Pac-12 Championships
Program Record 3 Mustangs Capture Pac-12 Titles, 4 Punch Tickets to NCAAs
3/6/2026 10:30:00 PM | Wrestling
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Koda Holeman, Andre Gonzales, Ceasar Garza and Trevor Tinker all punched their tickets to NCAAs as Cal Poly hosted the Pac-12 Wrestling Championships for the third time ever and the first time in 21 years Friday night at the Mott Athletics Center.
Holeman, Garza and Trevor all captured first in their respective weight classes, helping the Mustangs establish a new program record (three) for Pac-12 individual champions in a season. For the second straight year, a total of five Cal Poly wrestlers made it to the championship match in their weight class — Holeman (125), Gonzales (149), Anthony Berg (165), Garza (184) and Tinker (285). As a team, Cal Poly placed third out of the four schools with 73 points while competing without arguably its best wrestler, 2025 All-American Zeth Romney, who suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the year.
In the first championship match of the night, Holeman brought nearly the entire crowd inside the raucous environment to its feet with an electric finish to claim the 125-pound Pac-12 championship. Facing off against Oregon State’s Maximo Renteria, Holeman found a way to put the eighth-ranked wrestler in the country on his back with 17 seconds left to earn a takedown and secure a 5-4 decision after trailing 3-2 entering the third period.
It was a performance to remember as Holeman, ranked 19th in the country, fired up the crowd and in the process became the third Mustang ever to win a Pac-12 title at 125 pounds and the first since Chad Mendes in 2006. After coming up short to Renteria in last year’s first-place match at Pac-12s, Holeman got his revenge to improve to 19-5 on the season. Holeman and Renteria have been squaring off for years as they were crosstown rivals in high school with Holeman attending Clovis High and Renteria attending Buchanan High. Holeman got the better end of the battle this time to claim his first individual tournament title as a collegian.
In the semifinals, Holeman locked up his second straight trip to the NCAA Championships by grabbing a 10-4 decision over Cal State Bakersfield’s Richard Castro-Sandoval, who he fell to in a true-second allocation match at last year’s Pac-12 Championships.
Garza, Cal Poly’s most dominant wrestler all season long, earned the second Pac-12 individual championship of the night for the Mustangs at 184 pounds. He defeated the defending Pac-12 champion at 184, Oregon State’s TJ McDonnell, for the third time this season, earning a gritty 2-1 decision by way of an escape and penalty point. The victory allowed Garza to earn an automatic berth to his first NCAA Championships and become the second Mustang ever and the first since Ryan Halsey in 2003 to win a Pac-12 title at 184.
Garza, ranked 23rd in the country, dismantled his opponent in the semifinals by a 17-1 technical fall and is now an impressive 18-2 on the season.
Tinker captured the final Pac-12 Championship for the Mustangs, using a second period escape to defeat Little Rock’s Michael Gasper — ranked 30th in the country — by a tight 1-0 decision at 285 pounds. He became the first two-time heavyweight champion in Cal Poly history, and he is the first Mustang to repeat as a Pac-12 champion in their weight class since Chase Pami in 2008-09 (157 pounds). It was Tinker’s first action since competing in the Midlands Championships on Dec. 29.
With the title, Tinker qualified for NCAAs for the fourth straight year, becoming the 10th four-time NCAA qualifier in Division I program history. The St. Louis, Missouri native won his semifinal match by a 17-2 technical fall, earning five takedowns.
Gonzales placed second at 149 pounds to secure his first trip to the NCAA Championships. He upset No. 24-ranked and second seeded Noah Tolentino from Oregon State by a 4-2 decision in the semifinals to book his ticket to the championship match at his weight. Gonzales, an Ohio State transfer in his final season of eligibility, went blow-for-blow with No. 18 ranked Brock Herman from Little Rock in the title bout, but ultimately fell short 12-10. He’ll carry a 16-11 record on the season into NCAAs.
Berg scored the biggest upset victory of the Pac-12 Championships to earn a spot in the 165-pound title match. Squaring off against 2025 All-American and No. 5 ranked Matty Bianchi from Little Rock in the semifinals, Berg was able to earn a takedown and 3-point near fall in the first period. He fended off Bianchi the rest of the way with that early lead to knock off the No. 1 seed in the weight class. In a winner to NCAAs match in the 165-pound championship, Berg came up short to No. 23-ranked Matthew Olguin from Oregon State by an 8-3 decision. Berg, a redshirt freshman, has an outside chance of earning an at-large bid to NCAAs when the full field is announced on Tuesday, and is 16-9 on the season.
Jagger French (157), Cash Stewart (174) and Cole Jackson (197) all placed third in their weight classes.
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, while the 10 33-man brackets will be released on Wednesday at 5 p.m. PDT live on NCAA.com.
Pac-12 Championships
Cal Poly Results
125
Semifinal: No. 19 Koda Holeman (CP) dec. Richard Castro-Sandoval (CSUB), 10-4.
First Place Match: No. 19 Koda Holeman (CP) dec. No. 8 Maximo Renteria (OSU), 5-4.
133
Semifinal: Gabe Whisenhunt (OSU) maj. Anthony Lucio (CP), 10-1.
Third Place Match: Robert Jones (CSUB) dec. Anthony Lucio (CP), 2-0.
141
Semifinal: No. 23 Nash Singleton (OSU) maj. Alek VanBebber (CP), 11-0.
Third Place Match: Santino Sanchez (CSUB) maj. Alek VanBebber (CP), 9-1.
149
Semifinal: Andre Gonzales (CP) dec. No. 24 Noah Tolentino (OSU), 4-2.
First Place Match: No. 18 Brock Herman (LR) dec. Andre Gonzales (CP), 12-10.
157
Semifinal: CJ Hamblin (OSU) sv. Jagger French (CP), 8-5.
Third Place Match: Jagger French (CP) fall Devyn Flores-Che, 1:04.
165
Semifinal: Anthony Berg (CP) dec. No. 5 Matty Bianchi (LR), 8-6.
First Place Match: No. 32 Matthew Olguin (OSU) dec. Anthony Berg (CP), 8-3.
174
Semifinal: Gunner Holland (LR) dec. Cash Stewart (CP), 7-2.
Third Place Match: Cash Stewart (CP) maj. Guillermo Escobedo (CSUB), 10-2.
184
Semifinal: No. 23 Ceasar Garza (CP) tech fall Jeremy Manibog (CSUB), 17-1 (3:47).
First Place Match: No. 23 Ceasar Garza (CP) dec. TJ McDonnell (OSU), 2-1.
197
Semifinal: No. 4 Stephen Little (LR) tech fall Cole Jackson, 19-4 (4:39).
Third Place Match: Cole Jackson (CP) medical forfeit Chris Neal (CSUB).
Allocation Match: No. 5 Justin Rademacher (OSU) fall Cole Jackson (CP), 2:13.
285
Semifinal: No. 22 Trevor Tinker (CP) tech fall Khale McDonnell (OSU), 17-2 (5:40).
Third Place Match: No. 22 Trevor Tinker (CP) dec. No. 30 Michael Gasper (LR), 1-0.
