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David Dennis / All-Star Sports Photography

Wrestling

Wrestling Heads to Tempe with Title Hopes

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The CSU Bakersfield wrestling team is headed to Tempe, Ariz. on Saturday for the annual Pac-12 Championships.  Redshirt senior Sean Nickell and redshirt sophomore Dominic Ducharme should be the top seeds in their respective weight classes and will need to win for the Roadrunners to bring home their first conference title since 1999. 

"We're looking to have a big weekend," said CSUB Head Coach Manny Rivera.  "I really believe we can have a successful tournament, steal some spots and really be in the hunt for the team championship."

FloWrestling Pac-12 Rankings Released
FloWrestling's most recent conference rankings have the Roadrunners in some favorable positions at the end of the regular season.  The brackets for this weekend will be released after the coaches' meeting which will take place on Friday afternoon. 
 
Sean Nickell was ranked first at 133 pounds for the third consecutive poll, while Dominic Ducharme also tops the 184 pound class for the second straight release.  Jarrod Snyder was ranked second at the heavyweight position behind Oregon State's Amarveer Dhesi.  Nickell, Ducharme and Jarrod Snyder have all gone 4-0 during the conference dual season. 
 
Despite going undefeated through the league, Snyder is rated second behind Dhesi.  Dhesi is a former All-American and the two have yet to do battle this season.  Two of Snyder's four conference victories came in sudden victory and his other two victories came in the closing seconds.  For the `Runners to finish where they expect, Snyder will need to continue to wrestle at his peak. 
 
Jacob Thalin and Bryan Battisto were also ranked second in the poll.  Battisto is rated behind returning national champion Zahid Valencia at 174 pounds, while Thalin is rated behind the Sun Devils' Josh Shields, who is a consensus top-five wrestler in the country. 
 
Carlos Herrera, Russell Rohlfing and Mark Penyacsek were all ranked third in the league, while Eddie Flores and Wyatt Gerl were ranked fifth.  
 
Conference Allocations Released
The NCAA has announced the qualifier allocations for the 2019 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, which will be held at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh from March 21-23. 

The Pac-12 Conference Champion at each weight class will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.  The runner-up at the 133, 149, 157, 197 and 285 classes will also automatically qualify for the 33-man field, and the top three wrestlers at 125 pounds will also head to Pittsburgh. 

After all of the conference tournaments have concluded, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 44 at-large qualifiers, which will be announced on March 12, while brackets and seeding will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on March 13.  All weight classes will consist of 33 wrestlers.  The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; quality wins; coaches' ranking; results against common opponents; RPI; qualifying event placement; and winning percentage.
 
Pac-12 History
The Roadrunners began competing in the Pac-12 Conference back in 1988 and have produced two league titles since their entry.  CSUB's first-ever Pac-10 title came in 1996 and their most-recent came just three years later in 1999.  Over the last 31 seasons, CSUB has had five runner-up placements with the most-recent coming in 2007. 
 
Individually, the Roadrunners have had 33 individual championships.  Sean Nickell won CSUB's last crown in 2017 when he was competing in the 125-pound weight class.  If Nickell wins the Pac-12 this season, he would become just the sixth wrestler in school history to win multiple titles.  CSUB's last multiple-title winner was Bryce Hammond, who won the 174-pound bracket in 2013, 2014 and 2016. 
 
Last season, Nickell placed a disappointing third at the conference championships.  Dominic Ducharme and Sergio Mendez also finished third for CSUB.  Russell Rohlfing, Lorenzo De La Riva and Matt Williams all produced runner-up finishes.  As a team, the `Runners finished third with 52.5 points.  Arizona State finished first with 96 and Oregon State came in second with 70. 
 
The Drive for Five
For the past three seasons, the Roadrunners have sent five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.  Sean Nickell and Russell Rohlfing are the only two wrestlers on the roster that have qualified for the national meet.  Coleman Hammond was the last Roadrunner to make the national meet in three straight season.  He qualified at 149 pounds in 2016 and 2017 and at 157 in 2018.  
 
Schedule
The Championships at Arizona State will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the No. 4/No. 5 matches in each bracket.  The semifinals of the championship side will begin at 11:50 a.m.  The second session picks up at 5:00 p.m. with the consolation semifinals.  The Grand March is slated to start at 6:45 p.m. and the Championship Round will begin at 7:05 p.m. and will be carried live on the Pac-12 Network.  All times are listed in Mountain Standard Time. 
 
The first and second rounds, plus the consolation semifinals, will be streamed live on Pac-12.com.  The finals will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks with the broadcast beginning at 7:00 p.m. Live results will be available after each match on the 2019 Pac-12 Wrestling Championships website: pac-12.com/wrestlingchamps. 
 
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Players Mentioned

Lorenzo De La Riva

Lorenzo De La Riva

165
5' 11"
Redshirt Sophomore
Coleman Hammond

Coleman Hammond

149
5' 9"
Redshirt Senior
Sergio Mendez

Sergio Mendez

125
5' 5"
Redshirt Senior
Matt Williams

Matt Williams

197
6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
Bryan Battisto

Bryan Battisto

174
5' 10"
Redshirt Senior
Dominic Ducharme

Dominic Ducharme

184
6' 0"
Redshirt Sophomore
Carlos Herrera

Carlos Herrera

141
5' 6"
Redshirt Junior
Sean Nickell

Sean Nickell

133
5' 7"
Redshirt Senior
Mark Penyacsek

Mark Penyacsek

197
6' 1"
Redshirt Junior
Russell Rohlfing

Russell Rohlfing

141
5' 10"
Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

Lorenzo De La Riva

Lorenzo De La Riva

5' 11"
Redshirt Sophomore
165
Coleman Hammond

Coleman Hammond

5' 9"
Redshirt Senior
149
Sergio Mendez

Sergio Mendez

5' 5"
Redshirt Senior
125
Matt Williams

Matt Williams

6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
197
Bryan Battisto

Bryan Battisto

5' 10"
Redshirt Senior
174
Dominic Ducharme

Dominic Ducharme

6' 0"
Redshirt Sophomore
184
Carlos Herrera

Carlos Herrera

5' 6"
Redshirt Junior
141
Sean Nickell

Sean Nickell

5' 7"
Redshirt Senior
133
Mark Penyacsek

Mark Penyacsek

6' 1"
Redshirt Junior
197
Russell Rohlfing

Russell Rohlfing

5' 10"
Redshirt Junior
141
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