SAN FRANCISCO, Calif-Andrew Balch's (R-So., Clovis, Calif., Buchanan HS) second place finish highlighted CSUB action at the San Francisco State California Collegiate Invitational Feb. 5 in San Francisco State's Main Gymnasium. There were no team scores kept during the tournament.

Balch, the No. 3 seed at 157 pounds, pinned Andrew Wong (unattached) in 2:05 in his first match of the day. Balch defeated Andrew Gogin (unattached) by technical fall (21-5) in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Balch defeated Cal Poly's Pearce Swerdfeger 4-2 to advance to the finals. Balch lost to Pac-10 rival Barrett Abel 10-0 in the finals of the tournament.

Dalton Kelley (R-Fr., Alamosa, Calif., Alamosa HS) earned fourth place at 149 pounds. Kelly picked up a 7-3 decision over Oregon State's Jay Tovey in the first round. Kelley, who was unseeded in the tournament, upset the No. 3 seed, Dylan Cataline of Cal Baptist 11-7 in the quarterfinals. Kelley edged out Moses Quezada (Fr. Clovis, Calif., Clovis East HS) 6-5 in the quarterfinals. Kelley lost 15-1 to Filip Novachkov of Cal Poly in the semifinals. Kelley defeated Charles Chavez (unattached) 17-0 in the consolation semifinals. Kelley lost 7-6 to Cal State Fullerton's Nick Jordan 7-6 for third place. Quezada is redshirting this season for CSUB.

One other CSUB wrestler who is redshirting this season for the Roadrunners; Thomas Cottrell (R-So. Chatsworth, Calif., Chatsworth HS) also placed.

Cottrell was unattached at 133 pounds and finished third. Cottrell made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Gabe Brown (unattached) 9-8. He won his consolation quarterfinal by pinning Daniel Flores (unattached) and was scheduled to face teammate Jose Mendoza (R-Fr., Selma, Calif., Selma HS) in the consolation semis. Cottrell advanced by injury default to the third place match where he defeated Brown in a rematch 4-2 for third.

Mendoza was the No. 1 seed at 133 pounds. Mendoza pinned Dylan Barrales of San Francisco State in the quarterfinals but was forced to injury default in the semifinals to Boise State's Shawn Jones as well as to Cottrell.

"Eight our 10 starters rested this weekend to prepare for our last two duals coming up next week," said CSUB Head Coach Mike Mendoza. "So this was a good tournament for our younger guys to get some matches. We had three place winners that wrestled really well and showed a lot of improvement."

The Roadrunners close out the regular season with a double dual Feb. 11 at Northern Colorado. CSUB takes on Northern Iowa at 3 p.m. (MST) in the opener and close with the host Bears at 5 p.m. (MST) next Friday.

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