31st Lions Invitational this weekend

Anyone looking for a preview of the Northern 4A Regional wrestling tournament in February might as well drop by the Douglas High School gym Saturday for the 31st annual Lions Invitational wrestling tournament.

Three of the top contenders for the regional title - Fallon, Carson and Douglas - will be on hand as will Northern California power Alhambra.

"I wanted to have a stronger tournament this year because stronger teams make it more competitive for everyone involved," Douglas coach Lamont McCann said. "It should be some great wrestling.

"I talked to Fallon and Carson earlier this year and asked them to come down. Next year we're going to try to get some more teams from California and continue to build this into a big deal."

Fallon is currently ranked No. 1 in Northern Nevada by the Sierra Nevada Sports Media polls. Carson is No. 3 and

Douglas dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 after a tough week at the Sierra Nevada Classic last week.

"We did OK there but it definitely wasn't a great tournament for us," McCann said. "We went in with eight wrestlers while most of the other teams had all 14 going.

"Two of our guys didn't make weight and two were sick and we've been giving up the 215 and the heavyweight division most of the year. Even with that we still had four guys make the round of 16, so we still did well."

McCann said he hopes to have a full lineup in place for this weekend.

"I think everyone is done getting sick, hopefully," he said. "We should have a very strong representation this weekend of what our team will be for the rest of the season."

Fallon and Carson are also expected to come in with full rosters.

"This will be a true check," McCann said. "We're in the middle of the season with all three teams at full strength.

"It will be a great showdown to see who can come out on top."

Fallon features a strong roster throughout, led by state champion Lyle Gardner. Carson features the strong four-man core of Kyle Banko (130), Robbie Bozin (125), Travis Lamborn (160) and Owen Craugh (112).

Douglas got strong performances from Jake Williams (160) and Ryan Pruitt (152) in particular last week.

Pruitt has been battling a nagging neck injury since football season.

"Pruitt lost a couple of real close matches last week," McCann said. "He's working his way through the pain and he's been responding pretty well.

"Jake wrestled pretty tough last week also. He got all the way to the semifinals in a tough class."

The tournament is Douglas' biggest fundraiser during the year for the wrestling program. It took a big hit two years ago when several consecutive days of heavy snow forced a cancellation.

"That hurt us a lot," McCann said. "A lot of teams just never put us back on their calendar. We've been trying to build the tournament back up ever since."

Wrestling starts at 9 a.m. Saturday with the finals expected to begin around 6 p.m.

Participants in the Douglas Wildcats youth wrestling program will receive free admission to the tournament by presenting their wrestling cards.

"We really just encourage everyone to come out and see some great competition and support this talented team we have this year."

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.