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Huskies grapplers pin Summit

Chris Freud
Vail, CO Colorado
SPO BMHS Wrestling 01 TS 01-10-08
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EAGLE-VAIL, Colorado ” There is the sports cliche that “The game wasn’t as close as the score indicated.”

That was the case Thursday night when Battle Mountain wrestling knocked off Summit County, 42-30. Summit’s five wins came by forfeit because the Huskies didn’t field wrestlers in certain weight classes. Battle Mountain, meanwhile, earned all of its points via pins.

And that left the Huskies trying to figure out the last time Battle Mountain, perpetually hamstrung in head-to-head matches against other teams because of low participation, actually won a dual.



“That’s the first dual we’ve won in a long time,” Huskies coach Jesse Long said. “That’s exciting. It’s something to build on. We enjoy winning.”

“It was pretty fun,” said Huskies 160-pounder Sergio Sandoval. “It was my first time winning a dual, probably the first time for us in years.”

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Sandoval’s correct. Battle Mountain hadn’t won a dual since Dec. 17, 2003, a 48-12 thumping of … Summit County.

Million to Juan

Battle Mountain started its first win in four years with an unlikely source ” Juan Gonzales at 125 pounds. Gonzales was winless in 2007-08, but needed just 24 seconds to pin Javan Bair.

“I shot him for a takedown,” Gonzales said. “I got both of his legs, and then I pushed into him. He flipped to his belly, so I cross-faced him. I got him into a cross-face cradle, and I pinned him. It felt really good.”

Not only was it good for Gonzales, but it fired us the rest of his squad.

“That’s what we want to see,” Long said. “Whenever you start out with a pin, that’s huge. You want to keep rolling on that. The team wanted to see Juan win a match. For the team to see Juan win a match, that was huge.”

The Huskies started rolling from there. Quick pins were the theme of the night. Josef Salazar, wrestling in front of a boisterous bunch of family and friends, needed just 23 seconds to put Chris Braun on his back. Sandoval made short work of Trevor Barton at 160 in 13 ticks.

Heavyweight Billy Shue actually had the longest bout against Summit, building a 12-0 lead against Summit’s Zach Campbell before putting him down for the count. As a reminder for Huskies planning to rib him in practice for this, please do remember senior is a holds the weight advantage.

As the dual shifted back to the lower weights, Battle Mountain kept rolling. The Huskies’ Robert Martinez got a pin in 1:36 against the Tigers’ Will McDonald. Irving Ruacho gave the Huskies another six points, dispatching Ian Quandt in 40 seconds. Battle Mountain’s Manuel Madril rounded things out at 119 with a pin of Ryan Koegel.

In a rush

In the nightcap, Battle Mountain fell to Lake County, 47-24. The highlight in this dual was Sandoval who went 2-0 on the evening. He pinned the Panthers’ Gabriel Nogurey in 18 seconds. For those counting at home, Sandoval needed all of 31 seconds in his two wins.

“Sergio wrestled well,” Long said. “We stress takedowns. You start off the match with a takedown, it puts it in their heads how the match is going to go. Sergio started off his matches with quick takedowns and ended with quick pins.”

Next up for Battle Mountain wrestling is the Palisade Tournament Saturday.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.


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