Las Vegas High qualifies 12 for state meet

By Jared Harmon

Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009 | 2:17 a.m.

Southeast Division wrestling teams qualified 23 wrestlers for the state tournament in Winnemucca on Feb. 13 during last weekend’s Sunrise Regional tournament.

But it still was not enough to dethrone reigning champions, Las Vegas High School, which captured its ninth straight regional championship.

The Wildcats captured six individual championships and qualified 12 for the state meet for 259.5 points and the title over second place Green Valley High (208.5) and third place Foothill (144).

Green Valley was led by junior 140-pounder Daniel Allen, who grabbed the Gators only regional title. They qualified six other for state — the top three finishers in each weight class advanced.

“I’m excited to be heading to state,” Allen said. “I feel like I have a shot if I work hard this week and everything goes well. It feels good to bringing home a regional championship to Green Valley.”

Green Valley coach Jon Ferry was happy with the way his team wrestled, but said they will have their hands full competing for a state title next weekend.

“At state it will all depend on the draws we get but hopefully our seven guys will wrestle better than they did today,” Ferry said. “The competition only gets tougher. The weaklings are out so it’s time to rise to the occasion.”

Foothill will take six wrestlers to Winnemucca, including two Sunrise champions in 125-pounder Joel Olivas and 130-pounder Chad Orum.

“We wrestled well today but we also had some disappointing losses,” Foothill coach Bill Smales said. “We’re not really concerned with team points at state this year but the kids we are sending are in good shape to place. Their healthy and they’ve worked very hard to get where they’re at.”

Olivas picked up his win in one of the meet’s more dramatic finals matches, beating Basic’s Mark Bleuze 8-6 in overtime.

“This is the third time we’ve wrestled this year and it felt like he was in the better position for pretty much the whole match,” Olivas said. “I just pushed myself at the end and made sure I came out on top. I’m going to have to really push myself if I wanna go for the gold (at state).”

Foothill’s third place finish was the school’s best in its 10-year history.

The meet was also historic for Liberty which qualified three for state, picked up the school’s second regional championship from 135-pounder Mike Reveles and finished in sixth with 90 points — the school’s best finish in its six year-history.

“I was just trying to be smart and not get caught doing anything stupid that could get me tied up,” Reveles said. “It feels awesome to be holding a regional championship medal — I can’t even describe it. I hope I can keep it going at state but I know it’s going to be tough.”

Basic captured fourth place with 107.5 points while qualifying three for state. The Wolves were followed by Silverado (eighth, 78.5, two qualifiers), Del Sol (11th, 44, two qualifiers), and Coronado (13th, 26, no qualifiers).

Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or [email protected].