CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Roadrunner wrestling team battled its way to a third-place finish at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships on Sunday. CSU Bakersfield saw three `Runners advance to the finals and had a pair of student-athletes that earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships.
"It was a tough day for us," said Manny Rivera, Head Coach at CSUB. "We failed to execute and lost too many matches because of it."
CSUB had three `Runners earn their way into the finals on Sunday evening: Redshirt sophomores Russell Rohlfing (141) and Lorenzo De La Riva (165) and redshirt senior Matt Williams (197).
Williams faced off against the defending Pac-12 Champion in the 197-pound weight class, Oregon State's Corey Griego. Bakersfield's redshirt senior fell behind in the first period on a takedown before a wild scramble in the third, which featured a takedown followed by two reversals, found Griego ahead by six points. Williams was unable to come back and fell by decision, 11-5. With his runner-up finish, Williams earned one of the Pac-12's automatic berths into the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.
In the 141-pound finals, Rohlfing fell behind Cal Poly's Colt Schilling after a pair of first-period takedowns. Four back points early in the second put Schilling ahead 8-1 and Rohlfing found himself down 10-4 heading to the final period. Rohlfing looked for a last-minute rally, but Schilling countered every attack to take a 15-6 major decision and the Pac-12 title. Rohlfing was ranked No. 25 in last week's NCAA RPI and still has a chance to earn an at-large invitation to the NCAA Championships.
De La Riva, a native of Folsom, Calif., almost found himself down 5-2 headed to the second period, but a takedown from a body slam was overturned on a challenge by Rivera, keeping the score 3-2. Bakersfield's 165-pounder avoided a near fall at the end of the second period, but was pinned near the start of the third as he finished runner-up to Arizona State's Anthony Valencia.
In the 125 quarterfinals, redshirt senior Sergio Mendez earned a pin against Cal Poly's Yoshito Funakoshi. Arizona State's Ryan Millhoff defeated Mendez by decision in the semifinals, but Bakersfield's 125-pounder pinned Stanford's Gabe Townsell to close out the tournament. With his third-place finish, Mendez secured a trip to the NCAA Championships as one of the Pac-12 Conference's four automatic qualifiers in the 125-pound weight class.
At 133, Sean Nickell's sudden victory loss to Stanford's Mason Pengilly bumped the native of Bakersfield into the consolation bracket. Despite taking third place with a 6-3 decision over Oregon State's Devan Turner, the Pac-12 only received two automatic qualifiers for the 133-pound weight class and Nickell's spot at the NCAA Championships is now on the bubble. The redshirt junior was ranked No. 29 in last week's NCAA RPI.
Redshirt senior Coleman Hammond reached the third-place match, looking for the final of three Pac-12 allocations for NCAAs. The 157-pounder fell behind Stanford's Paul Fox early and was unable to mount a comeback in an 8-5 loss. Hammond, who was also ranked No. 29 in his weight class, will have to wait to see if he reaches one last NCAA Championships.
The `Runners finished third in the Pac-12 Championships for the third-straight year. CSUB finished with 52.5 points while Arizona State rode six weight class champions to the team title with 96.0 points.
The 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship bracket will be announced Wednesday, Mar. 7, at 3 p.m. (PT). The selection show to reveal the at-large wrestlers will be broadcast on NCAA.com.
125
QF: Sergio Mendez (CSUB) pinned Yoshito Funakoshi (Cal Poly) at 2:36
SF: Ryan Milhof (ASU) def. Sergio Mendez (CSUB) by decision, 8-7
3/4: Sergio Mendez (CSUB) pinned Gabe Townsell (Stanford) 11-6 (Fall 2:16)
133
SF: Mason Pengilly (Stanford) def. Sean Nickell (CSUB) by decision, 6-4 (SV)
C. SF: Sean Nickell (CSUB) def. Ty Schilling (Cal Poly) by decision, 2-0
3/4: Sean Nickell (CSUB) def. Devan Turner (OSU) by decision, 6-3.
141
SF: Russell Rohlfing (CSUB) def. Isaiah Locsin (Stanford) by decision, 7-6
Finals: Colt Schilling (Cal Poly) def. Russell Rohlfing (CSUB) by major decision, 15-6
149
QF: Jake Barry (Stanford) def. Kalani Tonge (CSUB) by decision, 7-3
C. SF: Josh Reyes (OSU) def. Kalani Tonge (CSUB) by decision, 8-3
157
QF: Coleman Hammond (CSUB) def. Jett Moy (Cal Poly) by major decision, 11-0
SF: Joshua Shields (ASU) def. Coleman Hammond (CSUB) by tech fall, 27-12
3/4: Paul Fox (Stanford) def. Coleman Hammond (CSUB) by decision, 8-5
165
SF: Lorenzo De La Riva (CSUB) def. Rodney Williams (OSU) by tech fall, 17-0
Finals: Anthony Valencia (ASU) pinned Lorenzo De La Riva (CSUB) at 6:11
174
SF: Keaton Subjeck (Stanford) def. Bryan Battisto (CSUB) by major decision, 14-4
C. SF: Bryan Battisto (CSUB) def. Ryan Anderson (Cal Poly) by major decision, 16-4
3/4: Myles Terry (OSU) def. Bryan Battisto (CSUB) by decision, 2-1
184
SF: Kordell Norfleet (ASU) def. Dominic Ducharme (CSUB) by decision, 12-5
C. SF: Dominic Ducharme (CSUB) pinned Austin Flores (Stanford) at 3:24
3/4: Dominic Ducharme (CSUB) def. Bob Coleman (OSU) by decision, 14-10
197
SF: Matt Williams (CSUB) def. Nathan Traxler (Stanford) by major decision, 13-0
Finals: Corey Griego (OSU) def. Matt Williams (CSUB) by decision, 11-5
285
QF: Spencer Empey (Cal Poly) won by injury default over Mark Penyacsek (CSUB), inj. 0:46
C. SF: Tanner Hall (ASU) won by medical forfeit over Mark Penyacsek (CSUB)
~GoRunners.com~
