Fernley cross country teams qualify for 3A State meet

The Fernley High School boys cross country team qualified for this year’s 3A State

Championships for the first time since 2011, while the girls will be headed back to state after a

one-year absence.

The boys team finished third in last Friday’s 3A Northern Regional Meet at Rancho San Rafael

Park in Reno. Fernley runners combined for 92 team points, which was behind only Truckee

with 54 and Spring Creek with 55.

The girls finished sixth. Although the State Meet format is for the top four Northern and top four

Southern teams to qualify for State, only two Southern 3A schools had a complete team in the

regional meet, so Fallon, which was fifth, and Fernley in sixth qualified for the State meet.

Individually, the Vaqueros were led by Joe Perkins, who finished fifth in the boys race, earning

him first-team All-Northern Region honors. Perkins posted a time of 17:18.

Fernley’s second runner across the finish line was Zachary Peterson, who placed 18^th with a time

of 18:51. He was followed close behind by Cael Wilson, in 19^th place with a time of 18:55 and

Dominick Dietrich in 20^th place in 18:56. Alex Mergell was the fifth scorer for Fernley with a

30^th place finish and a time of 19:48. Daniel Hiles posted a time of 21:43 to place 49^th and Skyler

Ledesma-James was 51^st with a time of 22:03.

For the girls, Corbyn Gillespie would have been an individual qualifier if the girls team hadn’t

qualified as a team, with her 22^nd place overall and a time of 25:03. Wynter Angus finished 33^rd

in a time of 27:01, Jojo Cardinal was 36^th in 27:56, Regan Scott came in 41^st with a time of 29:28

and Reann Jones was 46^th with a time of 36:48.

The State Meet is scheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 8, also at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno.