Sheldon Miller
PRIMM — Brandon Basa and Sheldon Miller came away with medals for Carson High at the State Division I Wrestling Championships Saturday.
Miller took third at heavyweight while Basa was fourth at 113 pounds. Brady O’Keefe didn’t wrestle for Carson because he violated team rules. His spot in the bracket was taken by Reno’s Connor Pearson. The absence of O’Keefe was huge because he was expected to challenge for a title at 138.
With its eight remaining wrestlers, Carson was still able to take ninth as a team. The final standings were: Green Valley 130.5; Spanish Springs 107.5; Arbor View 95.5; Shadow Ridge 85; Bishop Gorman 74; Damonte Ranch 60; Cimarron Memorial 55; McQueen 52; and Carson 47.
Carson assistant coach Nick Redwine said he and head coach Justin Shine were pleased overall with the team’s performance. “We had a pretty good ideal where we we’re going to end up and that’s where we ended up. No real big surprises.”
Miller finished the tournament with a flourish, pinning Centennial’s Arath Rangel in the third place match. Miller had to wrestle a pigtail match and won, pinning Cimarron-Memorial’s Miguel Torres. Miller then lost to the Sunset’s No. 1 seed Anthony Valenti of Green Valley 5-2 but came back to pin Spanish Springs’ Tyler Barats and beat Shadow Ridge’s Tyler Carter 3-1.
“He wrestled really well the last couple of matches,” Redwine said. “He looked really good.”
Basa pinned Adam Knopnow in the second round, and then had to face Ryan Pierce of Centennial, the top Sunset seed.
Basa got off to a 7-4 lead after the first round, but Pierce scored eight unanswered points in the second round to go ahead 12-7. Basa never recovered and lost 14-11.
In the second round of consolation, Basa was superb, rolling to a 9-0 win over Cimarron Memorial freshman Nathaniel Rodriguez. Basa fell in the third place match to Spanish Springs’ Jacob Ruiz 6-1.
Also for Carson, Nathan Mersino at 132 grinded out a 3-2 decision against Las Vegas’ Nick Sablan, moving him into the semifinals against No. 1 Sunset seed Mason Campbell of Bishop Gorman.
The match was scoreless until the third period when Campbell scored an escape and takedown or a 3-0 lead. Mersino managed just one point after that, losing 3-1.
Mersino was eliminated in the next round when he ran into Damonte’s Cameron Sandoval, who walked off with a 7-3 decision.
Sandoval got a first-period takedown, and after Mersino scored on an escape, Sandoval got another takedown to lead 4-1. Sandoval tacked on another two points to make it 6-1 before Mersino got a takedown to make it 6-3.
At 170, Abel Carter lost by technical fall in the first round and then won 13-3 in his first consolation match.
Carter was eliminated one match short of qualifying for the third-place match. He dropped a 17-2 decision to Destry Talledo of Arbor View.
At 220, Corey Jasper was pinned by Arbor View’s Alexander Espinosa in the first round, and then he was pinned in the second round by Dante Rios of Centennial, who came into the tourney with a less-than-steller 26-22 record.
Terin Keller (106) lost 17-2 to Sunrise No. 1 seed Francisco Martinez out of Shadow Ridge, He bounced back by pinning Javier Zuniga, a non-scorer from Shadow Ridge.
In the second round of consolation, Keller dopped a 6-4 decision to Northern Nevada rival Owen Jones of Spanish Springs.
Kyle Rudy, Carson’s 120-pounder also went out in three matches. He lost by pin to Foothill’s Elyas Lizares in an out-bracket match. Rudy bounced back nicely with a third-round pin of Silverado’s R.J. Berdiago, who was the top qualifier out of the Sunrise.
Daniel Rodriguez, the Sunset No. 2 out of Cimarron Memorial, eliminated Rudy, 7-1, in the second round of consolation.
At 195, Connor Sievers pinned Palo Verde’s David Rivera in his out-bracket match, but then lost to Green Valley non-scorer, Sal Hicks, by pin in the third round. In the second-round consolation, Sievers droppd a tough 6-4 decision to Austin Heese of Arbor View.
