3A Southern Region: Boulder City in first after day one

Boulder City sat atop the team standings after the first day of the Class 3A Southern Region wrestling tournament Friday, but Eagles coach Jim Cox didn’t want his wrestlers worrying about anything except their next bout.

“Right now, we just want them to wrestle the person in front of them,” Cox said. “Just focus on what’s before us. That’s about it.”

After Friday’s competition at Western High, Boulder City earned 93½ points and first place in the standings on the strength of having a dozen wrestlers make it to the semifinals. Virgin Valley sits in second with 84, with Cheyenne and Mojave tied for third with 72.

The tournament continues Saturday at 10 a.m. at Western, with the championship finals set for 3:30 p.m.

Zane Dennington (126 pounds) and Jimmy Dunagan (152), who each had two victories by pin to lead Boulder City.

Ryan Vanario also made it to the semifinals at 195, pulling out a 13-8 overtime victory in his quarterfinal match against Pahrump Valley’s Jeremy Albertson. Vanario fell behind 5-0 in the bout before rallying with a late two-point take down to tie it 8-8 to force the extra period.

“I was proud of him for doing that, for coming back like that. He showed a lot of heart,” Cox said. “But at the same time, there are a lot of mistakes there to improve off of. I think he’s going to learn from it. I was proud of the way he fought though.”

Virgin Valley coach Skyler Woods said his team was in good shape after 10 Bulldogs qualified for the semifinals.

“Things went pretty good so far. We are about where we expected to be,” Woods said.

Wyatt Hillius won his two bouts by pin to advance to the semifinals at 285 for Virgin Valley. Defending state champions Rudy Cannon (106), Ty Smith (120) and Cresent Crandall (182) also moved on to the semifinals for the Bulldogs.

“We have some guys with some big matches Saturday. And how they do in those will determine how we do as a team,” Woods said. “But we are right where we figured. We think we will be okay.”

Chance France (285) and Angelo Avila-Cunanan (106) each won a pair of matches by pin to lead Cheyenne.