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February 09, Cal State Bakersfield: CSUB vs Fresno State Wrestling, at Cal State Bakersfield on February 09, 2019. David Dennis/All-Star Sports Photography
David Dennis/All-Star Sports Photography

Wrestling

Wrestling Opens at Home Versus Stanford, Little Rock

Duals with Pac-12 Rivals Stanford, Little Rock Kick-Off Luke Smith Era

Bakersfield, Calif. - The CSU Bakersfield wrestling team opens the 2021 season Sunday afternoon, with duals against Pac-12 rivals Stanford (1:30) and Little Rock (5:00). Sunday's action represents the season opener for Stanford, while Little Rock enters the weekend with an overall record of 0-5, and an 0-2 mark in conference action. The duals will be held in the Old Gymnasium, the original home of CSUB wrestling for 17 seasons before the program moved to the Icardo Center in 1989. 

Bakersfield will compete in conference duals only during the 2021 campaign, facing each conference opponent once ahead of the Pac-12 Championship Tournament in Corvallis, Ore., on February 28th. 

Interim Head Coach Luke Smith will lead the `Runners this season, his 13th coaching at the Division I level. Smith spent time at Eastern Michigan and Old Dominion before arriving in Bakersfield and serving two seasons on Manny Rivera's staff. He was also a four-year letterwinner at Central Michigan, where he was the MAC Freshman of the Year and a four-time NCAA Qualifier.

"We're excited about the opportunity to compete this weekend," said Smith. "I'm proud of this team and how they have responded to an adverse situation. We haven't had a lot of practice time, so I just want to see the guys compete to the best of their ability and from the first whistle to the last. If they give us that kind of effort they'll put themselves, and the team, in the best position to win this weekend." 

The `Runners return 19 student-athletes from last season's club, which posted a 7-6 dual meet record and placed third in both the Pac-12 regular season standings and at the conference tournament. 

Josh Loomer headlines the returnees, after capturing the Pac-12 title at 184 lbs in the Spring of 2020. After a slow start, which saw him lose a number of tightly contested duals, Loomer won five of his last seven bouts to earn his conference title and qualify for the NCAA Tournament. He'll move up a weight class in 2021, opening the season at 197 pounds.

He trades places with Dominic Ducharme, who spent last season at 197 pounds after wrestling in the 184 pound class as a freshman and sophomore. Ducharme finished 10-8 in 2019-20, suffering a season-ending upper body injury against Oregon State. He previously qualified for the NCAA Tournament at 184 pounds during his redshirt sophomore campaign of 2018-19.

Redshirt sophomores Chance Rich (133) and Angelo Martinoni (141) return at their respective weight classes, after spending much of the 2019- 20 season ranked in both the Track Wrestling and the Coaches' Poll Rankings. Rich won 10 bouts last season, while Martinoni posted 12 wins, including a pair against ranked opponents.

Seniors Jarrod Snyder and Jacob Sieder are set to compete for action at the heavyweight position. Snyder finished third at the Pac-12 Championship last season and won a career-best 19 games as a regular in the CSUB line-up. Sieder finished 14-4 with six pins, three tech fall victories and two major decisions in tournament action.

Bakersfield native, Albert Urias returns at 174 pounds after finishing with 17 wins a season ago.

Alejandro Hernandez and Eddie Flores will compete at 125 pounds. Hernandez was CSUB's stalwart in the weight class last season, while Flores saw action in nine duals at 125 in 2018-19.

Redshirt-senior Kalani Tonge will get the first crack at replacing `Runner great Russell Rohlfing at 149 pounds. Tonge was an astonishing 13-1 in 2019-20.

Brock Rogers and transfer Josh McMillon will compete for time at 157 pounds, while Braden Smelser and Hunter LaRue will battle for bouts in the 165 pound weight-class. 

Sunday's duals are the lone home contests currently scheduled for CSUB in 2020-21. The `Runners will travel for road match-ups against Arizona State, Cal Poly and Oregon State to complete the conference round-robin, before heading back to Corvallis, Ore., for the 2021 Pac-12 Championship on February 28th. 

SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
Sunday is the season opener for Stanford, which will compete on the road for the entirety of the 2020-21 season, perhaps the final campaign in program history.

The Cardinal beat Bakersfield in Palo Alto last season, by a score of 28-12 before edging CSUB for second at the Pac-12 Championship. Stanford returns Jackson DiSario (125), Real Woods (141), Tyler Eischens (157), Shane Griffith (165), Foster Karmon (174) and Nathan Traxler (197) - all of whom earned victories in last year's dual match-up. Russell Rohlfing, Josh Loomer and Jarrod Snyder posted wins for the Roadrunners.

Griffith, Woods and Traxler all ended the season ranked for the Cardinal. Griffith was named the Pac-12 Newcomer & Wrestler of the Year, captured the Pac-12 title at 165 lbs and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Woods and Traxler also captured Pac-12 titles and qualified for the NCAA Championship meet. Woods joined Griffith as first-team All-American selections.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Unlike Stanford and CSUB, Little Rock enters this weekend's action with five dual meets under their belt. The Trojans are 0-5 overall and 0-2 in Pac-12 duals with losses to Arizona State (39-3) and Oregon State (33-9). Little Rock also dropped a pair of contests against 5th-ranked Oklahoma State and Southeastern Illinois last weekend at home.

The Trojans are also set to face Cal Poly and Fresno State during their road trip to sunny California.

Paul Bianchi wrestles at 133 pounds for Little Rock. He was the runner-up at last season's Pac-12 Championship and boasts a 3-2 record on the young season. He was the team's lone winner against Oklahoma State, posting a major decision win against Cowboy Andrew Nieman. Bianchi qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2018, while at North Dakota St.

Triston Wills is 3-3 and 2-0 in Pac-12 duals this season. The redshirt freshman posted his first career win with a 7-1 decision over Arizona State's Zane Gonzalez.

Heavyweight Gabe Beyer is 3-3, while Joseph Bianchi is 2-4 at 149 lbs. This is the first meeting between the two schools.

2019-20 YEAR IN REVIEW
The `Runners finished the 2019-20 campaign with a 7-6 record in dual meets and placed third in the Pac-12 during both the regular season and at the Conference Championship meet. Bakersfield started slow, dropping its first three match-ups, and four of its first six, before rattling off five wins in its last seven duals.

CSUB scored 99.5 points to place third at the Pac-12 Championship for the fourth time in five years. Russell Rohlfing and Josh Loomer earned Pac-12 Titles at 149 and 184 pounds, respectively. Wyatt Gerl (157) and Jarrod Snyder (285) each grabbed third-place finishes. At the conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign CSUB head coach Manny Rivera resigned to pursue opportunities outside of coaching. Rivera finished his Bakersfield career with a 25-32 overall record and a 6-11 mark in Pac-12 action

WE'RE GOING STREAKING
The Roadrunners have sent at least one wrestler to the NCAA Championships for 47-consecutive seasons. Heavyweight Bill Van Worth was the first CSUB student-athlete to qualify for the national tournament in 1974, while Russell Rohlfing (149) and Josh Loomer (184) reached the championship meet thanks to Pac-12 titles in their respective weight classes, last season. At least one Bakersfield grappler has competed in the national meet every season in between. Dominic Ducharme joins Loomer as current `Runners who have competed at the NCAA Tournament and prime favorites to extend the streak in 2021.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
CSU Bakersfield has sent 17 wrestling alumni to either the Olympic Games or the World Championship freestyle competition. Only eight schools nationally have sent more. That number does not include the `Runners 10 alternate selections and three coaching nods. John Azevedo and Joe Gonzalez were also chosen for the 1980 Olympic Team, but did not compete due to the US boycott of the Soviet games.

STICK-Y BUSINESS
Senior Dominic Ducharme ranks 28th on CSUB's All-Time pins list with 16 career sticks. He needs just one more win by fall to move into the program's top-25 for career pins. Ducharme stuck a personal best seven opponents during his redshirt-freshman season in 2017-18. Ducharme is one of two current CSUB Wrestlers who have qualified for the NCAA Tournament. He reached the NCAA meet in 2019, finishing 1-2 with a win over Campbell's Kris Corber in the 184 lb weight class.

LOOMER-ING LARGE
Junior Josh Loomer is the other. Loomer qualified in 2020, earning an at-large bid with his Pac-12 title at 184 lbs. Loomer beat Stanford's Foster Karmon, 3-1, and Oregon State's Colt Doyle, 7-3, to earn a conference championship. After opening the 2019-20 campaign just 5-12, Loomer won five of his final seven bouts of the season.

RANKED ROADRUNNERS
Dominic Ducharme and Josh Loomer are both ranked among the top-33 in their weight-class by Open Mat Wrestling. Ducharme is pegged as the #32 competitor in the 197 division, while Loomer sits at #25 in the 184 pound weight class. 

HOMEBOYS
Five CSUB wrestlers hail from the city of Bakersfield. One of the top wrestling communities in the state of California, Bakersfield continuously churns out top talent and the `Runners continue to benefit. Albert Urias, a 2018 graduate of Ridgeview HS, won 17 bouts for Bakersfield at 174 pounds, a season ago. Heavyweight Jarrod Snyder, a Frontier HS alum, placed third at the Pac-12 Championships in 2020 and boasts a 7-2 career record in conference duals. Redshirt senior Bradley Harper graduated from Centennial HS, while incoming freshman Jose Landin and Jaden Sanchez attended Frontier HS and Bakersfield HS, respectively.

WELCOME ABOARD
Ten newcomers will join the Bakersfield Wrestling family in 2020-21. Freshmen Richard Castro-Sandoval, Richard Herrera, Jose Landin, Timothy Lopez, Malachi Lyles, Jaden Sanchez and Braden Smelser are joined by junior college transfers Augustine Garcia, Hunter LaRue and Josh McMillon. McMillon is expected to compete for reps at 157 pounds immediately, while LaRue and Smelser will both see opportunity at 165 pounds.
 
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Players Mentioned

Wyatt Gerl

Wyatt Gerl

157
6' 0"
Senior
Russell Rohlfing

Russell Rohlfing

149
5' 10"
Redshirt Senior
Dominic Ducharme

Dominic Ducharme

184
6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
Eddie Flores

Eddie Flores

125
5' 5"
Redshirt Sophomore
Alejandro Hernandez

Alejandro Hernandez

125
5' 5"
Redshirt Senior
Josh Loomer

Josh Loomer

197
6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
Angelo Martinoni

Angelo Martinoni

141
5' 9"
Redshirt Sophomore
Chance Rich

Chance Rich

133
5' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
Brock Rogers

Brock Rogers

157
5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
Jacob Sieder

Jacob Sieder

285
6' 4"
Redshirt Senior

Players Mentioned

Wyatt Gerl

Wyatt Gerl

6' 0"
Senior
157
Russell Rohlfing

Russell Rohlfing

5' 10"
Redshirt Senior
149
Dominic Ducharme

Dominic Ducharme

6' 0"
Redshirt Senior
184
Eddie Flores

Eddie Flores

5' 5"
Redshirt Sophomore
125
Alejandro Hernandez

Alejandro Hernandez

5' 5"
Redshirt Senior
125
Josh Loomer

Josh Loomer

6' 2"
Redshirt Junior
197
Angelo Martinoni

Angelo Martinoni

5' 9"
Redshirt Sophomore
141
Chance Rich

Chance Rich

5' 7"
Redshirt Sophomore
133
Brock Rogers

Brock Rogers

5' 11"
Redshirt Freshman
157
Jacob Sieder

Jacob Sieder

6' 4"
Redshirt Senior
285
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