Wick, Truax Lead Cal Poly into 2022 NCAA Championships at Detroit

Thursday, March 17

Detroit, MI

9 a.m.

NCAA Division I National Championship

Cal Poly's returning All-Americans -- Bernie Truax and Evan Wick.

Returning All-Americans Bernie Truax (left) and Evan Wick (right) lead Cal Poly into 2022 NCAA National Wrestling Championships, which begin Thursday in Detroit.

Wick, Truax Lead Cal Poly into 2022 NCAA Championships at Detroit

3/16/2022 9:29:00 AM | Wrestling

WEEKLY NOTES | BRACKETS | LIVE STATS | VIDEO STREAM
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: EVAN WICK | BERNIE TRUAX | LEGEND LAMER | ADAM KEMP | ANTONIO LORENZO
JON SIOREDAS INTERVIEW WITH ESPN | MUSTANG NEWS FEATURE ON THE WICK BROTHERS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly will send five wrestlers to the 2022 NCAA Division I National Championships this week, the most Mustang national qualifiers in 12 years and a strong sign that the mat program is alive and well under the direction of sixth-year head coach Jon Sioredas.

From 2013 through 2021, Cal Poly never had more than two national qualifiers. In fact, in 2016, for the first time in 51 years, there were none.

Sioredas was hired prior to the beginning of the 2016-17 season and the progress has been slow but steady, capped this year by a winning record in dual meets (4-3) for the first time since the 2010-11 season, back-to-back Pac-12 champions -- Bernie Truax in 2021 and Evan Wick in 2022 -- for the first time since 2012 (Dominic Kastl) and 2013 (Devon Lotito), and the largest group of national qualifiers since Chase Pami placed second and Boris Novachkov was seventh in 2010.

The Mustangs, who finished 25th in the NCAAs a year ago, their highest finish in nine years-- Cal Poly finished tied for 25th place in the 2012 nationals, also held in St. Louis -- made a return to the Top 25 in this year's preseason rankings -- No. 17 by WIN Magazine and No. 20 by InterMat -- and were ranked as high as No. 10 by InterMat, the first time in 39 years that Cal Poly reached the Top 10.

All of this year's accomplishments were made with just one senior and four juniors, one a redshirt this year, on the roster. Everyone else is a freshman or sophomore.

"It was especially important for our guys to continue to grow this season amidst the ongoing pandemic," said Sioredas. "Their attitude and effort never wavered and we are seeing that in our results. Every major tournament we entered, we had numerous upsets that has allowed our young team to continue to shoot up in the standings.

"Entering the tournament as the No. 11 team in the country has created a ton of momentum, but our goal hasn't changed -- continuous improvement and wrestling to our potential," Sioredas added.

Cal Poly's highest team Division I ranking ever was No. 3 on March 3, 1971.

Little Caesars Arena in Detroit is the site of this year's nationals, with competition beginning Thursday morning.

Heading the list of national qualifiers this year is Evan Wick, the transfer from Wisconsin who is seeded No. 1 at 165 pounds with an 18-0 record and three falls. Wick is 128-21 in his collegiate career and a four-time national qualifier and three-time NCAA All-American.

Wick placed third in the nationals as a freshman at 165 pounds in 2018 and fourth as a sophomore in 2019. He also qualified for the nationals in 2020 as a junior and was named an All-American by the National Wrestling Coaches Association after the NCAA finals were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the opening round, Wick will take on the winner of a pigtail-round match between Matthew Olguin (12-10) of Oregon State and David Ferrante (11-11) of Northwestern. Wick pinned Olguin in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championships two weeks ago.

"The addition of Evan continues to have an immense ripple effect on our program at large," said Sioredas. "Not just his impressive results, undefeated and seeded No. 1, but his work ethic and humble approach to our sport is contagious. He exemplifies our core values and has fit in with our team culture perfectly."

Another returning Mustang All-American is Bernie Truax, who placed fourth at 174 pounds in the NCAA finals a year ago, Cal Poly's first wrestling All-American on the mat since 2012. He claimed a Pac-12 crown at 174 pounds in 2021 and was second at 184 this year.

Truax beat Trey Munoz of Oregon State twice in the regular season but was pinned by Munoz in the final round of the conference tournament March 6. Truax followed with a pin against Jacob Hansen of CSU Bakersfield in a true-second match to earn his second trip to the nationals.

Seeded No. 5 at 184 pounds, Truax is 15-2 for the year with four falls and 60-23 in his Cal Poly career. He will face Gregg Harvey (10-9) of Pittsburgh in the opening round Thursday. A redshirt senior, Harvey is a three-time national qualifier with a 59-49 career mark for the Panthers.

"Last year at the championships, Bernie lit up the arena with his impressive run the the semifinals," said Sioredas. "Now a returning All-American and an impressive season of work, he has proven that he is a title contender. His has a perfect mix of skill and tenacity and is a true student of the sport. His growth in both wrestling and character development from just a year ago has been remarkable."

Like Truax, Legend Lamer will be making his second trip to the nationals as well. Lamer was seeded ninth a year ago and won three of five matches. This year he earned a No. 15 seed and is 15-5 with two falls after finishing second in the Pac-12 finals.

Lamer will take a 40-13 career mark into the nationals and meets Anthony Artalona (14-5) of Penn in the opening round. A junior, Artalona qualified for the nationals in 2019 after claiming an EIWA title, finished second in the conference finals March 6 and has compiled a 56-18 career mark at Penn.

Adam Kemp is seeded 16th at 174 pounds and will take a 14-4 mark into his first trip to the nationals. The transfer from Fresno State owns a 39-27 overall mark and takes on Nick Incontrera of Penn in the first round. Incontrera is a second-year freshman who is in his first season of wrestling at Penn after the 2020-21 season was shut down by the Ivy League.

Kemp placed second at 174 in the Pac-12 finals and also won a true-second match in a 2-1 overtime decision over Triston Wills of Little Rock to secure his automatic qualifying spot in the nationals.

Antonio Lorenzo earned an at-large wild card spot at 125 pounds and will make his debut at the nationals this week. Lorenzo is 20-9 for the year and 41-19 in his Mustang career after his fifth-place finish in the Pac-12 Championships.

Seeded 31st, Lorenzo meets second-seeded Vito Arujau (14-1) of Cornell in Thursday's opening round. A four-time New York state high school champion, Arujau did not wrestle during the 2020-21 season at Cornell due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was a redshirt for the 2019-20 season and compiled a 31-4 mark en route to a fourth-place finish and All-American honors at the 2019 nationals as a freshman.

"Our three additional national qualifiers, Adam, Legend, and Tony, each have an incredible opportunity in front of them and the aptitude to go deep in the championships," said Sioredas. "These young men each have wins over several nationally ranked opponents throughout the season and the desire to achieve extraordinary success."

First day of competition at the nationals includes the pigtail and first two rounds of the championship bracket along with the pigtail and first round of wrestlebacks. Quarterfinals and two more rounds of wrestlebacks are scheduled for Friday morning, followed by the semifinals and an additional two rounds of wrestlebacks in the evening.Wrestleback semifinals and the matches for third, fifth and seventh place will be contested Saturday morning, with the championship finals Saturday night.ESPNU (morning and early afternoon sessions) and ESPN (late afternoon and evening sessions) will provide coverage of all matches in the first five sessions with the championship finals on ESPN on Saturday at 4 p.m. PDT. Every match on every mat will also be streamed on ESPN3 and the ESPN?app.

Commentators are Mike Couizens, Daniel Cormier, Jim Gibbons and Quint Kessenich (ESPN Primetime), Shawn Kenney, J'Den Cox and Rock Harrison (daytime on ESPNU) and Shane Sparks and Anthony Robles (streams).

"We cannot wait to be alongside our crew this weekend as we compete on the biggest stage," said Sioredas. "These are the moments we dream about."

Cal Poly has produced two NCAA Division I national champions -- Tom Kline in 1969 and Mark DiGiorolamo in 1976. A total of 45 other Mustangs also have earned All-American honors with seven second-place finishers, eight thirds, 11 fourths, four fifths, four sixths, five sevenths and five eighths.

Cal Poly has finished in the top 10 in the team standings, topped by a sixth-place finish in 1976. The first Mustang to qualify for the Division I nationals was Jim Dowe at 155 pounds in 1949 at Colorado State and the first Mustang Division I All-American was Mike Remer, who placed fourth at 115 pounds in 1966.