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Battle Mountain exacts revenge at last home wrestling meet of the 2024-25 season

The Huskies took down West Grand, winners of the Queens of the Mountain tournament earlier this month

Battle Mountain senior Alexandros Matthews pins Summit's Fergus Molnar on Thursday in Edwards. The dual meet with the Tigers was the final home wrestling tournament for the Huskies.
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo

In their final home wrestling meet of the season, the Huskies took back the doghouse.

After placing third — well behind champion West Grand — at the Queens of the Mountain tournament in Edwards on Jan. 18, the Battle Mountain girls wrestling team dominated the Mustangs on Thursday, winning four out of five matches.

“It was really awesome to see our girls pull off a big win,” said head coach Angelo Vasquez, who called the 20-12 victory “an upset.”



“They took our tournament by a lot of points,” he continued. “For us to only lose one wrestling match to them last night — it’s just a testament to how hard the girls work and the time they put in in the wrestling room.”

Christina Vasquez earned a 7-2 decision over Heaven Vail and Perla Chavez picked up a 10-3 win over Nitzy Munoz Sierra as the Huskies gained three points apiece at 105 and 110 pounds, respectively. Ayla Hampton got a 20-2 technical fall win over Dallas Morgan at 130 pounds and first-year wrestler Renata Alba jumped up from 170 pounds to 190 so she could compete at her senior night and took the 5-2 decision over Joseline Lopez.

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“She’s just a spark,” Vasquez said of Alba, who keeps the coach on his toes with her curiosity and growth mindset. “She loves what she does and all she wants to do is learn. She’s one of those kids that gets others fired up.”

Battle Mountain’s Perla Chavez defeated West Grand’s Nitzy Munoz Sierra by a 10-3 decision to capture the 110-pound win at Thursday’s dual in Edwards.
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo

The third chapter of the 115-pound rivalry between top-5 ranked West Grand’s Sage Wheatley and Battle Mountain’s Clara Traylor was written Thursday. While Traylor took the win at the West Grand Invite on Jan. 4, it was Wheatley who came into Edwards and took the title on Jan. 18. On Thursday, Wheatley pinned Traylor, whom Vasquez said was coming off an illness.

“It took (Wheatley) everything to beat her,” Vasquez said. “Now it’s just, get healthy and take it into the biggest tournament of the year.”

The pair could meet again at the 4A Region 2 tournament in Mead in a week.

“That could be one heck of a finals match,” Vasquez said.

Meanwhile Hillary Gutierrez — who, along with Kim Gardea, was one of the original two athletes on the first Battle Mountain girls team — won an exhibition match in her final home competition. The four-year varsity wrestler is returning from a recent concussion.

“She’s stuck with it,” Vasquez said regarding Gutierrez’s resilience. “We’re just happy to have her back.”

The Battle Mountain boys also won a home dual Thursday night, defeating Summit 24-18. Mitchell Skarupa pinned Mac Lukasiewiscz at the 1:56 mark to win the 113-pound match and Jesus Marquez earned six more points at 144 pounds. Then, Alexandros Matthews pinned Fergus Molnar at 165 pounds and 215-pound Alexis Medina Solono defeated Mariano Trujillo to seal the victory. Vasquez said those two seniors are hitting their stride at just the right time.

“It’s one thing about the system that we run,” he said. “We’ve been able to put kids in their peak position towards the end of the season. And we’ve always had dark horse kids that go out and shock somebody that they shouldn’t beat and qualify for state.”

Matthews is a good candidate to fulfill that role this year. Vasquez believes the first-year wrestler could contend for a top-5 finish next weekend. No matter how he finishes, however, the campaign has exceeded expectations.

“We knew the kid was an athlete, we knew he was strong, but wrestling is a whole different animal,” Vasquez said. “There is every once in awhile a kid who comes out of nowhere, loves the sport, puts everything into it and the results show up.” 

Battle Mountain will head to Mead for the 4A Region 2 tournament Feb. 7-8. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the state tournament, held at Ball Arena Feb. 16-18.

“The growth of the kids has been amazing,” Vasquez said before turning his praise to the Eagle Valley program, which travels to Coronado for the 4A Region 1 tournament next weekend.

“I’m just really excited to watch all the kids in this valley step it up this year,” Vasquez continued. “From the boys and girls down in Eagle (Valley) to our team up valley, I think we’ve represented our valley really well when it comes to the sport of wrestling.” 

 


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