Silverado heavyweight Bohman pins way to final; Wildcats lead

SPARKS -- Silverado senior Seth Bohman reflected on fond memories Thursday as his team drove to Reno for the state wrestling tournament.

That's because Bohman's brother, V.R., won the heavyweight state championship in Elko 10 years ago.

"It was nerve-racking to watch," Bohman said. "Ever since then I knew it was what I wanted to do."

Bohman is trying to make some history of his own, and he advanced to the championship round of the 285-pound class in the Class 4A state tournament Friday at Spanish Springs High.

Bohman (49-0) won his semifinal by pinning Zack Singer of Bishop Gorman in 39 seconds after having won his quarterfinal by pin in 58 seconds.

Las Vegas leads the team scoring with 77½ points going into the championship bouts today. Green Valley is second with 62, followed by McQueen with 55.

For Bohman, the tournament is his last chance to win a state after finishing fourth in 2009 and 2010. He felt he was good enough to win last year but separated his shoulder in the Tournament of Champions in Reno. He sat out six weeks and returned a week before the regional tournament, where he finished third.

"I really worked hard this year and I feel this is the best I've ever been," said Bohman, who won the Sunrise Region title last week.

The most entertaining match of the night was between Las Vegas' Alex Aniciete and Damonte Ranch's Drew Smith. Aniciete's overtime victory dashed Smith's hopes of avenging last year's disappointing state tourney, when he got the flu and lost as the North's No. 1 seed.

Smith was a No. 1 seed again this year, but Aniciete won with a takedown with the score tied 6-6 in overtime.

"I just made a mistake," Smith said. "It was a dogfight. He won. He's a hard worker. We've wrestled together before. I worked hard on his rolls all week, but he was still able to get points on that."

Las Vegas 119-pounder Nathan Garcia came away with an impressive 11-3 victory over Reno's Bo Bettinson, a two-time state champion at 112.

Bettinson and Garcia traded points for the first two rounds, but Bettinson hurt his knee in the third and Garcia took advantage. The senior took five points in the final period on a choke hold.

"I knew he was tired in the third," said Garcia, last year's runner-up at 119. "I was determined after last year to win it this year."

Wrestling in the Class 4A, 3A and 2A meets continues at 8:30 a.m. today, with championship matches in all three tournaments scheduled for 3 p.m.