Fernley sending 7 boys, 4 girls to State Wrestling Tournament
Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter
The Fernley High School wrestling team is headed to State. The Vaqueros had seven boys qualify for the meet with top four finishes at last week’s 3A Northern Region Tournament at Wooster, after having four girls qualify the previous weekend at the NIAA All Girls Northern Region Tournament. Both the boys and girls teams had two individual regional champions.
The State championships will be held at the Rafter 3C Arena in Fallon February 7 and 8.
“I am really excited to see both men’s and women’s compete for a state titles we are sending some really strong wrestlers,” coach jake McCullar said.
Shaheerah Muhammad, a junior and Nadera Muhammad, a senior, were both regional champions for the girls and will be the number 1 seeds in the tournament representing the north. Bronwynn Garrett a freshman, and Tina Garcia, a senior, also qualified for the girls.
For the boys, state qualifiers are AJ Mendez, a freshman, Isaid Solis, a sophomore, Nathan Pritchard, a junior, Riley McCullar, a junior, Harley Denison, a senior, Isaiah Mutte, a junior and Calvin Bacon, a sophomore.
McCullar and Pritchard both won regional championships for the second consecutive season. They will be the #1 seeds from the north and heavy favorites to win state titles.
Mendez qualified by finishing fourth at 106 pounds. He had a first round bye, then beat Braylon Byrd of Fallon by a technical fall (16-0). I the semifinals, he lost a 10-4 decision to Pete Bengochea of Lowry. In the consolation bracket, Mendez pinned Nathanyure Barrios of North Valleys. In the third-place match, he lost to Ace Pena of Truckee by injury default.
Solis placed second at 138 pounds. He also had a first round bye, then beat Jaxson Taylor of Spring Creek by major decision (14-6) and beat Lonnie Adams of Fallon by major decision (15-4). In the championship match, he was pinned by Odyn Santos of Lowry.
Pritchard won the championship at 144 pounds. After a first round bye, he pinned Brady Higgins of South Tahoe, beat Andy Chavarria of Wooster by a technical fall (16-0), beat Sam Marich of Spring Creek by a 13-7 decision and then beat Kody Goss of Elko in the championship match, 7-1.
McCullar was the 157-pound champion. After his first round bye, he pinned Jaylen Solorzano of North Valleys, pinned Zuriel Mildren of Elko then pinned Erick Valencia of Lowry in the championship match
Denison finished third at 165 pounds. He got a bye in the first round, then pinned Preston Morris of Spring Creek. In the semifinals, Denison lost by technical fall (20-2) to Kash Hendrick of South Tahoe. In the consolation bracket, he pinned Erik Burkett of South Tahoe, then the third-place match he pinned Morris again.
Mutte finished in fourth place at 215 pounds. He beat Robert Cohenover of North Valleys 14-9, then lost 5-3 to Tony Bautista of Spring Creek. In the consolation bracket, Mutte pinned Alex Rodriguez Gutierrez of Wooster. In the third-place match he lost by major decision, 14-4, to Aiden Ornbaum of Elko
Calvin Bacon finished third at 285 pounds. He started with a bye in the first round, then pinned Logan Jonas of Lowry, before losing by technical fall (15-0) to Ernesto Garcia of Sparks. In the consolation round, he pinned Pedro Mercado of Elko, then in the third place match he pinned David June of North Valleys.
“I am really proud of all the wrestlers in the program, everyone wrestled really hard and I am proud to be their coach,” Jake McCullar said. “We are a very young team and only graduating one senior in our starting lineup.”
