Fernley wrestlers place 3rd at Mustang Invitational, girls wrestlers finish in top 20 at Reno Tournament of Champions

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

The Fernley boys wrestling team finished third in the Mustang Invitational in Lovelock last weekend, while the girls team had a top 20 finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions.

In Lovelock, Camron McMackin, Nathan Pritchard and Riley McCullar won individual championships, while Harley Denison had a second place finish and both Keeshawn Love and Calvin Bacon placed third.

JV wrestlers Lane Scott and Quintin Crowell were individual champions and Nadera Muhammad had a second place finish.

Wednesday night the Vaqueros went 2-0 in duals against Yerington and Douglas, beating Yerington 72-12 and Douglas 52-27.

The Vaqueros started the year with more than 70 wrestlers, including 17 girls. After finishing second to Elko in league duals last year, the Vaqueros are returning a very strong nucleus for both the boys and girls teams.

The boys team has returning state qualifiers Camron McMackin, Nathan Pritchard, Caleb Finley, Riley McCullar, Marciano Montano, Harley Denison and Xavier Phillips.

“Our strength is definitely in the younger classes,” coach Jake McCullar said. “Hopefully those younger wrestlers can mature really fast. We have very good leadership and captains under senior Camron McMackin and Junior Harley Denison.”

McCullar said the ladies will definitely leave their mark this year as well.

“This group is very senior heavy and are going all in and their work in the room shows that,” he said.

Sophie Workman, Shaylee Gavin, Nadera Muhammad and Ruby Barrett-Reece are all returning state qualifiers from last year.

“It’s going to be a great year,” he said.