Piedra Vista places second at Doc Wright

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Jan 19, 2017 | Wrestling |

Navajo Times | Adron Gardner
Piedra Vista Panther Nick Rino wrestles Tuba City Warrior Jordan Babbitt during the 53rd Doc Wright Invitational wrestling tournament at Winslow High School on Jan. 13. Rino finished as the 145-pound champion.

WINSLOW, Ariz.

The wrestling trophy case at Piedra Vista High School may need to be upgraded after the season is over.

The Panthers are expected to bring home some hardware at next month’s New Mexico Class 6A state wrestling tournament so school officials may need to add more space to that trophy case.

As a way to prepare for the rigors of the upcoming state meet, the Panthers took part in the 53rd annual Doc Wright Invitational in Winslow.

PV finished in second place with 185.5 points behind team winner Show Low, who finished with 223 points.

The Panthers placed four wrestlers in the finals with Diego Sanchez Morales (106).

Wes Rayburn (138) and Nick Rino (145) winning their respective weight classes. Hosman Caraveo, meanwhile, placed second in the 160-pound division.

“It was good to have those guys in the finals,” Piedra Vista coach Michael Bejar said. “I thought we might have been able to get more wrestlers in the finals, but it just didn’t go right for some of our kids.”

Bejar said he was hoping to go 4-for-4 in the finals, but he was happy with the way Caraveo kept eventual winner Jackson Allen of Show Low on the ropes. Allen escaped with a 3-2 win.

“It was a real close match and I thought Hosman wrestled really well,” he said.

The Panthers also got a fifth place finish from Sergio Quintana (170) and Adrian Tarwater (220).

After the meet, Rayburn was named the outstanding wrestler in the middleweight division for the second year in a row.

“He’s a good leader and he’s one of our tougher wrestlers,” he said. “He does the little things that make him better.”

Bejar said there were a few wrestlers that missed making the brackets, which would have helped with the team score.

Page coach Kyran Keisling was another coach who felt that his team underperformed.

“I am pleased but we left a lot of points on the table,” he said. “We had some good results individually, but I felt that we didn’t wrestle to our fullest potential as a team.”

The Sand Devils got three wrestlers in the finals with Dante Garcia winning the 113-pound weight class. Kameron Whitewater (106) and Dakota Richardson (285) finished as reserve champions.

Page also got a pair of fourth place finishes from Christian Penrod (132) and Taylor Nez (195).

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