For co-head coach Mark Perry, describinf the Cal Poly wrestling team’s No. 6 finish in the Pac-10 Championships as anything other than disappointing would be an understatement. Coming off one of the best seasons in a decade, going 9-2 in dual meets, the Mustangs were unimpressive, sending only one wrestler to the Pac-10 finals.
But after a dismal performance, the Mustangs are sending four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia March 17 to March 19.
Cal Poly’s lone Pac-10 champion was junior 141-pounder Boris Novachkov, who allowed one point over three matches and took home the title for the second year in a row. The victory cemented his place in the national championships, giving Boris a No. 3 seed in the tournament.
“(Boris) put himself in this position by making his mind up last year after NCAA’s, and he committed himself in the spring and in the summer and that’s why he’s (a number three seed),” Perry said. “He’s done a hell of a job all year.”
Perry also said that Boris, who placed seventh last year, has a legitimate shot at being a national champion in 2011. The last time a Cal Poly wrestler took home the ultimate crown was in 1976, when Mark DiGirolamo won it all.
The only wrestler Boris has lost to this year is Kellen Russell of Michigan, who earned the top seed after an undefeated season. Being on opposite sides of the bracket, the two would only meet in the championship final, or if both lost in the early rounds and were forced to the losing side of the bracket.
Conspicuously left out of the field of 33 wrestlers in the 149-pound weight class was senior Filip Novachkov, who was denied a final chance to wrestle for a national title. Filip moved up two weight classes late in the season, from 133-pounds, but a No. 3 finish in the Pac-10 was not enough for him to go to Philadelphia.
Barrett Abel was the only other Mustang to earn an automatic bid, placing third, but Abel dwells on the fact that he was not able to pull off an upset against Intermat’s No. 4 Bubba Jenkins of Arizona State. He tied the match at two going into the final period, but Jenkins escaped early in the third period and hung on for the victory.
Abel said he lost some of his composure in the final two minutes, allowing Jenkins to win, but he is mostly pleased with his game plan for the match and would relish another shot at the Sun Devil.
In the first round, Abel will face Johnny Greisheimer of Edinboro who is 23-13 on the season.
Ryan DesRoches also earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships for a second straight year, despite suffering an upset loss to Trevor Hall of Cal State Bakersfield in the semifinals of the Pac-10 tournament.
“We didn’t come with the intensity to compete,” DesRoches said. “I didn’t wrestle to take it from them. We kind of wrestled hoping that everything would fall into place.”
Fortunately, he rebounded for a third place finish after a 5-4 victory over Lucas Espericueta. He will not be the wrestler on everyone’s radar in Philadelphia, but that has not dulled DesRoches’ confidence.
“Anybody can be beat,” DesRoches said. “It’s about whoever shows up that day and wants it more. I know I can beat anybody, I just have to do it.”
The 165-pound junior will have a chance to walk the talk as he will attempt to pull the upset of the day in his first round match against the No. 2 seeded Andrew Howe of Wisconsin.
For 197-pounder Ryan Smith, it looked like déjà vu. He lost his final match, a true fourth match, in the Pac-10 tournament for the second year in a row, leaving his fate up to the NCAA selection committee. In 2010, Smith lost a true second match and had his opportunity to wrestle at nationals “taken” from him, as he describes it.
In 2011, Smith took it back. He placed fifth but wrestled stiffer competition, which was probably his saving grace in the eyes of the tournament committee, who punched his ticket to nationals on Wednesday.
“Making it to the NCAA tournament is a stepping stone, a step in the right direction in advancing to my goal and my dream of being a national champion,” Smith said. “It’s definitely a good feeling to have finally got here considering seasons I’ve had (in the) past where I’ve gotten injured early.”
To turn that dream into reality will involve going through top-seeded Cam Simez of Cornell in the opening round.
Neither heavyweight Atticus Disney, who lost back-to-back matches in the Pac-10 tournament, nor 133-pound redshirt freshman Brandon Rocha made the committee’s cut.
If there is one thing Perry has been clear on throughout the year, it is his ultimate goal for his wrestlers.
“It’s about winning,” Perry said. “Winning is the most important thing when you’re in sports. Maybe as a coach there’s morals and things you teach kids along the way, but at the end of the day when kids graduate and walk off the campus you want them to feel good about what they’ve accomplished, and to me, that means being a national champion.”