PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- Friday was the opening day of the Cascade Collegiate Conference men's wrestling tournament and the Lions have plenty of potential set up for day two. 10 VU wrestlers are alive in the field and three are still in the running for first after all of the action today.
What Happened?
125-Pound: Matthew Terrence (FR/Fresno, CA) grabbed two wins to open his run on Friday. He won 10-2 over David Campbell of Warner Pacific and then edged out Luciano Fasulo 7-3. He will take on Brayden Boyd of Corban tomorrow, with a place in the championship bout on the line.
Dominic De'Altonaga (SO/Poway, CA) fell narrowly to James Maheras of Arizona Christian 6-5 in his first match of the tournament. That put him in a matchup with Fasulo and De'Altonaga would, unfortunately, come up short in a 5-1 decision loss to end his tournament.
133-Pound: Julian Leon (FR/Fontana, CA) got a win in his first contest by beating Luis Saucedo of Simpson 10-1, but then got pinned by Gulomjon Abdullaev of Menlo. He will take on Christopher Guizer of Simpson tomorrow, as he tries to take bronze in the bracket.
141-Pound: Steven Kroesen (JR/Laguna Hills, CA) had a bye to start his venture in the 141-pound bracket and he then pulled off a 4-1 decision win over Anthony Perez Guerrero of Southern Oregon. That pits him against Carson Coy of Embry-Riddle tomorrow, with two wins standing between Krosen and first place.
149-Pound: Ricardo Valdez (FR/Barstow, CA) lost to Martin Wilkie of Montana State-Northern in his first match of the day 15-0 and then took on Tomas Jacobo of Simpson in the consolation side. Valdez pinned the Red Hawk to put him up against Michael Murphy of Corban tomorrow Bryant Avila (FR/Rialto, CA) lost to Jonah Chew of ERAU 6-1 but responded with a 12-2 major decision victory over Gavyn Fredrickson of ACU. That means he will see Chad Muenzer of Eastern Oregon on Saturday in his next matchup.
157-Pound: Ruben Rodriguez (FR/Chula Vista, CA) lost to Menlo's Abraham Del Torro 13-3 and will face Vincent Cramer of Eastern Oregon tomorrow.
174-Pound: Gerardo Hernandez (SR/Mission Viejo, CA) did exactly what he needed to do in the 174-pound bracket. He beat Menlo's Maximus Zamora 6-1 and will battle Rylin Burns of MSUN tomorrow for a spot in the first-place matchup.
184-Pound: Baron Gaunt (SO/Torrance, CA) beat German Munoz of Corban 5-1 but then was pinned by Kyle Knudtson of Eastern Oregon. Moving to the consolation side, Gaunt faced Trinidad Diaz of Simpson and garnered an 11-3 major decision win to move forward to Saturday and a date with MSUN's Austin Vanek.
197-Pound: Isaiah Hernandez (SO/Selma, CA), unfortunately, went 0-for-2 on the day, losing to Carl Hansen 17-7 of MSUN and then CUO's Tyson Stover 6-3. Jacob Potts (FR/Costa Mesa, CA) dropped his first dual of the day, as he lost 4-1 to Jay Smith of EOU. But he then bounced back to pin Tyler Moore of Corban and then doubled up Caleb Werner of Providence 12-6. That means Potts will take on Simpson's Victor Moore tomorrow.
Heavyweight: Mike Ruiz (SO/Orange, CA) had a bye before he found out he would take on KC Buday of UOPM. Buday would pin the Lion, who had to face ACU's Zion Longsine in the consolation side of the bracket. It was tight the entire way but Ruiz got a third-period pin to move on with a 3-1 decision win. He will now take Ethan DeRoche of Providence tomorrow as he continues his fight for third.
