Tiger wrestlers fare well in one of nation's top wrestling tournaments in Reno, Nevada

So naturally, Lemoore was there, sending several of its top Tigers to the prestigious Reno gathering and in the process, came away looking good.

Not only did the Tigers have several Tigers finish in the top seven, but as a team, it placed 12th out of 104 schools.

Reno Tournament of Champions

There were at least four Tigers who fared well in the prestigious tournament, including Lemoore’s top-ranked Gary Joint, whose only loss came in the finals against a talented Theorius Robison from Pomona High School.

Joint, after winning easily in five straight matches before meeting up with Robison in the finals, lost to the Pomona wrestler 11-4, setting for second place.

Joint opened the tourney with a victory over James Daniels in the 132-pound division and then dispatched Yukon’s Broc Bailey in the second round. In the round of 16, Joint poured it on to defeat Crook County’s (Wyoming) Zach Lawson 15-0.

In the quarterfinals, Joint, last year’s West Yosemite League and Central Section champ, beat Esparanza’s Josh Brown in a close 2-1 match, and entered the final with Robison via a forfeit in the semis.

In other action, Lemoore’s Angel Solis won his first three matches before dropping his quarterfinal faceoff to Coweta’s (Oklahoma) Bear Hughes. Hughes went on to win the tournament title.

Solis beat Cibola, New Mexico’s Mario Neblina in round one, then easily got past Ponderosa’s Ian Clear in the second round. He also scored a big win over Chase Hyde of Churchill High School in the round of 16 before losing to Hughes.

At 138 pounds Joe Romero, in a third-place bout, lost to Foothill’s Dalton Lakmann 3-2 and finished fourth in the tourney. He also defeated Grundy’s Gabe Fiser 7-1 and New Mexico’s Zak Vigil.

At 145 pounds, Tiger wrestler Greg Guzman finished seventh overall in the tourney, beating a wrestler from Virginia, Jacob McNutt 5-4 in his final match. Guzman, in the championship bracket, earned a first-round bye before beating Bridger Morrill of Rocky Mountain B 16-0 and then scoring a 4-3 win over Ponderosa’s Parker Benekas.

He got past Carlsbad’s Alex Sanchez in the round of 16 but lost in the quarters to Brock Hardy, from Box Elder (South Dakota), effectively dropping him out of the championship bracket.