Cal Poly Wrestling was handled by California Baptist, 22-16, before also falling against Northwestern, 29-14, Thursday at Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (0-4) started hot against the Lancers (5-2, 2-0 Big 12) and Wildcats (2-1) thanks to 125-pound redshirt sophomore Koda Holeman. Still, they couldn’t get much going outside of that and redshirt junior heavyweight Trevor Tinker’s performance.
Cal Poly remains nationally ranked at No. 22 in tournament standings due to the outstanding play from No. 3 ranked redshirt sophomore Zeth Romney at the Cliff Keen Invitational, who won the 133-pound title.
The Mustangs were short-handed Thursday, as four of their seven ranked wrestlers were not in the lineup.
Those included Romney, No. 7 ranked 149-pound redshirt junior Chance Lamer, No. 24 ranked 174-pound graduate student Adam Kemp and No. 26 ranked 165-pound redshirt junior Luka Wick.
After receiving his first national career ranking this week, No. 30 ranked Holeman continued tearing it up on the mats by going 2-0 and beating a ranked opponent.
Up and down showing against the Lancers
Cal Poly Wrestling was handled against Cal Baptist in their first of two duals on Thursday.
It was a stark difference from last season’s dominant 32-3 dual win against the Lancers.
Holeman kicked things off with a dominant fall victory over his opponent in the second period.
Cal Baptist took the next three matches to go up 10-6 on the team score before graduate 157-pounder Legend Lamer recorded a dominant 15-0 technical fall victory to take a slim 11-10 lead.
The next four bouts would all be decided by three points or less, but all would go in favor of the Lancers.
165-pound redshirt sophomore Cash Stewart just fell in his match by a final score of 6-5 before 174-pounder Kendall La Rosa was edged out 4-1 with a takedown as time expired.
No. 33 184-pound redshirt freshman Daschle Lamer held a 5-5 tie but couldn’t prevent his opponent from securing a takedown in the third period as he fell 8-5.
Redshirt junior 197-pounder Jarad Priest fell in a close 3-0 final.
Despite the team score being out of reach for the Mustangs, Tinker dominated en route to a 16-1 technical fall to close out the 22-16 dual loss.
Late rally not enough to defeat Wildcats
Holding onto a two-point lead in the opening bout against Big Ten foe Northwestern, Holeman kept his opponents’ arms pinned tight, not allowing him to gain leverage.
As the clock dwindled to zeros and the buzzer sounded, the crowd at Mott Athletics Center erupted in support of Holeman, who had just upset the No. 32 ranked 125-pounder Dedrick Navarro.
The Mustangs’ three-point victory against a fierce opponent was critical, especially after losing the night’s first dual to Cal Baptist University.
But, the Mustangs could not rally behind Holeman and would fall in six out of the ten total bouts, eventually losing Thursday night’s second dual 29-14.
With the Wildcats handing Cal Poly wrestling their second loss of the night, the team slips to 0-4 in duals.
“I tried focusing on scoring as many points as possible and not focusing on whether he’s ranked or not,” Holeman said. “It doesn’t really matter.”
Holeman improves to 9-5 on the year with the two wins.
“Sometimes Jon lets me go, like a dog on a leash,” Holeman said. “He just lets me go, takes me off the leash, and then I get more takedowns.”
Down 24-3, the Mustangs could capture three out of the next four bouts, but it was too little, too late.
At 174 pounds, redshirt freshman Blake Hinrichsen (5-3) defeated Aiden Vandenbush, cutting the lead to 24-6.
Next, Daschle Lamer handled Jon Halvorsen by a score of 3-0. The advantage was all Daschle, dominating the match with almost two minutes of riding time to cut the deficit to 15.
At 285 pounds, No. 30 ranked Tinker secured his second technical fall of the night, downing Dirk Morley 20-4. With ten takedowns across both matches and two wins on the day, he improves to 12-5 on the season.
Tinker’s perfect day on the mats closed Thursday night’s action, cutting the lead to 29-14 to finalize the match.
Other Mustangs that competed against Northwestern included 133-pound redshirt freshman Caleb Park and 141-pound redshirt sophomore Korbin Shepherd, who were both defeated by pins.
At 149 pounds, freshman Jagger French was pitted against the No. 29 ranked Sam Cartella, falling just short by a major decision. Redshirt freshman Gavin Fernandez was defeated 4-0 at 157 pounds.
Stewart and 197-pound redshirt freshman Tyler Hodges were also defeated in their bouts.
Next for the Mustangs will be the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday, where 15 wrestlers will be competing.
After that, the team will face fierce competition in Illinois at the 60th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships hosted by Northwestern on Dec. 29-30.
