Five Panther Wrestlers Earn Medals

Five Pahranagat Valley wrestlers earned medals at the Western Warrior JV Rumble in Las Vegas last week.

Coach Brad Loveday reported Matthew Prince (120), Reece Thornton (170) and Garrett Bowen all earned second place medals. Tyler Escarsca (145) and Thane Solario (170) both took fourth place.

The 18-team, two-day meet was held at Western High School in Las Vegas. Weight class pool wrestling was done on Friday and then depending on seeding, placed in brackets on Saturday.

The Panthers finished in seventh place with 93 points. Centennial was first place with 165 points.

Prince advanced to the finals match but was pinned by Angelo Vigilia of Western. Escarsca lost in the Saturday quarterfinals to G. Brown of Centennial but recorded three wins in the consolation bracket, moving into the third place match but could not compete in that match having already reached his five match per day limit. Garrett Bowen won three matches in the championship round and met Brandon Weber of Centennial in the finals but lost a 12-10 decision.

Solario did the same as Escarsca, losing in the championship quarterfinals, but working his way through the consolation bracket with three wins to the third place match, before losing to Lucas Schanbacher of Faith Lutheran.

Thornton advanced to the 170-pound championship with three pins, then lost by pin to Brandon Paris of Silverado.

Salvador Heredia (113) was 1-2 at the tournament on Saturday. Gerardo Heredia (160) was also 1-2 on Saturday. Peter Vande Sluis (182) was 3-2, losing in the consolation semifinals. Jon Stewart (195) was 1-2, and Tyler Horrocks (285) was 2-2.

Loveday said, ?We are all working on getting better and trying to be being more consistent.?

This week Pahranagat Valley hosted the Panther Duals on Wednesday with Lincoln County, Tonopah, and Lake Mead.

On Jan. 26, the Panthers will participate in a meet at Western in Las Vegas, stay overnight and go on to the 2A Southern League Duals in Laughlin Jan. 27-28.