Cal Poly to Host Stanford for Pac-12 Dual Wrestling Meet Sunday

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Splitting a pair of dual meets last week, Cal Poly will compete in two more dual meets this week, visiting San Francisco State for a non-conference matchup Friday night and returning home Sunday afternoon to host Stanford for a Pac-12 dual at 1 o'clock inside Mott Gym.

Sunday's match is "Heroes Day" and all active and retired military personnel with ID along with all active and retired members of emergency response teams including fire, rescue and police with ID will be admitted free.

Coach Brendan Buckley's Mustangs (3-2, 2-1 Pac-12) competed in five tournaments in the first two months of the season before heading into the dual meet portion of its 2011-12 schedule. Cal Poly won its first two duals of the season in November, defeating CSU Bakersfield 28-10 and Menlo College 40-6, before dropping a 36-6 decision against Oregon State on Dec. 11 at Cuesta College.

Last week the No. 18 Mustangs dropped a 25-13 non-conference decision against No. 10 American before rebounding with a come-from-behind 22-20 Pac-12 victory over Boise State. Both matches were held inside Mott Gym.

San Francisco State, hosting Cal Poly for its first home dual meet of the season Friday night, sports a 3-3 dual meet record, defeating McKendree (Illinois), Embry-Riddle (Arizona) and Central Missouri. The Division II Gators are members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Head coach Lars Jensen, in his 29th season with the Gators, has one nationally ranked wrestler on his roster. Isaiah Jimenez is ranked No. 6 at 165 pounds and sports a 12-4 record.

Cal Poly won nine of 10 bouts in a 43-3 win over San Francisco State a year ago in San Luis Obispo and owns a 38-1 record all-time against the Gators. Barrett Abel, Ryan DesRoches, Ryan Smith and Atticus Disney all posted falls in the dual a year ago.

Stanford is ranked 22nd by InterMat this week with a 5-5 overall dual meet record (2-0 in Pac-12 matches) and sports a pair of nationally ranked wrestlers.

Sunday's dual will be highlighted by the matchup at 174 as No. 4 Ryan DesRoches of Cal Poly puts his perfect 19-0 record on the line against top-ranked Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford, 13-0 on the year. The two seniors will meet for the first time in a college match Sunday.

DesRoches has earned first-place finishes in the Cowboy Open, Las Vegas Invitational and Reno Tournament of Champions this season. The Riverside High School (Deer Park, Wash.) graduate is 102-31 in his Mustang career, is a two-time NCAA qualifier and twice has placed third in the Pac-12 finals.

Amuchastegui, a graduate of Phoenix High School in Oregon, is 107-18 in his Stanford career. He was a Pac-12 champion in 2010 and placed second as a freshman and junior. Amuchastegui is a three-time NCAA qualifier, finishing second last year and fourth in 2010.

Stanford's other nationally ranked wrestler is 133-pounder Ryan Mango (19-5), listed No. 7 in three of the four national polls this week and No. 9 by InterMat. He finished fourth in the Pac-12 finals at 125 pounds a year ago en route to a sixth-place national finish.

Stanford has beaten Cal State Bakersfield 28-9 and Boise State 20-16 in Pac-12 matches and also owns non-conference dual meet wins over North Central College, Northern Illinois and Menlo College. The Cardinal placed 25th in the Las Vegas Invitational, 16th in the Reno Tournament of Champions and 25th in the Midlands Championship.

In addition to DesRoches, Cal Poly has two other nationally ranked wrestlers.

Mustang 141-pounder Boris Novachkov won titles at the Cowboy Open and Reno Tournament of Champions while finishing fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational. Now 19-2 this season and 106-21 in his Mustang career, the senior is a two-time NCAA All-American (second in 2011, seventh in 2010), two-time Pac-12 champion and three-time NCAA qualifier. He placed third in the Pac-12 finals as a freshman in 2008 and is ranked second through fourth in the polls this week.

Cal Poly 197-pounder Ryan Smith (pictured above) earned a pair of key wins last week to climb back into the national rankings at No. 16 by Amateur Wrestling News and WrestlingReport.com and No. 17 by InterMat. Smith, pinned by No. 14 Danny Mitchell of American in the Midlands, avenged that loss with a 3-2 decision last Friday and earned a 10-6 decision against Brent Chriswell of Boise State on Sunday.

Smith placed second in the Roadrunner Open, fourth in the Reno Tournament of Champions and posted a 3-2 mark in the Midlands. He is 14-8 on the year, 61-43 in his Mustang career, qualified for the NCAA finals a year ago and has placed second and fifth in the Pac-12 finals.

The heavyweight matchup features No. 27 Atticus Disney (8-8) of Cal Poly against No. 28 Dan Scherer (15-8) of Stanford.

Disney is 38-23 in his collegiate career (including the 2008-09 season at Minnesota) and placed fifth in last month's Las Vegas Invitational. Scherer placed fifth in last year's Pac-12 finals. Disney was seventh in the Pac-12 finals a year ago and pinned Scherer in 50 seconds at the Reno Tournament of Champions last month.

The Mustangs have competed in the Cowboy Open (non-scoring), Roadrunner Open (non-scoring), Las Vegas Invitational (11th), Reno Tournament of Champions (sixth) and Midlands Championships (33rd) this season.

Cal Poly's lineup for this weekend's duals will be Britain Longmire (7-5) or Michael Clemmensen (0-6) at 125, Brandan Rocha (5-7) or Jake Tanenbaum (7-8) at 133, Boris Novachkov (19-2) at 141, Kyle Chene (1-1) at 149, Gianpier Yanez (0-4) at 157, Dominic Kastl (5-3) or Paul Woodman (1-4) at 165, Ryan DesRoches (19-0) at 174, Sean Dougherty (6-7) at 184, Ryan Smith (14-8) at 197 and Atticus Disney (8-8) or Kelan Bragg (5-8) at 285.

Next week, Cal Poly wrestling, presented by Meathead Movers, hits the road for two more dual meets, visiting Wyoming on Friday (Jan. 20) and Air Force on Saturday (Jan. 21). The Mustangs close out the home portion of their 2011-12 schedule on Friday, Jan. 27, against Arizona State at 7 p.m. inside Mott Gym.