SURPRISE, Ariz.  -- Vanguard men's wrestling sent eight wrestlers to the National Wrestling Coaches Association West Coast Qualifier and seven of the men made the cut for the National Tournament.  Hector Hernandez, Robert Villegas, Fernando Barreto Jr., Mason Hernandez, Keagen Kroeger, Isaiah Hernandez, and Roman Torres all have a ticket to the national event, which begins on March 14 in Bossier City, Louisiana. 
 
What Happened?  At 125 pounds, the Lions had Hector Hernandez, who delivered a great run to place third.  He started by beating Bekzat Nurmakhanov of Colorado State University Mesa, as the Lion grabbed 13 points before making a pin to advance.  He then outlasted Colin Lou of San Jose State in regulation, with the encounter starting with Lou making the first takedown.  Hernandez fired back with a reversal and tallied the only takedown in the middle frame to lead 5-3 after two periods.  Lou countered with four points to start the third but Hernandez made an escape and got a takedown to vault back to a 9-7 edge, with a bonus point for riding time giving him a 10-7 victory.  However, Hernandez was blunted by Julian Sanchez of Menlo, who won via pin in the first period, but Hernandez bounced back in the consolation bracket.  He stormed through Carlos Burton of Arizona with a pin in the first period and in the tussle for bronze, Hernandez was in perfect form, as he rattled off 16 points to beat Joseph Jimenez 16-0 to claim a spot in the national tournament.
 
At 133 pounds, Villegas trounced Zachary Esses of CSUM 15-0 and pinned Quincy Joo of UCLA in the first period to get his day going with two wins from two matches.  Unfortunately, another Oak countered a Lion, as Jeremiah Steele beat Villegas 14-1 to stop him shy of the championship fight.  But the VU wrestler bounced backed smartly with a pin of Esses again in the consolation bracket and followed that up with 13-0 drubbing of Dawson Auger of Utah Tech to take third and book himself passage to the national tournament.
 
Barreto Jr. was in fine form on the day as he pinned CSUM's Elijah Padilla and Fresno State's Benito Saldivar to reach the title bout.  Menlo's Ivan Acosta offered a bit of resistance, as he scored seven points, but the Oak never made a takedown as Barreto Jr. cruised to 21-7 victory for the gold and the automatic qualifier guarantee.
 
Caidence Turner faced CSUM's Kade Haselam to start the 157-pound bracket but Haselman picked up a 16-9 win.  Turner responded with a pin of Ethan Staib to keep his tournament alive but unfortunately, Sean Matthew Garcia of Grand Canyon would knock Turner out of the tournament.  Turner was ahead 4-1 after the second period but Garcia threw up a 6-1 stretch in the final frame to jump ahead 7-5.  Turner made an escape with seven seconds left to give himself a shot, but time ran out on the Lion.
 
At 165 pounds, Mason Hernandez opened with a blistering 16-0 technical fall victory over GCU's Tyler Scott and his next opponent was Jonathan Thomas Nishikawa of Menlo.  Though Hernandez got the opening takedown, the Oak made an escape and then a pin to put Hernandez at one loss.  But Hernandez powered through his next opponents, as he pinned Ayden Archuleta of Sacramento State, pinned Holden Kelly of GCU and controlled James Dunham of UNLV for a 5-1 decision victory. In the third-place bout, Hernandez beat Dylan Galant of Utah Tech convincingly 15-0 to take the bronze and also ensure his trip to Lousiana.

At 184 pounds, Kroeger took on Ryan Nardozzi of OUAZ but the Lion could not find any openings and Nardozzi went on to win 4-0.  Kroeger got himself in the win column by making a first-period pin of Torin Lipska of Menlo and he faced Anthony Kearney of GCU in his next contest.  Kearney made the first takedown but Kroeger avenged that with four unanswered points in the second period.  But despite the blitz, Kearney came back with five points in the third period to break Kroeger's run with an 8-5 decision victory.  However, he had gone far enough that he earned a place in the national tournament despite leaving earlier than he would have liked.
 
Isaiah Hernandez started his 197-pound tournament with a matchup with Menlo's Mathew Porras Diamond and though Hernandez made a takedown to open the meeting, Diamond made an escape and snuck in for a pin to give Hernandez an early setback.  But the Lion did not stutter and made a pin of Utah Tech's DeShawn Cobbs to reach the tussle for third and there he ended up in a rematch with Diamond.  This time, Hernandez knew what to expect and he once more made the first takedown.  Hernandez held his lead through the middle period and was ahead 3-2 with under a minute to go, but in the last second, Diamond made a takedown to steal third from Hernandez.  But the result did allow Hernandez to make the national tournament.
 
Torres was the heavyweight representative for the Blue and Gold and he squared off with Andrew Mannion of Menlo.  Torres got a penalty point and an escape to tie things at 2-2 in the second frame, but Mannion made a pin with 14 seconds left in the third to swipe the bout from Torres.  Torres returned with a better aura against CSUM's Nichola Silva, as the Lion made a first-period pin to advance.  He then took on Cole Steketee of MC but the Oak would prevail wit a 10-1 win.  Torres attempted to take fourth place against Ruben Zarate of Utah Tech but Torres could not find a point and Zarate made a third-period pin to win 4-0.  But fifth still qualified Torres for the championships that start in 12 days.