Featuring duals across the nation in four months of action for the 2024-25 season, Cal Poly Wrestling’s schedule is the roadmap to a packed season.
The Mustangs start the season away at the Menlo Open on Saturday, Nov. 2, but return the next day for the first of eight home duals this season.
Cal Poly will take on Indiana at 1 p.m. at Mott Athletics Center on Nov. 3, a venue that will see the most action it has had since Cal Poly hosted 12 duals in the 2016-17 season.
Head coach Jon Sioredas is starting his ninth season with the Mustangs and is coming off of a year where Cal Poly was ranked in the Top 25 nationally in both tournaments and duals.
Less than a week after their home opener, Cal Poly will travel to Kansas City for the third annual Tiger Style Invite at Missouri on Nov. 9. Last time at the Invite, graduate Adam Kemp and redshirt junior Chance Lamer secured first in their weight classes.
No. 11/12 Kemp (174) and No. 9/10 C. Lamer (149) are two of five nationally ranked Cal Poly wrestlers to start the season.
No. 19/20 Legend Lamer (157), No. 23/NR Zeth Romney (133) and No. 22/17 Trevor Tinker (285) round out the ranked Mustangs.
Cal Poly returns to San Luis Obispo for an outdoor dual on O’Neill Green against Stanford on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 11:30 a.m., an annual Alumni and Supporter Weekend event.
The weekend will also feature Mustang Wrestling Foundation’s 21st annual golf tournament at Hunter Ranch Golf Course in Paso Robles.
The Mustangs will then compete in the Roadrunner Open at Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 24 before heading east to face fierce national competition at the two-day Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 6 and 7.
Returning to Mott Athletics Center, Cal Poly will have two home duals on Dec. 19, first against Cal Baptist at 5:30 p.m. and then against Northwestern at 7 p.m.
The starting wrestlers will have a 10-day break, while a portion of the team travels to Reno for the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 22.
The team then heads to Chicago on Dec. 29 and 30 for the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, which are held at NOW Arena.
Last year, Tinker (285), Kemp (174), and Romney (133) placed in their weight classes, with Romney achieving third place, the highest Cal Poly placement since Boris Novachkov won the 141-pound title in 2010.
\Three-placing wrestlers was also a program record for the Mustangs.
After another 10-day break, Cal Poly flies to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for the NWCA National Duals, hosted by Northern Iowa on Jan. 10 and 11.
Returning to San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly has four consecutive home duals in February, including two conference matchups.
They face Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Sunday, Feb. 2, at 1 p.m. and conference opponent Oregon State on Friday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.
Then, they finish out against Northern Illinois at 5:30 and Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, for another conference dual and their last home dual of the season.
The team’s final conference dual before the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships is on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m. in Bakersfield, where they will face off against the Roadrunners.
Just as in the 2023-24 season, the Pac-12 championships will be held in Corvallis all day Thursday, Mar. 6.
A shift from the previous year comes with the competition. Cal Poly will only face three opposing teams, Cal State Bakersfield, Little Rock, and Oregon State, to clinch an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.
The 2025 NCAA Championships will be held at the Wells Fargo Center, which last hosted the tournament in 2011 in Philadelphia, Pa., from March 20 through March 22.
Kemp was the highest-ranked Mustang last year, at No. 8 in his weight class, and was joined by four other Cal Poly wrestlers who are also returning and ranked nationally this season.
The furthest a Cal Poly wrestler went in last season’s tournament was the second round before being knocked out.
Still, with 23 wrestlers and nine of 10 starters from 2023-24 returning, Cal Poly is starting the season with ranked wrestlers in a solid position to make another run in 2024-25.
