Cal Poly to Compete in Pac-12 Championships Sunday at Oregon State
2/20/2018 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
CAL POLY STATISTICS (pdf)
PAC-12 RANKINGS (pdf)
BRACKETS (pdf)
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Sixty of the Pac-12's best wrestlers will be competing for conference titles as well as berths in the 2018 NCAA Division I National Championships this weekend inside Oregon State's Gill Coliseum.
Competition on Sunday begins at 11 a.m., with the championship finals to start at 6 p.m. Early rounds will be video streamed with the finals to be televised live by Pac-12 Networks.
Four Mustangs appear to have the best chances of qualifying for the nationals, including Colton Schilling, an NCAA qualifier at 141 pounds a year ago following his third-place finish in last year's conference finals.
Schilling (pictured above) owns a 12-5 record this season with a team-leading nine falls, ninth in the nation, and a 6-0 mark in duals. His other three wins include one technical fall and a pair of major decisions.
The senior from Brownsville, Oregon, has won five straight matches, placed eighth in the Midlands in December and is ranked No. 29 in his weight class by the NCAA Division I Coaches Panel.
Mustang 197-pounder Tom Lane sports a 14-7 record with one fall and three technical falls. The sophomore from Garden City, N.Y., is ranked No. 27 by the coaches and placed second in the Reno Tournament of Champions back in December.
Other Mustangs expected to be seeded high for the Pac-12 finals are 184-pounder Matt Wilhelm and 149-pounder Joshy Cortez.
Wilhelm is 14-6 for the season, including a 6-1 mark in duals, and has recorded two pins, a technical fall and a pair of major decisions. The sophomore from Manahawkin, N.J., has won his last six matches.
Cortez had a four-match winning streak snapped by Nikko Villareal of Arizona State in a 2-1 decision last week. The junior from Temecula, Calif., is 11-10 for the season with one fall, a technical fall and a major decision. He was 4-4 in duals, including a 3-1 mark against Pac-12 foes.
Cal Poly's other entries will be Yoshito Funakoshi (3-8) at 125 pounds, Ty Schilling (1-12) at 133, Jett Moy (2-12) at 157, Ryan Farina (3-11) at 165, Ryan Anderson (4-12) at 174 and Spencer Empey (6-11) at 285.
Cortez and Empey finished fourth in last year's Pac-12 finals at Stanford, just one victory shy of qualifying for the NCAAs.
Arizona State claimed the Pac-12 dual meet title with a 4-0 mark, followed by Stanford at 3-1, Oregon State at 2-2, CSU Bakersfield at 1-3 and Cal Poly at 0-4.
A year ago, Arizona State snapped Oregon State's five-year reign atop the Pac-12 with five individual champions and 127 points, 4 1/2 points ahead of runner-up Stanford. CSU Bakersfield was third, followed by Oregon State, Boise State and Cal Poly.
Boise State dropped wrestling last March.
Seven of last year's 10 individual champions return to defend their titles, though one has moved up a weight class. Sean Nickell of CSU Bakersfield claimed the 125-pound title in 2017 but moved up to 133 this year.
Another defending champion, Josh Maruca of Arizona State, might have to give way to fellow 149-pound teammate Jason Tsirtsis, ranked No. 9 this week by the NCAA Coaches Panel.
Other returning champions are Josh Shields at 157, Anthony Valencia at 165, Zahid Valencia at 174 and Tanner Hall at 285, all from Arizona State, and Oregon State 197-pounder Corey Griego.
Zahid Valencia is ranked No. 1 at 174 and seven other wrestlers from Pac-12 schools are ranked in the top 10 by the NCAA Coaches Panel.
They include Nathan Butler of Stanford, No. 5 at 285; Josh Shields of Arizona State, No. 5 at 157; Tanner Hall of Arizona State, No. 6 at 285; Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State, No. 9 at 125; Keaton Subjeck of Stanford, No. 9 at 174; and Amarveer Dhesi of Oregon State, No. 10 at 285.
The 2018 NCAA Division I National Championships will be held March 15-17 inside Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cal Poly Lineup (0-8, 0-4 Pac-12)
125 — Yoshito Funakoshi, Junior, Torrance, Calif. (3-8)
133 — Ty Schilling, Sophomore, Brownsville, Oregon (1-12)
141 — No. 29 Colton Schilling, Senior, Brownsville, Oregon (12-5)
149 — Joshy Cortez, Junior, Temecula, Calif. (11-10)
157 — Jett Moy, Freshman (Redshirt), Carlsbad, Calif. (2-12)
165 — Ryan Farina, Freshman (Redshirt), Tempe, Ariz. (3-11)
174 — Ryan Anderson, Sophomore, West Linn, Oregon (4-12)
184 — Matt Wilhelm, Sophomore, Manahawkin, N.J. (14-6)
197 — No. 27 Tom Lane, Sophomore, Garden City, N.Y. (13-7)
285 — Spencer Empey, Senior, Sparks, Nevada (6-10)
