March 2, 2009
Fullerton, Calif. - The Stanford wrestling team wrapped up the 2009 Pac-10 Championships at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif. today, coming in seventh as a team with eight individual placewinners. Four Cardinal wrestlers secured top-three finishes and senior 197-pounder Luke Feist become the ninth four-time Pac-10 placer in school history.
Stanford's four top-three finishes were the most since 1986, when Jeff Bradley, Pete Rogers, Dave Lee and Kurt Kassulke all came in third place or above.
Redshirt freshman Nick Amuchastegui was the highest finisher for the Cardinal, taking second place at 165 pounds. Amuchastegui was the first Cardinal freshman to advance to a Pac-10 title match since Zack Giesen did so as a rookie in 2007.
Three Cardinal wrestlers - Feist, Lucas Espericueta and Jake Johnson - took third place in their respective weight classes. Feist, a 197-pounder who wrestled at 174 pounds his first three seasons, took third for the second straight year and registered his fourth career top-five finish. The third-place finish was a career high for Johnson (184 pounds) and Espericueta (157 pounds).
Junior Tyler Parker and sophomore Cameron Teitelman each took sixth place in their respective weight classes, while sophomore Porfirio Madrigal took seventh and freshman Matt Sencenbaugh took eighth.
In the second day of action, Sencenbaugh wrestled in the 125-pound seventh-place match, where he was defeated by Andre Gonzalez of Cal State Fullerton. Sencenbaugh finishes his rookie season eighth in the Pac-10 with an 11-25 record.
Madrigal also wrestled for seventh place in the afternoon session, and bested Arizona State's David Prado, 7-2. Madrigal earned his second consecutive seventh-place finish and completed his second year of collegiate wrestling with a 16-11 record.
Teitelman started off the day in the 141-pound consolation semifinals, where he was defeated by Cal State Fullerton's Adin Duenas, 8-4. Teitelman then took on Nexi Delgado of UC Davis in the fifth-place match, and lost a close decision, 6-4. Teitelman took sixth, placing at the Pac-10 Championships for the first time in his Stanford career, and concluded his redshirt sophomore season with a 15-19 record.
Parker was forced to withdraw from the tournament after suffering an injury in his Sunday night semifinal. Parker defaulted down to sixth place, the highest Pac-10 finish of his career, and wrapped up his injury-plagued junior season with a 4-3 record.
At 157 pounds, Espericueta (28-15) bested Arizona State's Te Edwards, 8-2, in the consolation semifinals, earning a spot in a third-place match for the second consecutive year. Espericueta then met Oregon State's Jon Brascetta, who he beat 5-0 to secure a career-high finish - third place. With Adam Hall's loss in the 157-pound title match, Espericueta's NCAA fate was put back in his hands, as the Cardinal sophomore was given a chance to wrestle for true second and a repeat trip to the NCAA Championships. Espericueta couldn't come up with an upset of the nation's sixth-ranked 157-pounder, however, and dropped a 4-1 decision in the true second place match.
At 165 pounds, Amuchastegui (28-6) wrestled Boise State's 18th-ranked Tyler Sherfey for the Pac-10 Championship, but was defeated in his first championship appearance, 4-1.
Johnson (31-15) advanced to the third-place match at 184 pounds by beating Oregon State's Brice Arand, 4-0, in the consolation semifinals. The win was the 30th of the season for Johnson, who becomes the first Cardinal wrestler to reach the milestone this year. Last season, only All-Americans Tanner Gardner and Josh Zupancic posted 30 or more wins.
Johnson moved on to the third-place match, where he defeated Jon Clark of UC Davis, 4-1. The third-place finish was the best of the junior's career.
Feist (22-12) advanced to the third-place match with a default win over Cal State Fullerton's John Drake. With the forfeit, Feist tallied his 80th career victory and became the ninth Stanford wrestler all-time to finish his career with 80 or more wins.
In the third-place match, Feist got a chance to avenge his opening round loss to UC Davis' Abe Otrambo and the fifth-year senior pulled through. Feist picked up a 6-1 decision over the Aggie wrestler and earned himself a chance to wrestle Brandon Halsey of Cal State Bakersfield for true second and a third straight trip to the NCAA Championships.
Feist fell short of an upset of the nation's seventh-ranked 197-pounder, however, and dropped a 12-6 decision.
The Cardinal now awaits the March 11 announcement of the 52 at-large NCAA qualifiers that will selected by the NCAA. The at-large selections will be made based on the following criteria: head-to-head competition; qualifying event placement; quality wins; results against common opponents; winning percentage; RPI; coaches ranking and the number of matches contested at that weight class.
Stanford Results
Pac-10 Championships
Fullerton, CA
March 1-2, 2009
125 pounds
Matt Sencenbaugh (1-3, 8th place): maj. dec. Kevin Martinez (Portland State), 12-3; lost by fall to No. 17 Brandon Zoeteway (CS Bakersfield), 5:45; lost to Brian Owen (Boise State), 5-3; lost to Andre Gonzalez (Cal State Fullerton), 7-3.
133 pounds
Porfirio Madrigal (1-2, 7th place): lost to No. 13 TJ Dillashaw (CS Fullerton), 4-2; lost to Thomas Kimbrell (CS Bakersfield), 5-3; dec. David Prado (Arizona State), 7-2.
141 pounds
Cameron Teitelman (2-3, 6th place): dec. David Christian (Cal Poly), 8-7; lost maj. dec. to Elijah Nacita (CS Bakersfield), 10-0; pinned Garrett Drucker (Oregon State), 5:53; lost to Adin Duenas (CS Fullerton), 8-4; lost to Nexi Delgado (UC Davis), 6-4.
149 pounds
Tyler Parker (1-1, 6th place): dec. Henry Kofa (Portland State), 4-0; lost to No. 16 Heinrich Barnes (Oregon State), 7-2; withdrew by medical forfeit.
157 pounds
Lucas Espericueta (3-2): dec. Joey Wilson (UC Davis), 11-4; lost maj. dec. to No. 12 Chase Pami (Cal Poly), 12-4; dec. Te Edwards (Arizona State), 8-2; dec. Jon Brascetta (Oregon State), 5-0; lost to No. 6 Adam Hall (Boise State), 4-1.
165 pounds
Nick Amuchastegui (2-1): dec. Bryan Cantrell (Portland State), 2-0; maj. dec. Kyle DeBerry (Arizona State), 12-4; lost to No. 18 Tyler Sherfey (Boise State), 4-1.
174 pounds
Victor Haug (0-2): lost maj. dec. to Todd Noel (CS Fullerton), 15-5; lost maj. dec. to No. 14 Kyle Bressler (Oregon State), 18-6.
184 pounds
Jake Johnson (3-1): dec. Jake Meredith (Arizona State), 6-3; lost to No. 4 Kirk Smith (Boise State), 2-1; dec. Brice Arand (Oregon State), 4-0; dec. Jon Clark (UC Davis), 4-1.
197 pounds
Luke Feist (3-2): lost to Abe Otrambo (UC Davis), 5-2; dec. Jake Cranford (Arizona State), 4-1; win by default over John Drake (CS Fullerton); dec. Abe Otrambo (UC Davis), 6-1; lost to No. 7 Brandon Halsey (Cal State Bakersfield), 12-6.