Fernley wrestlers competing at Northern 3A Region Tournament

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The Fernley High School Wrestling team is competing this weekend in the Northern 3A Region Tournament in Spring Creek.

The Vaqueros entered the tournament with four No. 1 seeds and four others seeded in the top four, with the top four finishers in each weight class qualifying for next week’s State Tournament in Boulder City,

The Vaqueros went 8-3 in the Northern 3A Divisional Duals, losing to Spring Creek, Elko and Lowry, and beating each of the other eight teams.

“We were right with all of them, we just gave up too many bonus points,” coach Ernie Garcia said. “For the most part, we wrestled extremely well.”

Brandon McCullar, Kale Kreller, Nate Glass and Tyler Slaughter all went undefeated on the weekend and entered as No. 1 seeds at the regional tournament. Camron McMackin had his best outing of the season and was a 2 seed. Brody Garrett and Nick Glass were 3 seeds, while Brady Garrett was a 4 seed.

“Those guys are in the drivers seat to be state qualifiers.” Garcia said. “And we have a few more that we know will have a great opportunity to qualify but just lost a couple of positions this weekend that cost them matches.”

While it’s easy to get hung up on the losses that would have changed the outcome of the duals or seeding, Garcia insists that wasn’t the Vaqueros’ focus.

“Our goal was to go wrestle hard against the Northern 3A teams and see where we stand so we can make adjustments going into regionals,” he said. “And we did exactly that. I think these guys are really starting to believe we can go get the job done these next couple weeks and bring a title back to Fernley.”