BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – For the first time in decades, the Roadrunner Open returned to Bakersfield as the Roadrunner wrestling team enjoyed 11 placewinners and two weight class champions on Saturday. Redshirt junior Sean Nickell earned the 133-pound title while redshirt senior Matt Williams remained undefeated en route to the 197-pound championship.
"I think it was a decent day," said Manny Rivera, Head Coach at CSU Bakersfield. "I think we wrestled better than Friday. It was good for us to get that tournament experience, a bunch of matches in one day. I think a lot of these guys have close to 10 matches already in the first three weeks of the season, which is hard. For them to have a good showing today is pretty impressive. Sean Nickell looked great today. That's some of the best wrestling I've seen Sean Nickell do in his career."
Below are the results for each of CSUB's top placers. Full results from Saturday's Roadrunner Open can be found at the CSUB wrestling schedule page.
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Sergio Mendez went 3-0 to open the tournament including a first-round pin and a 7-4 decision over Josh Kramer of Arizona State. In the finals, Bakersfield's redshirt senior lost by decision, 11-4, to Illinois' Travis Piotrowski and finished second.
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Nickell coasted through the first two rounds, winning each by tech fall. The Bakersfield native defeated Jens Lantz of Wisconsin 7-0 in the finals before taking a convincing, 10-4 decision over Dylan Duncan of Illinois in the finals. Nickell's 133-pound title is a back-to-back championship of sorts after he earned the 125-pound title last year.
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CSUB was competitive in the 141-pound weight class and teammates Russell Rohlfing and Carlos Herrera wound up meeting each other in the third-place match. In one of the closest matches of the entire tournament, Rohlfing earned a takedown with 43 seconds remaining in the third period and brought Herrera's riding time down under one minute to earn an 11-10 victory.
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True sophomore Kalani Tonge lost his Round of 32 match to Devin Everk of Menlo by pin. Tonge rebounded to pin Austin Duvern at 5:34 in the first consolation match and made it to the consolation semifinals. There, Tonge lost by decision, 8-1, to Stanford's Jack Ramalia before earning fifth place after a medical forfeit by his opponent.
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Redshirt senior Coleman Hammond earned a first-round pin before taking a 7-5, sudden victory decision over Kyle Cochran of Maryland. Hammond was defeated 8-1 by Wisconsin's Andrew Crone, but recovered with a tech fall against Maryland's Justin Alexander. The Bakersfield native then earned a major decision, 9-0, over Oliver Pierce of Arizona State to earn third place.
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Redshirt sophomore Lorenzo De La Riva won his first-round match via tech fall before winning by sudden victory, 10-8, against Patrick Gerish of Maryland. After pinning another Terapin, Brendan Burnham, at 1:48 in the semis, De La Riva lost by major decision, 13-5, to Wisconsin's Evan Wick in the finals.
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Bryan Battisto's tournament started with a tough, 12-6 loss to Maryland's Joshua Ugalde. The redshirt junior advanced in his next four matches, but took fourth place after losing by major decision to Brandon Martino from Fresno State.
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Dominic Ducharme opened the tournament with a pair of pins in the first two rounds. After a 10-5 victory in the third round, Ducharme lost by major decision, 20-6, against Emery Parker of Illinois. The redshirt freshman went on to take a 9-7 decision over Maryland's Spencer Woods to take third.
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Williams, a native of Apple Valley, Calif., earned a pin and a tech fall in the opening rounds. The redshirt senior defeated Alexander Cruz (unattached) 11-6 before getting a rematch with Stanford's Nathan Traxler. The two battled recently in a dual when Williams won by decision (5-4). This time, Williams controlled the action and defeated Traxler 12-8 to take the 197-pound title. With four more victories, Williams is now 10-0 on the season.
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Mark Penyacsek earned a 9-4 decision to open the RR Open, but lost by major decision, 9-1, in the second round. The redshirt sophomore then defeated teammates Jarrod Snyder (8-4) and Dominic Balmer (3-1) before losing in the consolation semis to Seth Nevills (unattached). Penyacsek wound up in fifth place after a medical forfeit.
After a busy start to the 2017-18 season, the `Runners will have some time to recover before returning to action. CSUB will next head to the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Dec. 2-3.
~GoRunners.com~
