FULLERTON, Calif. ? Strong individual performances in nearly every weight class resulted in eight Roadrunner wrestlers placing in the top four at the the Fullerton Open, CSUB's season opener, Sunday.
“Overall we performed really well for a first meet,” said Assistant Head Coach Mike Mendoza. “We had a number of guys who pleasantly surprised us.”
Coming off a superb 2006-07 season that included a Pac-10 Championship and an NCAA title run, junior Brandon Halsey (Vista/Fresno State) easily worked his way through the 197 bracket and finishing things off by pinning Cal State Fullerton's John Drake 30 seconds into the championships match.
At 125, Brandon Zoetewey (San Ramon/De La Salle HS) won three matches by a combined score of 44-5, and won a fourth match by a pin at the 3:14 mark, before finishing second to Tanner Gardner of Stanford, who is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation. Zoetewey gave the two-time All-American a run for his money, but finally fell 6-4.
Zack Bigboy (Minneapolis, Minn./Kennedy HS) placed fourth in the 125 division. His two losses came by the hands of Cal Poly's Boris Navachkov, the eventual third place finisher.
At 133, Thomas Kimbrell (Brawley) picked up a trio of major decisions and pinned a fourth opponent on his way to a third place finish. Placing third in the 149 division was Jeremy Doyle (Ramona), who earned an 8-1 decision over unattached wrestler Juan Mora in his final match.
In the 165, 174 and 184 divisions, Daniel Atondo (Sunnyvale/Fremont HS), Jason Points (Bakersfield/San Diego State) and Riley Orozco (Fallon, Nev./Churchill County HS) each advanced to the championship round, all earning second place finishes.
Orozco, pushed opponent Ian Murphy to the limit, but eventually fell 7-6 to the No. 12 ranked wrestler out of Cal State Fullerton.
“Riley had a very good championship match,” said Mendoza of the redshirt freshman. “He was really impressive all day and probably had the best tournament of all our wrestlers.”
The Roadrunners will take a brief break from competition over the upcoming holiday weekend before returning to the mat Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the 26th Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational held at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel.
