California Collegiate Open
Disney Leads Four Cal Poly Placewinners at California Collegiate Open
2/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Atticus Disney captured top honors at 285 pounds and three other Cal Poly wrestlers earned top-four finishes in the California Collegiate Open hosted by San Francisco State on Saturday.
Disney (pictured at right) won his first three matches by fall, then posted a 5-3 decision over Charles Merrill of Cal Baptist in the 285-pound championship final, raising his record for the season to 14-9.
Damien Arredondo placed second at 157 pounds while Derrick Hawkins finished third at 184 and Drew Meulman placed fourth at 285.
Arredondo won his first four matches by decision, including a 6-4 overtime nod against Matt Thomas in the semifinals, then dropped a 3-1 overtime decision to Chris Castillo of Boise State in the final round.
Hawkins lost his first match in a 12-8 decision, but worked his way through the wrestlebacks with five wins for his third-place finish at 184. He beat Brian Engdahl of Oregon State 16-9 in the final round.
Meulman went 4-2 on the day, losing in his final match 8-4 to former Mustang Leonard Romero, now wrestling for Menlo College.
Another former Mustang, Filip Novachkov, now wrestling for Team Smash, captured the 149-pound title with a fall, a technical fall, two major decisions and an 8-2 decision against Dylan Phillipy of San Francisco State in the finals.
Cal Poly returns to action in the 2012 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals next Saturday at Rutgers University in Piscataway, N.J. The Mustangs face Rutgers, Minnesota, Kent State, Michigan and Missouri in one of four six-team regionals. Pairings will be announced Monday.
Each regional champion advances to the national finals the following weekend at a site to be determined.
