Fallon wrestlers ready for 3A regionals

A young Greenwave team is poised to send the most wrestlers to the state tournament since the 2017 season.

After last weekend’s 3A Northern duals that established seeding for this weekend’s regional tournament at Wooster High School, coach Trevor deBraga sees sending up to 14 wrestlers to state — the most since the year after Fallon won state when it lost to Spring Creek at Spanish Springs.

“This is the exciting time of the season when we are coming to an end but the kids are really starting to climb to the top and peak,” deBraga said. “A bunch of the matches this past weekend were lost when we were in the lead. A couple roll-throughs by opponents and a few little mistakes cost us some matches. If we can eliminate some of those mistakes, I would have kids with only one or two losses.”

DeBraga’s optimistic about the Greenwave’s chances since he will be sending wrestlers in each of the 14 weight divisions plus four alternates. While the alternates cannot score points, they can take away from the other teams and place. The top-four wrestlers advance to next week’s two-day state tournament at the Winnemucca Events Center.

“The playing field is fairly even in most of the weights and I hope we really rise up to the challenge and can get that 12 to 14 kids to state,” de Braga said.

The only wrestler to finish undefeated in the league duals was freshman Carson Melendy, who went 11-0 in the 120-pound division.

Andre Green (113) finished 9-2, and Jiaden McFadden (126), Isaiah Diaz (144), Thayne Hatch (157) and Joey Romero (190) each finished 8-3.

Evan Mackuliak (106), Troy Shelton (150) and Colton Blankenship (165) finished 7-4. Lonnie Adams (132) and Jeramiah Prinz (138) each finished 6-5, and Sean Reeder (285) was 4-7.