Oh, brother: Wildcats cruise

Las Vegas High wrestlers Napoleon Aniciete and Alex Aniciete always have been alike.

"My brother and I are almost exactly a like," Napoleon Aniciete said. "We're similar in all things -- the way we act, the way we talk, the way we are, the way we look."

Freshman Alex Aniciete became a bit more like his brother Saturday night at Cox Pavilion when he won the Class 4A 130-pound state wrestling championship. Older brother Napoleon, a junior, took first at 140.

"We've been talking about this since we were little kids," the older Aniciete said after his 13-4 decision of Liberty's Michael Reveles in the finals. "It's great. We both get to share it together. And our team won, so it's a story we get to share with the whole team, the family."

The Wildcats stormed to the 4A team title with 135 points. Churchill County finished second with 66½, and Green Valley was third with 56.

"This is what we expected, but we try not to be cocky; we just try to say we're confident, and we wanted to come in here and make a statement," said Greg Gifford, a 2002 Las Vegas graduate in his first season as Wildcats coach. "Hopefully we build Vegas up to be the program that it was when I was competing, where we win back-to-back state championships."

Napoleon Aniciete transferred to Las Vegas after winning a title his freshman year for Bishop Gorman and was forced to sit out his sophomore season.

"It feels just as good," Aniciete said of winning this year. "I had to take a year off, so this year I had to come back strong, and as hard as I can, because I had to prove to myself and everybody else that I should've been here wrestling last year."

Alex Aniciete became the first Las Vegas state champion of 2010 with a 9-2 win over Green Valley's Anthony Simpson. Aniciete threw Simpson to his back early in the first period and continued to set the pace.

The younger Aniciete entered his finals match with an air of confidence. "My whole life has been training for this moment right here," he said.

Las Vegas got off to a rough start in the finals, with 112-pounder De'Armon Hall and 119-pounder Nathaniel Garcia losing, but rebounded with the Anicietes. Hall lost 7-5 to Reno's Bettinson, and Churchill County's Colin Merkley pinned Garcia.

Trey McElhaney took first at 215 pounds for Las Vegas, defeating Robert Hubert of Silverado, 7-4.

"I've wrestled since third grade, and I've always been the fat kid that shoots," said McElhaney, who has signed to play football at Dixie State. "When I got to high school, I filled my body out a little bit more and learned to shoot."

The Wildcats also got help in the semifinals, with Johnathan Hales placing third at 189 and Austin Woo taking home the bronze medal at 285.

Bishop Gorman 152-pounder Steven Hernandez became Nevada's eighth four-time state champion by defeating Green Valley's Daniel Allen 13-8 in the finals. The Gaels' Johnny Field was second at 171 pounds.

Foothill's Sean Miller (103), Cimarron-Memorial's Aaron Garcia (189) and Sierra Vista's Andrew Ramos (285) also won individual championships.

Contact reporter Sean Walker at swalker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430.