Fewer state berths awarded

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004 | 9:54 a.m.

Tough competition is the talk of the Las Vegas prep wrestling community heading into this weekend's Sunset and Sunrise regionals.

Unlike in past years, the competition for spots in the state tournament will be much stiffer. The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association reduced from 16 to eight athletes from each weight class who will make it to the 4A state tournament, with three grapplers coming from each division and the bottom two wrestling a play-in match.

"It hurt us terribly. It's just not fair," Cheyenne coach Mike Abrams said. "For great kids, it's great for. For kids who fall in the middle, it's not fair to them."

Las Vegas coach Joe Sellers said that fewer state berths, on the other hand, means better matches at the state tournament, which starts Feb. 14.

"It makes for a tough tournament. There's nobody who's going to make the state tournament who isn't a good wrestler, so your first rounds will be good rounds."

In the Sunset, Cimarron is heavily favored to win, with Centennial and Palo Verde also expected to show strongly. Coaches point to the 135-pound and 171-pound classes as the most competitive in Saturday's Sunset regional tournament at Cimarron-Memorial.

At 135, Centennial's Angelo Antuna, Clark's Daniel Ciarciaglini, and Cimarron's Justin Orians figure to compete for the regional title. Orians won the 2003 title at 130.

At 171, Durango's Joe Thompson will defend his state title against a field led by T.J. Geick from Cimarron, the 160-pound winner last year.

Sunset favorites in other weight classes include Cimarron's Randel Aleman at 112, Chase Pami at 145 and Bobby Musser at 152. Aleman won the state title at 103 pounds in 2003.

In the Sunrise region, Las Vegas, Rancho and Green Valley look to be the top programs. Region coaches figure the 130-pound and 215-pound weight class will be the most exciting competitions at Saturday's tournament, which is in Henderson at Basic High.

At 130, Rancho's Colby Lee, Green Valley's Pat Quagliato and Las Vegas' Nick Ruggerio lead the Sunrise pack. Ruggerio placed fourth at 125 pounds in last year's state tournament.

Green Valley coach Aric Thomas says that the 215-pound weight class might be the most exciting.

"There's probably anywhere from five to six guys that could win that weight class," Thomas said. "The kid from Coronado placed in state last year, but he's already been beaten by Silverado's 215-pounder, and our 215-pounder beat the Silverado 215-pounder, but the Coronado kid beat our kid, and the Chaparral kid placed in state there this year but he's already lost to the Rancho kid this year."