Five win titles for Spartans

Returning to the top of Nevada wrestling has been Cimarron-Memorial's goal this season.

After the Spartans' performance Saturday in the Sunset Region tournament, they are still pointed in that direction.

With five individual champions, Cimarron racked up 2491/2 points to pin down the Sunset Region title at Bonanza.

The Spartans placed nine wrestlers in the top three in the region meet and they will advance to next week's state meet in Winnemucca.

Bonanza was second with 173 points, followed by Sierra Vista (1331/2) and Shadow Ridge (1121/2).

Two-time defending state champion Britain Longmire led the way for Cimarron, winning the 119-pound championship.

Longmire said he was pleased the team had a good showing at the regional so it would have a better chance to win its first state title since it captured four straight from 2003 to 2006.

"We could have had a few more guys make it, but it's been good," Longmire said. "Now we can try to get back to where we were.

"It's been great, these three years I have been at Cimarron. We are just trying to go out with a bang."

Cimarron's other regional champions were Travis DeGroat (130 pounds), Colby Garrison (135), Jason Schuele (140) and Aaron Garcia (189).

Bonanza had four state qualifiers, led by Stuart Montenegro, who took first at 160, and Mike Zellner, who set the pace for the Bengals by opening the championship round with a victory at 103 pounds.

"I have noticed with our team, if I start out with a win, it keeps the team going," said Zellner, who fell behind 4-1 in the championship bout before rallying to edge Sierra Vista's Jevon Suggs, 6-5. "I just kept battling hard, and I was wearing him out as the match went on. I just kept fighting hard.

"We all wrestled great, and are peaking at the right time."

Two-time defending state champion Mojave had two first-place finishers in Josh Cabrerra (152) and Daryl Eddings (215), and the Rattlers also had four state qualifiers.

Bishop Gorman also had two champions. Johnny Field scored a takedown and near-fall with 18 seconds left in the second overtime period to pull out a 10-6 win over Pahrump Valley's Zach Weldon in the 171-pound title bout.

Steven Hernandez took the title at 145 for the Gaels.

Other regional champions were Cheyenne's Kenneth Davis (112), Centennial's Brady Worden (125) and Sierra Vista's Andrew Ramos (285).