Cal Poly to Host Pacific-10 Conference Championships
From Cal Poly Sports Information
(2/21/05) SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Six champions from the 2004 Pacific-10 Conference Wrestling Championships return to defend their titles this weekend in Cal Poly’s Mott Gym, but, for many, their work is cut out for them.
For instance, Jesse Miramontes, Cal State Fullerton’s first Pac-10 champion in four years, was seeded sixth a year ago in the 125-pound weight class and is ranked No. 5 this season heading into the two-day meet.
Matt Ellis of Oregon State won the 165-pound championship in 2004 at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena, but is ranked No. 2 behind Joey Bracamonte of Oregon this week.
Stanford’s Imad Kharbush captured the title at 174 pounds a year ago as the third seed and is getting the same respect this year “¹ a No. 3 ranking.
And then there is Ryan Bader of Arizona State, who won the 197-pound championship on his home mat last year, only to find himself ranked No. 2 this week behind Oregon’s Scott Barker.
Perhaps the only sure bet is Stanford 157-pounder Matt Gentry. He was seeded No. 1 in ’04, won the title and is ranked No. 1 this time around as well.
Scott Jorgensen of Boise State posted one of the biggest surprises a year ago as the unseeded wrestler won the 133-pound championship, marking the second year in a row that an unseeded wrestler had won that weight class (Mike Simpson of Arizona State in 2003). He is getting more respect this time “¹ ranked No. 1 in his weight class in the Pac-10.
One other wrestler in the field this year was a Pac-10 champion in 2003 “¹ Ryan Halsey of Cal Poly at 184.
The two-day championships begin Sunday at 11 a.m. with the pigtail and quarterfinal-round matches. The 6 p.m. session will include the semifinals and the first round of consolation matches.
On Monday at 11 a.m., the consolation semifinals as well as the matches to determine third through sixth places will be held. The championship finals are slated for 6 p.m.
The 10-team field includes four NCAA All-Americans from the 2004 championships. Gentry won the 157-pound title in St. Louis while Bader placed fourth at 197. Cal Poly’s Vic Moreno was sixth at 125 and Cal State Bakersfield’s Matt Sanchez placed eighth at 133.
As for the team championship, Arizona State appears to be the favorite. The Sun Devils are the lone Pac-10 team in the USA Today/National Wrestling Coaches Association Poll at No. 20, has won 13 of the last 20 Pac-10 crowns and posted an 8-0 mark in dual meets against Pac-10 opponents (Arizona State did not face Boise State in a dual meet).
Boise State edged Cal Poly by 3.5 points for the 2004 conference title.
A total of 42 Pac-10 tournaments have been contested with the host school winning just 12 titles. The last time a host won was Arizona State in 1997. Oregon State leads the conference with 16 team titles, followed by Arizona State with 14 crowns. The last time Oregon State won a title was the last time Cal Poly hosted the tournament, 1994.
A look at each weight class in the 2005 championships:
125 – Perhaps the most competitive weight class with five nationally ranked wrestlers in the bracket. Andrew Hochstrasser of Boise State is ranked No. 3 nationally and No. 2 in the Pac-10 while Cal Poly’s Vic Moreno is ranked fifth in the nation and first in the conference. Moreno placed third in the Pac-10 a year ago. The field also includes defending Pac-10 champion Jesse Miramontes of Cal State Fullerton (ranked No. 5 in Pac-10, No. 19 in nation), Efren Ceballos of Cal State Bakersfield (ranked No. 3 in Pac-10, No. 13 in nation) and Jeremy Mendoza of Arizona State (ranked No. 4 in Pac-10, No. 9 in nation). Ceballos placed fourth in the Pac-10 at 125 a year ago, second at 125 in 2003 and second at 133 in 2002.
133 – Three of last year’s top-six finishers return, led by defending champion Scott Jorgensen of Boise State, ranked 12th nationally. This bracket also includes Matt Sanchez of Cal State Bakersfield, eighth-place finisher at the NCAAs last year after placing third in the Pac-10 meet. He is ranked sixth nationally. Derek Moore of UC Davis is ranked third in the Pac-10 at 133 and 15th nationally.
141 – Two-time Pac-10 champ Jesse Brock of Boise State is gone, opening the way for such contenders as Juan Mora of Cal State Fullerton (ranked No. 1 in Pac-10, placed third in 2004 meet), Steve Esparza of Cal Poly (ranked No. 2 in Pac-10, placed fourth in 2004 meet) and Roberto Vargas of Cal State Bakersfield (ranked No. 4 in Pac-10, placed fifth in 2004 meet). Tim Norman of Oregon State is ranked No. 3 in the Pac-10.
149 – This one shapes up to be a matchup of two nationally ranked wrestlers in No. 17 Patrick Williams of Arizona State and No. 8 Ben Cherrington of Boise State. Williams was seeded No. 1 in the 2004 meet but placed second to Cal Poly’s Matt Cox. Cox isn’t wrestling this year. Cherrington is ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10 and Williams No. 2. Also in this bracket are Cal Poly’s Jeff Owens, ranked No. 3 in the Pac-10, and Anthony Baza of Cal State Bakersfield, who placed fourth in last year’s Pac-10 meet and is ranked fifth in the Pac-10 this week.
157 – Matt Gentry of Stanford is favored to repeat here. The defending 157-pound national champion is ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10 and No. 2 in the nation this week. He placed sixth in the 2003 Pac-10 meet at 157 and second at 149 in 2002. Challengers include Brian Stith of Arizona State, ranked 13th in the nation and No. 2 in the Pac-10, and Tony Hook of Oregon State, ranked third in the Pac-10.
165 – Joey Bracamonte of Oregon, third-place finisher in the 2004 meet at 157, tops this field of candidates. Bracamonte is ranked 15th in the nation and will face three other nationally ranked wrestlers “¹ No. 16 Matt Ellis of Oregon State, No. 17 Russell Brunson of Boise State and No. 19 Christian Arellano of Cal State Bakersfield. Bracamonte, Ellis and Arellano are ranked Nos. 1-2-3 in the Pac-10 while Brunson is unranked.
174 – There are no nationally ranked wrestlers in this weight class, but three of last year’s top-six Pac-10 finishers are back “¹ defending champion Imad Kharbush of Stanford, third-place finisher Leonel Sanchez of Cal State Fullerton and fifth-place finisher Chet McBee of Oregon. Which one is ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10? None. Instead, the top-ranked wrestler in the bracket is Ron Silva of UC Davis, followed by Sanchez and Kharbush. This one is wide open.
184 – Nick Frost of Arizona State, who won two Pac-10 titles (one at 165), is gone, but there are three nationally ranked wrestlers ready to take over the throne at 184. C.B. Dollaway of Arizona State is ranked first in the Pac-10 and No. 11 in the nation, Ryan Halsey of Cal Poly is ranked second in the Pac-10 and No. 10 in the nation, and Shane Webster of Oregon is No. 3 in the Pac-10 and No. 14 in the nation. Halsey won the Pac-10 title at 184 in 2003. This field also has Brandon Bear of UC Davis, third in the Pac-10 finals a year ago, and Dan Pitsch of Oregon State, who was fourth in 2004. They are ranked fourth and fifth in the Pac-10 this week.
197 – Ryan Bader of Arizona State returns to defend his Pac-10 championship for the second season in a row after winning in 2003 and 2004. He is ranked No. 7 in the nation and second in the Pac-10 behind Scott Barker of Oregon, who brings a No. 4 national ranking into this weekend’s meet. This bracket also includes Ralph Garcia of Cal Poly, who is ranked third in the Pac-10 and placed fourth at 197 a year ago; and Landon Seefeldt of Cal State Fullerton, ranked fourth in the Pac-10 and No. 9 in the nation after placing third in the 2004 conference meet.
285 – Three nationally ranked heavyweights make for an interesting and wide-open weight class. Cain Velasquez of Arizona State is first in the Pac-10 and No. 4 in the nation while Ty Watterson of Oregon State, who wrestled last week for the first time in nearly a month, is ranked second in the Pac-10 and No. 14 nationally. Beaver teammate Jaime Rakevich was ranked second in the Pac-10 until this week and finished second in the conference meet a year ago but will have to give way to Watterson this weekend. Eric Smith of Boise State is third in the Pac-10 and 19th in the nation. Also in the field are Eric Parker of Cal State Bakersfield, ranked fourth in the Pac-10 and a fifth-place finisher a year ago; and Arturo Basulto of Cal Poly, ranked sixth in the Pac-10 and fourth-place finisher in the conference meet in 2004.
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