After four years of hard work, Carson High's Nick Schlager realized his dream of a state wrestling championship.
Schlager topped Coly Garrison of Cimmaron Memorial 6-4 to win the 135-pound weight class at the 4A state tournament at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
Schlager becomes the 18th state champ in school history, and the first since Travis Lamborn won the 160-pound title in 2007.
Carson had two other medalists - Junior Valladares (171) finished third and Ricky Ugarte (119) finished fourth.
Nico Garcia (145) was eliminated by Syvae Washington of Shadow Ridge in his first match on Saturday. Pat Craugh (103) suffered a similar fate, losing to Willie McDonald 6-2. Luke Carter (189) dropped his second straight one-point decision, losing to Reed's Broc Westlake 5-4.
Schlager found himself the victim of a quick takedown, but he fought back to a 3-all tie in the second period and then added another takedown in the third period to grab the title.
"I feel pretty good," he said. "It hasn't totally sunk in yet. I worked very hard for four years; never missed a practice. It all finally paid off. After finishing second last year, it was nice to get the win under my belt.
"He (Garrison) was a very strong kid. He was short and stocky. He was one of the strongest kids I've ever wrestled."
Garrison finished second a year ago at 135 pounds.
Valladares, who was wrestling on two bad knees, beat Cheyenne's Enokenwa Nahong 6-1 in an elimination match early Saturday. He came back and pounded Spanish Springs' Clay Coleman for third place by 10 points.
Ugarte knocked off Sylver Quemado to reach the third-place match where he lost by two points to a wrestler from Basic High in Las Vegas.
Northern 1A girls playoffs
Virginia City 43, McDermitt 32
The Muckers wrapped up their second consecutive Northern 1A regional title by knocking off McDermitt at Elko High School.
The win sends the Muckers to the state tournament, which starts Friday at North Valleys High School. Virginia City will play Lake Mead at 6 p.m. with the winner advancing to the state finals on Saturday at University of Nevada's Lawlor Events Center.
"I feel we have a real good chance (on Friday)," VC coach Todd Hess said. "We're playing in Reno, and we'll be playing in front of the whole town of Virginia City."
Despite a slow start offensively, the Muckers held a 20-9 lead at halftime.
"Both teams were a little flat offensively," Hess said. "We had very good defensive energy, though."
The Muckers got the lead up to 20 in the fourth and coasted in with an impressive victory.
Gigi Glogovac led the way with 20 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. She scored 68 points in three tournament games. Taylor Parsons added 10 points.
JC softball
WNC loses 4
Western Nevada's softball team managed just four runs in four games against Northern Idaho and dropped all four Scenic West games.
On Friday, North Idaho won 11-0 and 11-2. In the opener, Frances Estrada, Paige Savage and Ashley Hall all collected a hit apiece. The game was halted after 4 1/2 innings because of the run rule. Hall was tagged with the mound loss.
In the second game, Alex Arciniega went 2-for-3, while Kelsie Fahr, Estrada and Savage added a hit apiece.
WNC dropped Saturday's opener 9-2. Arciniega went 2-for-3, ncluding a solo homer. Savage, Alicia Merrell and Anastacia Krieder all collected one hit.
The Wildcats were blanked 9-0 in Saturday's second game on just one hit, a single by Krieder.
WNC dropped to 3-9. The Wildcats will host Snow College of Idaho in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday. Friday's action starts at 1 and Saturday's first game is at noon.
Northern 3A girls playoffs
Truckee 57, Dayton 41
The Dust Devils saw their season end by a Wolverines team that defeated them for the third time this year in the third-place game at Elko High School.
After keeping things close through the first three quarters at 37-28, Truckee put the game away in the fourth by taking advantage of Dayton being slow to get back on defense, Dayton coach Shari Andreasen said.
Ari Ruybal took advantage of Truckee's man defense on her way to 23 points. But the next highest scoring Dust Devil was Rachel Monzelo, who had eight points.
Dayton ended the season 7-10 in the Northern 3A.
"They played hard and I'm proud that they didn't give up," Andreasen said. "They left everything out on the court."
State skiing
Carson High's Skylar VanRensselaer placed 15th and Katherine Fulwider 12th at Saturday's state ski championships at Mt. Rose.