Cal Poly wrestling senior Colton Schilling and sophomore Tom Lane were both eliminated from the NCAA Championships, unable to come back from losses in their first matches.
Schilling, wrestling in the 141-pound weight class, lost two consecutive matches to be eliminated in the first day of competition. The senior drew an initial matchup with first-seed Bryce Meredith of Wyoming. Schilling lost to the eventual 141-pound runner-up in a 5-1 decision, putting him one loss away from elimination.
In his next match, Schilling lost a close 7-6 decision against 16-seed Cole Weaver of Indiana, putting an end to his Cal Poly career. The two-time national qualifier ended with a 73-46 career record and completed his final season with a 14-7 record and a conference championship.
In the 197-pound class, Tom Lane also lost his first match Thursday, March 15 against a highly-seeded wrestler. Four-seed Michael Macchiavello beat Lane with a 13-4 major decision.
Unlike Schilling, Lane was able to bounce back and win in the first round of wrestlebacks. Lane earned the sudden-victory point in overtime to beat Dustin Conti of Clarion 3-1.
In the next round however, 14-seed Cash Wilcke of Iowa pinned Lane in four minutes and twelve seconds to eliminate the sophomore Mustang from his first national championship tournament. Lane ended his season with a 16-11 record.
Penn State won their third consecutive team championship, edging Ohio State by seven points. Cal Poly finished tied for 62nd, with a total of half a point.
The individual national championship appearances from Schilling and Lane highlight Cal Poly’s historically poor season. While Schilling and Lane performed exceptionally, the team had its first winless season since entering Division I wrestling in 1975.
Head coach Jon Sioredas is now 6-18 in two seasons at Cal Poly, taking over a program that was only 17-51 under previous coach Brendan Buckley.