Cal Poly’s wrestling team beat North Dakota State 29-9 Saturday night in a non-conference dual meet in Mott Gym. This was the first of six home meets of the season for the wrestling team.
“We were putting on a show for the fans; a lot of energy was used,” said Coach John Azevedo.
Cal Poly lost the first match 6-3, but Filip Novachkov, the third ranked wrestler in the nation, turned the meet around with a win of 9-6 against North Dakota States top wrestler Ryan Adams. Adams was taken by a three-point fall after the first minute and had another takedown in the second round.
“I was great at the beginning, but the end got shaky, I knew I had to suck it up and win,” said Filip Novachkov, who has a record of 16-4.
The wins kept coming as Cal Poly’s Eric Maldonado took down his opponent Audrey Patselov with an 11-4 win. Eric Maldonado is ranked third in the Pac 10 in the 149 pound weight class.
Team captain Chase Pami, ranked 9th nationally, came in strong as he tackled his opponent winning 18-4. Chase Pami is a two-time Pac-10 champion.
North Dakota won two more matches but Cal Poly was still in the lead when Sophomore Ryan Smith almost pinned Drew Ross within the first 10 seconds. The match ended with a score of 14-3, the pin taking place at the 2 minutes and 30 seconds mark; bringing the score to 26-9, with only one more match to go.
There were a total of nine matches, with North Dakota forfeiting the weight 133-match gaining Cal Poly 6 points.
“We could have won them all,” said Coach Azevedo with a smile, “It went well though.”
Cal Poly’s Wrestling Team looks forward to the upcoming matches that will take them to PAC-10 at the end of January.
“I’m going to keep building on stuff, figure out what I need to do to get where I want to be,” said Filip Novachkov, thinking about the future meets.
Because this was the first home game, Cal Poly Wrestling Supporters were throwing out gift certificates to restaurants, t-shirts, and Chuck Liddell signed gloves to the loudest in the crowd. The crowd only had a chance at the prizes if Cal Poly won a match. Mott Gym was loud with victories.
“We might have taken this team for granted, we are a better team than what was showed today. The biggest lesson is to be more consistent against judging the other teams,” said Assistant Coach Mark Perry.
There will be two home meets in two weeks in the Mott Gym, Friday against Stanford and Sunday against Boise State who are No. 8 in the country.
This leaves Cal Polys Wrestling team at 4-2 in dual meets so far.