Cole Ashton on his way to winning by pin to secure the league title last week against Douglas.
Carson High wrestling coach Nick Redwine has been spending a great deal of time putting together all the right pieces to the puzzle with one obvious thing in mind: To qualify as many of his wrestlers for the state championships as possible.
Redwine will see how effective his juggling of his lineup will be on Friday and Saturday when the Northern 4A Championships are contested at Hug High. The top three wrestlers in each class will advance to the state championships to be held Feb. 8 and 9 at the Winnemucca Events Center.
With qualifying as many wrestlers to state obviously being more important than winning the zone title, Redwine put his lineup together with that in mind. Carson will only have nine scoring wrestlers at zone, but again the intent of the lineup is get as many wrestlers as possible to state and not to contend for a zone title.
Redwine continued to say he believed a realistic goal was for his team to qualify six to seven wrestlers for state. “I’m trying to qualify as many kids as I can,” he said.
As far as the team’s finish at zone Redwine said, “I think we’re going to be within the top five.” Spanish Springs is the overwhelming favorite to win the zone title. “No one’s going to compete with Spanish Springs,” Redwine said.
But if a team has any chance to rise up to challenge the Cougars it will need help from other teams to pull off upset wins against Spanish Springs wrestlers. “It’s going to be a multi-team effort,” Redwine said.
He said the teams that could challenge the Cougars in that scenario are McQueen or possibly Reed.
Here’s a look at Carson’s lineup for regionals:
106 — Ariel Vega. Redwine said Vega should be able to qualify for state as the 106-pound final should come down to Vega and a Manogue wrestler. The Manogue wrestler beat Vega early in the season at Winnemucca.
“The kid’s really good,” said Redwine about the Manogue wrestler. “I foresee those two in the finals. It should be a really good match. They’re both solid kids.”
120 — Luis Mayoral. “He should have a fairly good seed,” Redwine said. “I think he’s got a fairly good chance, better than 50-50 to qualify for state.”
132 — Max Harris. “It’s usually a petty stiff weight,” said Redwine about 132. But about Harris, Redwine added, “If Max wrestlers the way he should wrestle, he should qualify (for state).”
145 — Gabe Madera. “He has a good chance of qualifying (for state),” Redwine said. “He just has to wrestle really well.”
152 — Alex Wells. One of two returning wrestlers for CHS who qualified for state last year, Wells has dropped down from 160 to 152. Carson will have two wrestlers at this weight as Izayah Pando will also wrestle at 152. Pando has wrestled at 152 all year so he actually should receive a higher seed than Wells.
171 — Cole Ashton. Ashton was the hero of last week’s dual match against Douglas, winning by pin to secure a share of the league title with the Tigers as both teams finished 4-1. Carson trailed 39-36 when Ashton won by pin to give the Senators a 42-39 win. “Cole’s come on in the last couple weeks of the season,” Redwine said. About Ashton’s chances to qualify for state, Redwine said if he comes into regionals with the same kind of energy he came with into the Douglas match “he will qualify no problem.”
182 — David Remer. Remer has dropped down from 195 to 182. Remer is Carson’s other state qualifier from last season. Remer’s highlight this season came when he placed fourth at 195 at Reno’s Tournament of Champions, one of the nation’s toughest tournaments.
195 — Dominic Baumgardner. The junior varsity wrestler will be a nonscoring wrestler and has been brought up to compete at zone to gain experience.
Rounding out Carson’s lineup will be Ridge Willard at 220 and Kenneth Bogle at heavyweight.
