The latest collegiate wrestling news from across Southern California, including an attendance record being set in Riverside and a battle of nationally ranked wrestlers in Bakersfield. Click for today’s update.
CSU Bakersfield
CSU Bakersfield hosted the Roadrunner Open on November 18, and had three wrestlers place second in their respective weight classes. Alex Hernandez-Figueroa, Sean Nickell and Dominic Ducharme all were runners-up in their respective weight classes.
Hernandez-Figueroa, wrestling at 125-pounds, won both of his first two matches by technical fall. He won 17-0 over Fresno State’s Joe Delgado and then had a 15-0 shutout over California Baptist’s Cyril Maravilla. He then beat Brandon Vu of San Francisco State 4-3 in the semifinals. In the finals, he faced North Dakota State’s Brent Fleetwood. Hernandez-Figueroa suffered a knee injury and could not continue with Fleetwood up 10-1 .
At 133 pounds, Bakersfield’s Nickell, ranked 19th in the nation by FloWrestling and North Dakota State University’s Cameron Sykora, the number 16th ranked wrestler, met in the finals of the division. Sykora controlled the match, leading the entire way and defeated Nickell by major decision 12-1. Nickell had won a 17-1 technical fall of Simpson University’s Sergio Montoya in his first match, then scored back-to-back 9-1 major decisions over Menlo College’s Ian Morken and San Francisco State’s Jordan Gurrola to reach the finals.
Ducharme finished second at 184 pounds after losing 8-5 to Menlo’s Anthony Orozco in the title match. Ducharme earned a 12-2 major decision over Fresno State’s Angel Solis in the opening match then pinned Kyle Matthews in 15 seconds. Matthews was wrestling unattached to any school. In the semifinals, he beat Stanford’s Colbey Harlan 2-1.
The Roadrunners will be next in action at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on November 30 and December 1.
Cal Poly
Yoshito Funakoshi finished in second-place at 133-pounds at the Black Knight Invitational hosted by Army West Point on November 18 at Christl Arena. The senior earned a pair of 5-3 decisions to reach the finals, where he lost a 6-5 decision to Matt Kazmir of Columbia.
As a team Cal Poly finished sixth in the eight team field.
Next up for Cal Poly is the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on November 30 and December 1.
Cal Baptist
Cal Baptist set a school attendance record for wrestling on November 16 against Ohio State. They drew 3,252 fans to see their 42-0 loss to the Buckeyes. Ohio State, ranked second in the nation, dominated the Lancers. The closest result for Cal Baptist was Bryce Buckley’s 2-1 decision loss to Elijah Cleary. Buckley took a 1-0 lead with an escape in the second period, but Cleary got an escape as well in the third period and then won with a riding-time point.
Life Pacific
Life Pacific lost to Emery Riddle 38-6 on November 16. They then took part in the Emery Riddle Open on November 17 and three Warriors finished in first place. Anthony Vargas finished first at 133 pounds, Gerardo Hernandez was first at 174, and Brandon Sotomayor came in first at heavyweight.
