turned it into a one-point contest, but Smith was able to hang on for the win.

"That kid's a tough freshman; he has lots and lots of experience from youth wrestling," Shine said of Smith. "But Michael is a stud in his own right. To beat that kid, he's just got to be more technical rather than physical. He needs to settle down and control the tempo of the match. And he has to score first to make that kid come from behind."

Spates took the mat against Lavallee, another highly touted freshman whose credentials include a 47-4 season record and gold medal from the Sierra Nevada Classic in December. Spates tied the score at 2-2 after scoring on escapes at the end of the first period and start of the second, but Lavallee took control with a reversal early in the third period.

Spates had advanced to the championship match in impressive style, winning his opener by pin followed by two technical falls which he won 17-2 and 16-1.

Miller faced a difficult challenge in his final against Stetler, a three-sport athlete who will enter the track and field season as the defending state discus and shot put champion.

Stetler won by fall in a time of 1 minute, 3 seconds, but Shine said that was not at all reflective of the progress Miller has made this season.

"I'm ecstatic about Patrick," Shine said of Miller, who wrestled as a heavyweight before dropping down a weight class late in the season. "He's 5-1 as a 215-pounder now. He hadn't worn a white singlet all year; we only break those out for the finals and it was good to see him wearing it."

Miller, who has received academic all-state recognition with his 4.3 grade point average, supplied a highlight in his quarterfinal on Friday night when he rallied from an early 8-0 deficit to pin J.J. Phoenix of Spanish Springs with 45 seconds left in the second period and also rallied for a 7-6 semifinal victory against Hug's Joe Taulaki.

Zach Falanga, a junior 189-pounder, narrowly missed advancing to state when he settled for fourth-place at 189 pounds after dropping a 4-3 decision in the consolation finals against Reed's Broc Westlake. Falanga reached the semifinals with a 6-5 victory against Hug's David Knowles then lost to eventual champion Troy Killgore of Damonte Ranch on Saturday morning. His last loss came at the hands of Westlake, the High Desert League's No. 1 seed.

The Tigers did experience some misfortune when they began the day with two senior standouts sidelined due to knee injuries: Cody Spates (140 pounds) and Wes Peterson (119). Spates also saw his season end prematurely in 2009 when he injured the same knee (he re injured it earlier this season in a one-point dual meet loss against Wooster's Steven Elicegui, who won the regional 145-pound title on Saturday).

"It's a real heart breaker to lose those two, especially this being their senior year," Shine said. "They worked so hard all year. They put in all a lot of sweat and blood to get here; they deserved to have their shot."

Also for Douglas during the tournament, Austin Martin went 1-2 at 135 pounds and Daniel Lundergreen 1-2 at 145 pounds . Kyle Mathews lost his only match on Friday and was unable to return on Saturday due to illness.

State pairings for Douglas

125 pounds

Dillon Spates vs. DeAngelo Yates (Eldorado), No. 2 Sunrise seed

130 pounds

Michael Sepulveda vs. Alexander Aniciete, No. 1 Sunrise seed

215 pounds

Patrick Miller vs. Leo McCormick (Pahrump Valley), No. 2 Sunset seed