Of the 10 total competitors sent out by Cal Poly Wrestling, five Mustangs won their preliminary matches and are moving forward to wrestle in the title match within their respective weights of the Pac-12 Championships at Mott Athletics Center.
A victory in the title bout will give the winner the Pac-12 title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.
All three of the Mustangs’ nationally-ranked wrestlers dominated their bouts, each winning by six points or more, with two of the victories coming by technical fall. Outside of the expected success from the top of the Mustangs’ lineup, the opening rounds of the championships were highlighted by upset victories from unranked wrestlers Anthony Berg and Andre Gonzales.
Sunk by the Ice Berg
Entering the tournament as the bottom seed of his respective class, Berg was given arguably the tallest task of the tournament, with his objective of the first round being to overcome the top-seeded Matty Bianchi.
On the flip side, Bianchi entered the tournament as the No. 5-ranked wrestler within the nation, and as the reigning Pac-12 Champion at the weight. Prior to the Pac-12 Championships, Bianchi rode a 16-match win streak to begin a career-defining season, which concluded with a career-best 17-1 record.
Records and rankings were irrelevant in the 165-pound bout. Berg took the lead with a six-point near fall in the opening minutes of the first period and never looked back, utilizing an escape to push himself just out of Bianchi’s reach for the 7-6 upset.
The freshman is no stranger to upsets; his most notable win of the regular season came during the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships when he used an under-six minute fall to defeat Mason Shrader of Central Michigan, who had been the No. 22-ranked wrestler in the nation at that point.
Friday’s upset was an act of vengeance for Berg. The duo had crossed paths less than a month prior to the tournament at a dual in Arkansas, and Bianchi narrowly came out on top in a 7-2 decision.
With the victory, Berg added an additional number into the win column of his 15-8 record. He will face Oregon State’s No. 23 Matthew Olguin, the second seed of the tournament, in the championship round.
The grind for Gonzales
Gonzales was the other Mustang to secure an upset victory in his bout. The third seed in the tournament at 149 pounds, the gap between Gonzales and his opponent, second-seeded Noah Tolentino of Oregon State, appeared sizable; Tolentino was touted as the No. 24-ranked wrestler in the class.
The bout between the duo was defined by consistent, high-intensity scrapping. Gonzales achieved the first, and only, takedown in the match in the waning seconds of the first period to build his eternal lead of three points.
Throughout the course of the bout, both wrestlers struggled to find a secure handle on each other and continuously struggled for position in the final four minutes of the match.
Gonzales’ innate speed and consistent ability to slip through the grasp of Tolentino proved to be crucial as the match progressed – neither wrestler could efficiently attack the other, preserving the Mustang’s lead.
Both wrestlers could only muster an escape each before the clock struck double zeroes, ending the bout in a 4-1 victory for the graduate student.
The 149-pound weight class is one of three weight classes in which the top two wrestlers within the tournament will be granted immediate bids into the NCAA Wrestling Championships. With his victory, Gonzales has secured a spot within the NCAA Championships.
In-Conference invulnerability
Redshirt junior Caesar Garza, the only Cal Poly wrestler to be ranked as the top seed within his tournament class, continued his unbeaten streak within the Pac-12 in arguably the most dominant showing of the championships.
Within the first period alone, Garza had already secured nine points for himself via the usage of two takedowns and a three-point near fall. The following period told a similar story; Garza secured an additional eight points within the first minute of the second frame to attain the tournament’s first victory by technical fall.
The 184-pounder will face his Oregon State counterpart, TJ McDonnell, for the final bout within their class. Garza and McDonnell have faced each other twice in Garza’s first year as a Mustang, with the redshirt junior having won both matches by two points.
The champion’s return
Graduate student Trevor Tinker made his long-awaited return to the wrestling mat following a two-month long absence due to a torn labrum injury the heavyweight suffered at the Midlands Championships in late December.
READ MORE: “Trevor Tinker’s return to the mat was more than we could have asked for”
Despite being the reigning Pac-12 Champion at heavyweight and the highest-ranked competitor in his class in regards to national rankings, Tinker entered the tournament as the second seed due to his prolonged absence from the sport.
The heavyweight’s performance on the mats was nothing short of dominant – Tinker used five takedowns en route to a 17-2 technical fall over his opponent, third-seeded Khale McDonnell.
Tinker will look to defend his title as the Pac-12 Champion in the final round, in which he will face off against top-seeded Michael Gasper of Little Rock.
A ranked rematch
Redshirt junior Koda Holeman rounded out the set of Mustang victories in the preliminary matches with his 10-4 triumph over Cal State Bakersfield’s Richard Castro-Sandoval. The match had been slower-paced in comparison to the other Cal Poly victories, with each of Holeman’s three takedowns being attained with less than a minute to wrestle in each period.
Holeman will see a familiar rival in the upcoming championship round in Oregon State’s Maximo Renteria, the top seed of the tournament and the No. 8-ranked wrestler in the nation in his class.
The championship match will be a rematch of last year’s championship round, in which Renteria overcame Holeman by major decision, 14-7. The pair have encountered each other most recently at a dual in Oregon; Holeman lost by decision, 13-7.
Regardless of the outcome of the championship round, Holeman has already secured an automatic bid into the NCAA Wrestling Championships; the 125-pound class is one of the three weights in which the top two wrestlers per weight will advance to the tournament in Cleveland.
The championship round
The final bouts of the Pac-12 Championships will commence at 6 p.m. The bouts will open with the match between Holeman and Renteria at 125 pounds, and will officially conclude with the bouts at 197 pounds.