Carson High’s David Remer met a gaol he set at the beginning of the season by making the second day of the prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions, one of the nation’s toughest wrestling events.
Remer overcame a tough draw in the first round to come back to post three impressive wins in the event on Friday at the Reno Events Center.
The Senators had three wrestlers in the event as sophomores Luis Mayoral and Ariel Vega also competed. Mayoral and Vega were both eliminated after posting 1-2 records.
At 195 pounds, Remer had to open with the No. 6 seed, Michael Cox of Columbia, Idaho and came up just short in a 6-5 loss. Remer trailed 4-0 in the second period but scored a reversal and takedown to force a 4-4 tie going into the final period.
Cox, though, scored a takedown to take a 6-4 lead and while Remer scored an escaped to make it 6-5, that ended up being the final margin. “That was a very winnable match,” Carson coach Nick Redwine said.
But Remer came back to dominate in his next match, winning by major decision 9-0 against Temecula Valley’s Josh Yocum. “That was a really good match,” Redwine said. “He looked good. He was in control of the match the entire time. He was dictating. He was the aggressor.”
Remer then went on to pin Mason Ledbetter of Pueblo West, Colo., in 3:52 in another match in which Redwine said Remer controlled throughout. Remer finally beat Zane Davis of Allen, Texas 2-0 in the consolation round of 16. Allen is the team leader in the tournament.
Remer will begin action Saturday in the consolation quarterfinals.
“That’s a pretty good accomplishment,” said Redwine about making it to the second day. “That was one of his goals that he wrote down at the beginning of the season.”
At 106, Vega lost his first match before coming back to beat Will Effinger of Casteel, Ariz., 6-5, and then lost his third match. At 120, Mayoral opened with a 10-3 win against Casteel’s Xylyx Abele before losing his next two matches.
“They both looked really good in the matches they won,” Redwine said.
Redwine said in their losses it was more mental for Mayoral and Vega. “It’s kind of hard to get a read on those two sophomores,” he said. “They just think about it too much. They’re going to be really solid moving forward. This is a really, really tough tournament.”
Redwine said he also wanted to bring another Alex Wells to the TOC but Wells had a family commitment.
