Truax Pac-12 Champion, Lamer Second, Cal Poly Places Fourth

Sunday, February 28

Corvallis, OR

11:30 a.m.

Pac-12 Championships

Bernie Truax wrestles Triston Wills of Little Rock in semifinals, then signals his final placing in Pac-12 Finals on Sunday.

Truax Pac-12 Champion, Lamer Second, Cal Poly Places Fourth

2/28/2021 8:40:00 PM | Wrestling

CORVALLIS, Oregon -- Bernie Truax has qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championships for the second straight year.

The redshirt sophomore earned an 11-2 major decision over Trey Munoz of Arizona State for the 174-pound title at the 2021 Pac-12 Wrestling Championships inside Oregon State's Gill Coliseum on Sunday night.

In becoming the first Mustang Pac-12 champion in three years, Truax will compete in the nationals, slated for March 18-20 in St. Louis. Truax also qualified for the 2020 nationals in Minneapolis, but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Bernie Truax continues to impress with an outstanding performance," said fifth-year Mustang head coach Jon Sioredas. "He continues to improve each week and we cannot wait for NCAAs."

Truax, now 9-1 in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, and Munoz battled through a scoreless first period.

The second period began with Munoz taking the bottom position and he earned a reversal for a 2-0 lead. Truax, however, escaped, then secured a takedown and four-point near fall for a 7-2 advantage heading into the final period. Truax earned an escape, takedown and riding time for the nine-point victory.

In a dual meet two weeks ago, Truax earned a 4-2 sudden victory decision over Munoz. Both are sophomores this season.

Earlier in the day, Truax received a first-round bye and needed just 59 seconds to pin Triston Wills of Little Rock in the semifnals.

Cal Poly's other finalist was 149-pounder Legend Lamer. The redshirt freshman suffered a 10-5 loss to Jaden Abas of Stanford. Lamer managed five escapes while Abas secured four takedowns, one escape and the riding time point for the win.

Now 10-1 for the year, Lamer was a 4-3 winner over Abas in a dual meet last month. Both are redshirt freshmen.

Lamer won his true-second match against Cory Crooks of Arizona State, a 4-2 decision, to secure a pre-allocated spot to the nationals.

"Legend Lamer showed toughness and grit, while dealing with a true-second match against a nationally ranked opponent, after the tournament to secure his spot to NCAAs," said Sioredas.

Like Truax, Lamer drew a first-round bye before recording an 11-2 major decision against Lane Stigall of Oregon State in the semifinals.

Truax and Lamer were two of three Mustangs in the national polls this week. In the NCAA Division I Coaches Poll, Lamer was ranked No. 10 at 149 pounds, Truax No. 16 at 174 pounds and Lawrence Saenz No. 28 at 141 pounds.

Seven of the eight Mustangs who were alive in the wrestleback semifinals earned victories to move into the finals for third and fourth place. Only one, however, managed to secure third place -- heavyweight Samuel Aguilar.

After scoring a takedown midway through the first period, Aguilar pinned Jacob Sieder of CSU Bakersfield in 1 minute, 42 seconds. Aguilar was 3-1 on the day to finish the year with a 7-2 record.

Antonio Lorenzo (125), Lawrence Saenz (141), Brawley Lamer (157), Adam Kemp (165), Dylan Miracle (184) and Trevor Tinker (197) all settled for fourth place in the day-long tournament. Kemp lost a 2-1 overtime decision to Oregon State's Matt Olguin while Lorenzo fell 3-1 to Brandon Kaylor, also of Oregon State.

"We wrestled tough today. There were many highs and some lows, but our young men fought hard and left it all out on the mat. We couldn't be more proud," said Sioredas. "We are proud with how our entire crew has dealt with the adversity of this entire season, but we have some unfinished business in St. Louis."

As a team, Cal Poly finished fourth, its highest finish in 11 years, scoring 107 points. Arizona State claimed the title for the second year in a row and its fourth in the last five years, scoring 136 points. Oregon State finished second with 123 points while Stanford (115.5) was third.

Results for Cal Poly wrestlers:
125 -- Antonio Lorenzo pinned Khyler Brewer (Little Rock) 2:05, was dec. by Brandon Courtney (Arizona State) 9-3, dec. Eddie Flores (CSU Bakersfield) 8-2, was dec. by Brandon Kaylor (Oregon State) 3-1 (fourth place).
133 -- Benny Martinez was maj. dec. by Jason Miranda (Stanford) 9-0, bye, was tech. fall by Michael McGee (Arizona State) 17-1 (5:41), lost by medical default to Jason Miranda (Stanford) (sixth place).
141 -- Lawrence Saenz bye, was dec. by Real Woods (Stanford) 3-2, maj. dec. Connor Ward (Little Rock) 8-0, was pinned by Angelo Martinoni (CSU Bakersfield) 0:24 (fourth place).
149 -- Legend Lamer bye, maj. dec. Lane Stigall (Oregon State) 11-2, was dec. by Jaden Abas (Stanford) 10-5 (second place).
157 -- Brawley Lamer maj. dec. Brock Rogers (CSU Bakersfield) 16-3, was maj. dec. by Hunter Willits (Oregon State) 14-2, maj. dec. Joey Bianchi (Little Rock) 10-2, was maj. dec. byRequir Van der Merwe (Stanford) 10-1 (fourth place).
165 -- Adam Kemp dec. Alex Hernandez (Little Rock) 6-0, was dec. by Shane Griffith (Stanford) 8-3, maj. dec. Hunter LaRue (CSU Bakersfield) 9-1, was dec. by Matt Olguin (Oregon State) 2-1 TB-1 (fourth place).
174 -- Bernie Truax bye, pinned Triston Wills (Little Rock) 0:59, maj. dec. Trey Munoz (Arizona State) 11-2 (first place).
184 -- Dylan Miracle was pinned by Dom Ducharme (CSU Bakersfield) 2:19, bye, maj. dec. Jared Hill (Stanford) 10-5, was pinned by Cade Belshay (Arizona State) 2:31 (fourth place).
197 -- Trevor Tinker was maj. dec. by Nick Stemmet (Stanford) 12-4, bye, dec. Josh Loomer (CSU Bakersfield) 9-4, was dec. by Nick Stemmet (Stanford) 10-4 (fourth place).
285 -- Samuel Aguilar maj. dec. Brian Barnes (Oregon State) 8-0, was pinned by Nathan Traxler (Stanford) 1:02, dec. Gabe Beyer (Little Rock) 4-3, pinned Jacob Sieder (CSU Bakersfield) 1:42 (third place).