Lane Earns Third Trip to Nationals; Mustang Trio Third at Pac-12 Finals

Saturday, March 7

Fifth Place

Pac-12 Championship

Lane Earns Third Trip to Nationals; Mustang Trio Third at Pac-12 Finals

3/7/2020 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

FINAL BRACKETS (pdf)

STANFORD, Calif. -- Cal Poly senior 197-pounder Tom Lane is going to the nationals for the third time.

The Garden City, N.Y., native pinned two opponents and earned a major decision in the consolation final to finish 3-1 in the Pac-12 Championship on Saturday at Stanford.

The NCAA Division I National Championship will be held at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., from March 19-21.

Two other Mustangs placed third -- Joshy Cortez at 149 pounds and Bernie Truax at 165 -- but both competed in weight classes in which fewer than three slots were guaranteed berths in the NCAA Championship.

At-large berths for the NCAA Championship will be announced March 10.

"The team wrestled outstanding," said fourth-year Mustang head coach Jon Sioredas. "We finished with 90 points. Last year we had 15. Not bad for the youngest team in America.

"We had five upsets in the first round alone, and was leading the tournament after the first round," Sioredas added. "We had a huge fan base that showed up and the arena erupted multiple times. I am very proud of this team. On to NCAAs!"

Lane (pictured above) opened with a fall in 1 minute, 40 seconds, against Dylan Johnson of Little Rock, then dropped a 6-3 decision to Stanford's Nathan Traxler.

Lane bounced back with another fall in 1:25 over Josh Annis of CSU Bakersfield before earning an 11-3 major decision versus J.J. Dixon of Oregon State for third place.

Lane is 20-5 with three pins this season, including an 11-1 mark in dual meets, and will take an 86-48 career mark into the nationals.

Cortez (pictured at left) earned three decisions on his way to his third-place finish at 149 pounds.

The Temecula Valley High School graduate, also a senior, edged Lane Stigall of Oregon State in a tiebreaker, 2-1, then fell to No. 29 Requir Van der merwe of Stanford in another 2-1 decision.

Cortez posted a 3-0 decision over Tyler Brennan of Little Rock and 6-5 against Josh Maruca of Arizona State, avenging a 6-5 loss to Maruca in a Feb. 15 dual meet, to claim third place and finish with records of 13-11 this season and 53-53 for his Mustang career.

Truax (pictured at right) began with a 17-0 technical fall against William Edgar of Little Rock before he was pinned by Joshua Shields of Arizona State in 1:50.

The Rancho Buena Vista High School graduate and native of Oceanside won his final two matches -- 9-3 over Aaron Olmos of Oregon State and 3-0 versus Jacob Thalin of CSU Bakersfield -- for third place.

Truax improved his redshirt freshman season record to 18-11 and will be considered for an at-large bid.

Finishing fourth for Cal Poly were 157-pounder Brawley Lamer, 174-pounder Dylan Miracle and 285-pounder Samuel Aguilar.

With five individual champions, Arizona State, which lost to Stanford by two points a year ago, reclaimed the team title with 141.5 points, followed by Stanford with 122 and CSU Bakersfield at 99.5. Cal Poly was fifth with 90 points.

Pac-12 Championships

At Stanford

125 Pounds

Benny Martinez was tech. fall by Jackson Disario (S) 16-0 (3:53), was maj. dec. by Alex Hernandez-Figueroa (CSUB) 10-0, was maj. dec. by Jayden Carson (LR) 15-3 (sixth place)

133 Pounds

Cole Reyes by injury default over Gabe Townsell (S) 5:00, was dec. by Paul Bianchi (LR) 7-4, was dec. by Chance Rich (CSUB) 5-3, won by medical forfeit over Gabe Townsell (S) (fifth place)

141 Pounds

Jake Ryan dec. Conner Ward (LR) 8-1, was pinned by Real Woods (S) 1:57, lost by medical forfeit to Cory Crooks (ASU), lost by medical forfeit to Angelo Martinoni (CSUB) (sixth place)

149 Pounds

Joshy Cortez dec. Lane Stigall (OSU) 2-1 TB-1, was dec. by Requir Van der Merwe (S) 2-1, dec. Tyler Brennan (LR) 3-0, dec. Joshua Maruca (ASU) 6-5 (third place)

157 Pounds

Brawley Lamer maj. dec. Logan Meek (OSU) 15-4, was maj. dec. by Jacori Teemer (ASU) 14-6, dec. Jose Champagne (LR) 8-6 SV-1, was dec. by Wyatt Gerl (CSUB) 5-3 (fourth place)

165 Pounds

Bernie Truax tech. fall William Edgar (LR) 17-0 (3:38), was pinned by Joshua Shields (ASU) 1:50, dec. Aaron Olmos (OSU) 9-3, dec. Jacob Thalin (CSUB) 3-0 (third place)

174 Pounds

Dylan Miracle dec. Jackson McKinney (OSU) 3-2, was pinned by Anthony Valencia (ASU) 1:23, maj. dec. Tristan Tadeo (LR) 22-9, was maj. dec. by Jackson McKinney (OSU) 10-1 (fourth place)

184 Pounds

Trent Tracy lost by injury default to Foster Karmon (S) 0:18, lost to Cade Belshay (ASU) by medical forfeit, lost to Matthew Muller (LR) by medical forfeit (sixth place)

197 Pounds

Tom Lane pinned Dylan Johnson (LR) 1:40, was dec. by Nathan Traxler (S) 6-3, pinned Josh Annis (CSUB) 1:25, maj. dec. J.J. Dixon (OSU) 11-3 (third place)

285 Pounds

Samuel Aguilar maj. dec. Jamarcus Grant (OSU) 9-0, was pinned by Tanner Hall (ASU) 2:16, was dec. by Jarrod Snyder (CSUB) 6-2 (fourth place)

Photos courtesy of Lawrence Slater