For the first time in 21 years, Cal Poly Wrestling will host the Pac-12 Championships in San Luis Obispo, which will be held at the Mott Athletics Center this Friday.
Matches will kick off at 12:30 p.m., and by the end of the day both the individual weight class and team conference champions will be crowned.
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Currently, the Pac-12 consists of four schools, with its roster being composed of Cal Poly, Oregon State, Cal State Bakersfield and Little Rock. Northern Illinois University will become a wrestling affiliate of the conference at the start of the 2026 season.
Last year, Cal Poly finished third in the tournament, behind champions Little Rock and runners-up Oregon State. The Beavers hosted the 2025 tournament at Gil Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.
In a tumultuous season primarily defined by injuries and the blossoming of a “next man up” mentality within the locker room, the Mustangs will look to continue to use the shift in culture to make deep runs within the conference tournament.
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Lineup losses
Cal Poly has had to adapt to several shifts within their lineup since the conclusion of last season. Redshirt junior Zeth Romney was one of the largest losses suffered by the Mustangs this season, having sustained an injury in early December.
Romney was the reigning Pac-12 Wrestler of the Year, becoming the first wrestler at 133 pounds to win the award, and he was recognized as an NCAA All-American the year prior. Most notably, Romney placed third at the NCAA Championships within his class.
The Mustangs also had to pivot in light of the departure of the Lamer brothers. The trio, composed of brothers Daschle, Chance and Legend, were among Cal Poly’s most reliable point-scorers throughout last season.
Following the conclusion of the 2025 season, Legend graduated, while Daschle and Chance transferred out of Cal Poly. Daschle currently wrestles at in-conference rival Oregon State, where he is ranked as the No. 25 wrestler at 174 pounds.
Also missing is redshirt senior Luka Wick, who had been consistently battling through injuries throughout his collegiate career. Wick was another one of Cal Poly’s premiere wrestlers, having been ranked as high as No. 23 at 165 pounds.
Return of the defending champion
Having been absent since late December due to a full labrum tear suffered during the Ken Kraft Midlands Championship, heavyweight graduate student Trevor Tinker will make his return to the mat at the Pac-12 Championships.
Prior to suffering the injury, Tinker was 3-1 in duals on the season and 5-6 in tournament matches, though four of the tournament losses were due to an injury default or a medical forfeit on Tinker’s part.
Regaining the senior will prove to be a large boost to Cal Poly’s resume in the upcoming tournament. Tinker is the reigning Pac-12 heavyweight champion, and has qualified for the NCAA tournament for three consecutive years, spanning from 2023 to 2025.
“We’ve been super mindful of giving his injury time to heal up,” Head Coach Jon Sioredas said. “He’s a star and he’s put in just a sheer body of work within the past year to be as good as anyone at the weight class.”
Having been injured for approximately half of the season, Tinker is the second highest-seeded wrestler at his weight within the Pac-12. Despite being ranked at No. 22 in his weight class, with the closest wrestler at heavyweight within the Pac-12 being ranked No. 30, Tinker will enter the tournament as the conference’s No. 2-seed and will open against Oregon State’s Khale McDonnell.
Ranked and rambunctious
Aside from Tinker, two other nationally-ranked wrestlers will represent the Mustangs at the championships.
Redshirt junior Koda Holeman will take the mats for Cal Poly at 125 pounds. Ranked as the 20th-best wrestler in his class, Holeman has been one of the Mustangs’ most reliable point-scorers over the course of the season.
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Holeman has compiled a record of 7-2 across duals this year, with three of those being by technical falls and one other victory coming by a fall. In tournament matches, the lightweight has a record of 10-3 on the season.
Similar to Tinker, Holeman will enter the Championships as the second seed within his class. His Oregon State counterpart, Maximo Renteria, who is ranked eighth nationally, will headline the 125-pounders.
Cal Poly’s 125-pounder will seek a rematch against Renteria, who bested Holeman in the finals in the final round of the previous year’s tournament.
Ranked 27th in the nation at 184 pounds, redshirt junior Caesar Garza rounds out the ranked wrestler trio representing the Mustangs.
Having transferred from Michigan State to Cal Poly following the conclusion of last season, Garza immediately became one of the Mustangs’ most productive wrestlers on the mat. In his first season at Cal Poly, the redshirt junior finished the season with a perfect 8-0 record in duals en route to an overall team-leading record of 16-2.
Garza put together some of the program’s most impressive wins of the year, including an upset over then-No. 23 James Rowley of Purdue as the No. 28 ranked wrestler in their class, as well as two victories over defending Pac-12 Champion TJ McDonnell of Oregon State, at the Roadrunner Open and in a dual with the Beavers.
Garza will be the only Cal Poly wrestler to enter the tournament as the top-ranked seed within his class. He will face off against the No. 4 seed, Jeremy Manibog of Cal State Bakersfield, to begin his first championship appearance in the Pac-12.
“Out of all the guys, we want them to wrestle to their potential,” Sioredas said. “We like putting guys on the edge of the mats, we want them to wrestle hard for all seven minutes.”
Boys in the band
Seven other non-ranked wrestlers will compete for the Mustangs on Friday.
Redshirt freshman Jagger French is the highest-seeded wrestler of the bunch, entering the tournament as the second seed in the tournament at 157 pounds. In his limited appearances throughout the season, French put together a 3-2 record in duals and went 7-4 in tournament matches.
French will open the tournament against the third seed at 157 pounds, Oregon State’s CJ Hamblin, with whom he had beaten by decision in their most recent dual.
Andre Gonzales, Cash Stewart and Cole Jackson will all wrestle as the No. 3 seeds within their respective weights of 149, 174 and 197 pounds.
Gonzales went 3-5 on the season in duals and 12-5 in tournament bouts. He had another one of the most impressive wins within the season, upsetting then-No. 25 Noah Tolentino by decision in the Mustangs’ loss to Oregon State.
Stewart finished 4-5 in duals on the season and 14-8 in the tournament matches. Most notably, Stewart was the only Cal Poly wrestler to claim a victory against No. 16 Stanford, overcoming his opponent by decision.
Jackson finished out his season with a 2-5 record in duals and an 8-9 record in tournaments.
Anthony Lucio, Alek VanBebber and Anthony Berg round out Cal Poly’s tournament roster.
VanBebber finished his season with a 0-4 overall record, though he had to take time off due to an ankle injury midway through the season. This will be the first tournament in which VanBebber has wrestled all season.
Meanwhile Lucio went 1-6 overall, and Berg finished out his season with a 15-8 overall record.
The championships
The Pac-12 released the full tournament bracket, which can be viewed in its entirety on the conference’s website.
The tournament, which will be held on Friday, March 6, will begin its preliminary rounds at 12:30 p.m., starting with the 125-pound matches that will ultimately build up to the heavyweight matches at 3:30 p.m.
The championship round will begin that same day at 6:00 p.m., with the team trophy presentations beginning at 8 p.m.