Following a successful Pac-12 tournament highlighted by three conference titles, four Cal Poly wrestlers are set to compete in the NCAA Championships from March 19-21 in Cleveland.
READ MORE: “Cal Poly Wrestling wins three individual Pac-12 Championships, sends four to the NCAA Tournament“
125-pound redshirt junior Koda Holeman will wrestle in the tournament for the second straight time after earning the highest seed out of the four wrestlers. Last year, he went 0-2, wrestling against Richie Figueroa, who was the 2024 NCAA Champion at 125 pounds.
Holeman earned the No. 15 spot and will face No. 18 Spencer Moore of Illinois in the first round.
The 125-pounder won his first Pac-12 title last Friday night at Mott Athletics Center, defeating Oregon State’s Maximo Renteria 5-4 with a late score in the third period. With the win, he became the first Pac-12 Champion at his weight since Chad Mendes won the title in 2006.
After returning from a torn labrum and capturing his second straight Pac-12 title, No. 22 ranked 285-pounder Trevor Tinker will compete in his fourth NCAA Championships. He’s the 10th wrestler in program history that has qualified for the NCAA’s four separate times, and the first two-time heavyweight conference champion.
Tinker will wrestle Northern Illinois’ Devon Dawnson, who earned the No. 11 seed with a 31-4 record. Tinker went 2-2 last year in the NCAA Championships.
Redshirt junior 184-pound Ceasar Garza and 149-pound graduate student Andre Gonzales will join the returners as well, as both will make their NCAA debuts.
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Garza, the No. 23 seed, will face No. 10 Caleb Campos from American University. In his first season with the Mustangs, Garza accumulated an 18-2 record, going undefeated in conference duals en route to the first 184-pound Pac-12 title for Cal Poly since Ryan Halsey in 2003. This will be Garza’s first time competing at the NCAA championships after wrestling for three seasons at Michigan State.
Coming in as the No. 27 seed, Gonzales will face No. 6 Calev Tyus from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) in the opening round. This is Gonzales’ final season of eligibility for the NCAAs.
First-matches of the NCAA Championships begin at 9 a.m. PDT Thursday, March 19 and will be available to stream on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN+.