Cal Poly Opens Dual Wrestling Meet Season at CSU Bakersfield

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Brendan Buckley's first dual meet as head coach of the Cal Poly wrestling team will be a Pacific-12 Conference matchup against CSU Bakersfield on Friday night at 7 in the Icardo Center.

"We're looking forward to our first dual of the season against one of our instate rivals," said Buckley, head coach at Columbia University for 11 seasons before he was hired at Cal Poly last April.

CSU Bakersfield split a pair of duals last week, defeating Menlo College 35-6 and falling to Stanford 28-9 in a Pacific-12 Conference matchup.

Cal Poly has competed in two non-scoring tournaments so far this season.

At the Roadrunner Open held Nov. 5 in Bakersfield, Smith placed second in the 197-pound weight class while Sean Dougherty and Kelan Bragg both placed fourth at 184 and 285 pounds, respectively.

Last weekend, Mustang wrestlers Boris Novachkov (141) and Ryan DesRoches (174) captured individual titles in the Cowboy Open hosted by the University of Wyoming on Saturday. In addition, freshman Dominic Kastl placed second at 165 pounds while Steven Vasquez, also at 165, placed third.

Cal Poly is ranked No. 20 by InterMat and No. 23 by WrestlingReport.com while CSU Bakersfield is unranked in both polls.

The Mustangs will send four nationally ranked wrestlers onto the mat Friday night.

Two-time NCAA All-American and Pacific-12 champion Boris Novachkov is ranked No. 2 at 141 pounds while 285-pounder Atticus Disney has earned a No. 27 ranking.

Seniors Smith and DesRoches (pictured above) also are ranked. Smith is ranked as high as No. 16 at 197 pounds by WrestlingReport.com while DesRoches has earned a No. 8 ranking by InterMat at 174 pounds.

CSU Bakersfield 125-pounder Tyler Iwamura is ranked No. 20 by WrestlingReport.com while 133-pounder Frank Lomas is ranked No. 23.

Iwamura, Lomas and Adam Fierro (165) were crowned champions at the Roadrunner Open two weeks ago while Anthony Box was second at 157 and Brady Garner third at 174.

Cal Poly won last year's dual meet against the Roadrunners in Mott Gym. Ryan Smith earned a 9-7 overtime decision against Riley Orozco, his first win in five tries against Orozco, to clinch the Mustangs' 23-12 victory. The Mustangs won five of the first six bouts to build a 20-3 advantage and held on for the conference win.

Cal Poly and CSU Bakersfield are wrestling for the 44th time this week with the Roadrunners leading the all-time series 25-16-2. Cal Poly defeated CSUB 22-18 in the 2009-10 season in Bakersfield.

Mike Mendoza, an assistant coach for eight seasons under T.J. Kerr, is in his second season as head coach at CSU Bakersfield. A three-time NCAA Championships qualifier, Mendoza concluded his career with a 76-55 record and placed second, third and fourth in the Pac-10 Championships.

Following Friday's dual meet, Cal Poly will be idle for two weeks, returning to action Dec. 2-3 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Cal Poly at CSU Bakersfield Probable Lineup:
125 -- Britain Longmire (CP) vs. Tyler Iwamura (CSB)
133 -- Jake Tanenbaum or Brandan Rocha (CP) vs. Jose Mendoza (CSB)
141 -- Tanenbaum, Rocha or Boris Novachkov (CP) vs. Dalton Kelley or Erik Martinez (CSB)
149 -- Novachkov or Rocha (CP) vs. Nick Cano (CSB)
157 -- Travis Rasmussen (CP) vs. Anthony Box (CSB)
165 -- Dominic Kastl or Steven Vasquez (CP) vs. Adam Fierro (CSB)
174 -- Ryan DesRoches (CP) vs. Jesus Ambriz or Brady Garner (CSB)
184 -- Sean Dougherty (CP) vs. Reuben Franklin (CSB)
197 -- Ryan Smith (CP) vs. Ambriz or Oren Dramen (CSB)
285 -- Atticus Disney (CP) vs. Steven Wood or Frankie Hurtado (CSB)