Pac-12 Championships
Cal Poly Wrestling Hosts Pac-12 Championships Friday
3/5/2026 6:00:00 PM | Wrestling
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the first time in 21 years, the Cal Poly wrestling team will host the Pac-12 Championships when they welcome conference foes Oregon State, Little Rock and Cal State Bakersfield to Mott Athletics Center on Friday.
Individual bids to the NCAA Championships along with conference supremacy will be up for grabs in the four-team tournament. Action on the mat starts at 12:30 p.m. Friday with prelims. Championship matches for each of the 10 weight classes are scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Tickets to the historic tournament featuring some of the best wrestlers in the country can be purchased HERE and pricing info is available at the bottom of this story. The first 500 students who show up to attend the Pac-12 Championships will receive free admission.
If you can’t make it in-person, you can watch the entirety of the Pac-12 Championships live on FloWrestling and live stats are available HERE. Information regarding tournament seeding, brackets and a schedule of matches can be found within this story and on the Cal Poly wrestling schedule on GoPoly.com.
Each of the 10 weight classes in the Pac-12 Championships will feature a four-man bracket. Prelims will see the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds, and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in each weight class face off in the semifinals with the winners of those bouts advancing to the first-place matches at 6 p.m. The losers of the semifinal matches will square off in third-place matches immediately following the conclusion of the semis and prior to the start of the championship finals.
The first-place finishers at Pac-12s in each of the 10 weight classes will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. The second-place finishers at 125, 149 and 197 will also earn an automatic berth to nationals.
At 184 pounds, Ceasar Garza is the lone Mustang seeded No. 1 in their weight class heading into the Pac-12 Championships. Garza, ranked No. 23 in the latest NCAA Coaches rankings, carries an impressive 16-2 record into the conference tournament, defeating the defending Pac-12 champion at his weight class — Oregon State’s TJ McDonnell — twice during the regular season to earn the top seed. The Oakdale, Calif. native was unbeaten this season in duals (8-0) and is set to make his Pac-12 Championship debut after spending the previous three seasons at Michigan State.
Koda Holeman (125), Jagger French (157) and Trevor Tinker (285) are all seeded No. 2 in their respective weight classes entering the Pac-12 Championships. Holeman is currently ranked 19th in the nation and is 17-5 on the season, boasting the most wins on the team. Last year in his first appearance at the conference championships, Holeman fell to Oregon State’s Maximo Renteria in the 125-pound first-place match at Pac-12s before dropping a true-second allocation match to CSUB’s Richard Castro-Sandoval. Ultimately, Holeman secured an at-large berth to NCAAs.
Tinker, making his fourth straight appearance at Pac-12s, will be looking to defend his conference title at heavyweight. Last year, the three-time NCAA qualifier became the second wrestler in program history to win a Pac-12 title at heavyweight and the first since Seth Woodhill in 1993. The St. Louis, Missouri native is 9-4 this season and has not wrestled since placing sixth at the Midlands Championships on Dec. 30, 2025. Despite that, he is still ranked No. 22 in the country.
French, a redshirt freshman, will be making his Pac-12s debut. Anthony Lucio (No. 4 seed at 133), Alek VanBebber (No. 4 seed at 141), Andre Gonzales (No. 3 seed at 149) and Anthony Berg (No. 4 seed at 165) will all be making their first appearance at Pac-12s as well. Gonzales, a transfer from Ohio State, is 15-10 this season at 149, and Berg — a redshirt freshman who moved up to 165 from 157 near the end of the season — has impressed in his second year as a Mustang with a 15-8 mark.
Cash Stewart, seeded third at 174 pounds, and Cole Jackson, seeded third at 197, are set to wrestle in their second straight Pac-12 Championships. Stewart took third at 174 a year ago and Jackson placed fourth in a loaded weight class, that features two top-five nationally ranked wrestlers this year in No. 4 Justin Rademacher and No. 5 Stephen Little.
An affiliate member of the Pac-12 in wrestling since the 1986-87 season, this is the third time in program history Cal Poly has hosted the Pac-12 Championships, and the first time since 2005 (also previously hosting in 1994). Cal Poly placed second at last year’s conference championships hosted by Oregon State, tied for the highest finish in program history.
Entering the Pac-12 Championships, Little Rock, the defending conference champions, are ranked No. 16 in the FloWrestling Team Tournament rankings while Oregon State checks in at No. 26. The Beavers currently have six nationally-ranked wrestlers, while the Trojans have five.
The 2026 NCAA Championships are set to take place on March 19-21 at the Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. At-large qualifiers and the full field for the NCAA Championships will be announced on Tuesday, March 10, while the 10 33-man brackets will be released on Wednesday, March 11, at 5 p.m. PDT on NCAA.com.
Championship Schedule
The Pac-12 Wrestling Championships kick off with preliminary matches at 12:30 p.m. featuring the 125 pound weight class, ultimately building up to the 285 pound bouts at 3:30 p.m. Finals matches are set to begin at 6 p.m., with all individual winners and the Wrestler of the Meet recognized following the final championship match.
Ticket Information
All-day passes for the event can be purchased here with the following packages available to the public:
- General Admission Adult: $25 (including fees)
- Chairback: $35 (including fees)
- Groups of 10+: $15 (including fees)
- Matside: $100 (including fees)
Fans may contact the Cal Poly box office at 805-756-4849 or via email tickets@calpoly.edu for more information.
Pac-12 Championship Seeds
125-pound seeds, 2 Pre-Allocated Spots (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Maximo Renteria, Oregon State (No. 8/8)
- Koda Holeman, Cal Poly (No. 19/20)
- Richard Castro-Sandoval, Cal State Bakersfield
- Tyson Roach, Little Rock
133-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Gabe Whisenhunt, Oregon State
- RJ Jones, Cal State Bakersfield
- Dillon Cooper, Little Rock
- Anthony Lucio, Cal Poly
141-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Nash Singleton, Oregon State (No. 25/23)
- Brennan Van Hoecke, Little Rock
- Santino Sanchez, Cal State Bakersfield
- Alek VanBebber, Cal Poly
149-pound seeds, 2 Pre-Allocated Spots (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Brock Herman, Little Rock (No. 19/18)
- Noah Tolentino, Oregon State (No. 28/24)
- Andre Gonzales, Cal Poly
- Hayden Zinkin, Cal State Bakersfield
157-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Jaivon Jones, Little Rock (No. 28/30)
- Jagger French, Cal Poly
- CJ Hamblin, Oregon State
- Devyn Flores-Che, Cal State Bakersfield
165-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Matty Bianchi, Little Rock (No. 5/5)
- Matthew Olguin, Oregon State (No. 32/23)
- Coen Quintana, Cal State Bakersfield
- Anthony Berg, Cal Poly
174-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Daschle Lamer, Oregon State (No. 28/29)
- Gunner Holland, Little Rock
- Cash Stewart, Cal Poly
- Guillermo Escobedo, Cal State Bakersfield
184-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Ceasar Garza, Cal Poly (No. 23/27)
- TJ McDonnell, Oregon State
- Kodiak Cannedy, Little Rock
- Jeremy Manibog, Cal State Bakersfield
197-pound seeds, 2 Pre-Allocated Spots (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Justin Rademacher, Oregon State (No. 4/9)
- Stephen Little, Little Rock (No. 5/4)
- Cole Jackson, Cal Poly
- Chris Neal, Cal State Bakersfield
285-pound seeds, 1 Pre-Allocated Spot (NCAA Coaches/FloWrestling Rankings)
- Michael Gasper, Little Rock (No. 31/30)
- Trevor Tinker, Cal Poly (NR/22)
- Khale McDonnell, Oregon State
- Mason Cover, Cal State Bakersfield
