Cal Poly Wrestling clinched the Pac-12 dual meet title with a pair of wins over Stanford and Oregon State on Friday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 19 inside Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustang (8-6, 5-0 Pac-12) wins over the Cardinal (6-6, 2-2 Pac-12) and the Beavers (7-7, 2-2 Pac-12) gave them their first undefeated conference season in program history.
Friday vs. Stanford
Cal Poly used late-match heroics to defeat Stanford 18-15 on Friday, Feb. 17 to open up the weekend.
The win marks the first for the Mustangs over the Cardinal since 2010.
Cal Poly found itself in an early 3-0 hole before wins from graduate Ethan Rotondo and redshirt junior Lawrence Saenz gave them a 6-3 advantage.
Rotondo earned an 8-2 upset over No. 29 Jackson DiSario at 133 pounds to win his third straight bout, while Saenz needed just seven seconds in overtime to earn a takedown for his 5-3 decision victory at 141 pounds.
The Cardinal would win the next four bouts, all by decision, to retake the lead, 15-6.
At 184 pounds, redshirt freshman Jarad Priest sparked the comeback, winning 9-4 thanks to four takedowns and an escape.
In his first match since Jan. 6, fifth-ranked redshirt junior Bernie Truax returned with a 9-5 decision over No. 31 Nick Stemmet to narrow the Stanford lead to 15-12.
In the final bout of the evening, redshirt freshman Trevor Tinker played hero once again for the Mustangs. After a quick takedown, Tinker pinned Peter Ming in just 58 seconds to earn six points and surge Cal Poly to an 18-15 victory.
With Friday’s win, the Mustangs clinched at least a share of the conference dual meet title.
Sunday vs. Oregon State
The following Sunday, the Mustangs took down No. 26 Oregon State to become Pac-12 dual meet champions.
The upset victory over the Beavers rode on the shoulders of Tinker once again, as the stands chanted his name in the final bout of the meet.
After a loss at 125 pounds by freshman Koda Holeman, Cal Poly picked up a sequence of victories in the following bouts.
After Rotondo beat No. 17 Jaden Shaner in a 6-1 decision, Saenz dominated his way to a 12-2 major decision versus another ranked opponent.
Demas then had a scrappy low-scoring bout where he edged out a 3-2 victory, while redshirt freshman Luka Wick took a 3-0 decision win to put the Mustangs up 13-3.
With half of the duel complete, Oregon State began to earn team points.
The Beavers got points off of an overtime 7-5 win over Legend Lamer and three more points in a 13-6 decision over Brawley Lamer.
Priest’s fall at 4:35 to No. 6 Trey Munoz put Cal Poly behind 15-13 with two bouts left, and the Mustangs were sending Truax and Tinker to the mat.
Truax faced No. 16 Tanner Harvey, and as the intensity in the crowd grew, clinched a 7-5 decision win.
With the team scores at 16-15 in favor of Cal Poly, the winner of the heavyweight contest would walk away with the match.
After a silent first period, Tinker got a pair of takedowns to take a 4-2 lead into the third period.
Tinker chose to start on the bottom, where he earned an escape and a takedown for the electric 8-2 decision and duel victory.
The Mustangs will now look ahead to the Pac-12 Championship on Sunday, Mar. 5 at Stanford.
