Wrestling | 11/8/2016 2:28:00 PM
SAN FRANCISCO— The San Francisco State Gators will travel to Bakersfield this Friday, November 11 for a pair of non-conference duals with NCAA Division I opponents, Cal State Bakersfield and No. 12 Rutgers University. The Gators will face the Roadrunners at 4pm and the Scarlet Knights at 5:45pm at the Icardo Center on the campus of Cal State Bakersfield.
The Gators opened up their season last Thursday in San Luis Obispo. San Francisco State lost 36-7 to the hosts, Cal Poly Mustangs as the Gators picked up wins at 125 from
Matt Gamble by a 9-5 decision and at 133 from
Nathan Cervantez as he won by a 17-9 major decision. Then in their 39-7 loss to No. 27 Indiana, the Gators picked up wins by 141 from
Joshua Weinberg by a 4-3 decision and at 184 as
Johnathon Costa won by a 10-2 major decision. San Francisco State then hosted the 49
th Annual SFSU Open on Sunday and had 7 placers. Leading the way was freshman,
Mitchell Owens who was runner-up at 184.
"We had two tough dual meets last week against Cal Poly and Indiana," said San Francisco State head coach
Lars Jensen. "We had a couple of good performances at the SFSU Open on Sunday. This week will be just as tough as last week as we will need to do a better job of preparation in practice. There will be a few line-up changes for us this Friday."
After this Friday's two duals in Bakersfield, the Gators will be off until Sunday, November 20 when they travel to Clovis North High School to participate in the Roadrunner Open in Fresno, Calif.
MATCH NOTES:
GATORS: San Francisco State started the season with a 36-7 loss at Cal Poly in the Mustangs' outdoor dual and a 39-7 loss to then No. 27 Indiana in San Luis Obispo. The Gators also hosted the SFSU Open on Sunday and had 7 placers.
SFSU WINNERS: The Gators had four winners in their duals against Cal Poly and Indiana last week. Against the Mustangs, Kevin Gamble and
Nathan Cervantez picked up wins at 125 and 133. Then against the Hoosiers,
Joshua Weinberg and
Johnathon Costa recorded wins at 141 and 184.
8 PLACERS: San Francisco State had seven placers in the SFSU Open on Sunday.
Mitchell Owens led the way with his runner-up finish at 184. The Gators had three third place finishers at
Thomas Turcol (149),
Landon Myers (157) and
Mike Marshall (184). They also had four fourth place finishers at
Christian Ramos (125), Josh Villaflor (133),
Jesse Lyga (165) and
Morris Wilner (184).
8 RANKED: Eight Gators are ranked in the top 8 in their respective weight classes in the d2wrestle.com NCAA Division II Super Region IV Pre-season rankings.
Sam Alnassiri is first at 285 followed by
Johnathon Costa who is 5
th at 197.
Joshua Weinberg (141),
Dylan Furtado (149),
Landon Myers (157) and
Mike Marshall (174) are all sixth in the region. Two Gator grapplers are seventh in
Matt Gamble (125) and
Tyson Kuahine (165). As a team, the Gators are tied for sixth with Newman (KSC) in the preseason regional rankings.
#5 NATIONALLY: Sam Alnassiri is ranked fifth in the d2wrestle.com NCAA Division II National Pre-season poll. Last season, the senior finished third in the Super Region IV and RMAC Championships and qualified for the Nationals.
53 AND COUNTING: The Gators are looking to extend their streak to 54 of qualifying a wrestler for the NCAA Division II National Championships. This year's Championships are set for March 10-11 in Birmingham, Ala. The last time the Nationals were held in Alabama, the Gators finished in 10
th place. Naveed Bagheri was a National Champion at 141 and current assistant coach,
Isaiah Jimenez placed 5
th at 165 to earn All-American honors.
LAST YEAR: The Gators lost 32-12 to the Roadrunners at home on January 10. Picking up wins for San Francisco State were
Joshua Weinberg (141) by 11-6 decision,
Tyson Kuahine (165) by fall at 4:10 and
Sam Alnassiri (285) by a 5-4 decision.
ROADRUNNERS: Cal State Bakersfield open up its season last week with a 29-12 win over Cal Baptist, who ranked 12
th in the nation in NCAA Division II. Picking up wins for the Roadrunners were Sean Nickell (125), Carlos Herrera (133), Russell Rohlfing (141), Coleman Hammond (149), Sean O'Rourke (157), Lorenzo De La Riva (165) and Matt Williams (197). The Roadrunners finished in 27
th place at the 2015-16 NCAA Division I National Championships as Bryce Hammond, Coleman Hammond and Ian Nickell all were National Qualifiers.
NO. 12 SCARLET KNIGHTS: Rutgers opened up its season having six grapplers capture titles at the East Stroudsbeg Open in Pennsylvania. Brandon Paetzell (125), Tyson Dippery (133), Eleazar DeLuca (157), Phillip Bakuckas (174), Nicholas Gravina (184) and Kevin Mulligan (197) all captured titles for the Scarlet Knights at the ESU Open. The Scarlet Knights have five wrestlers that are in the top 15 in the nation according to
Intermat in their respective weight classes. Anthony Ashnault is third at 141, Richie Lewis is sixth at 157, Ken Theobold is 13
th at 149 and Nicholas Gravina and Tyson Dippery are 15
th at 184 and 133 respectively. Rutgers placed 15
th at the NCAA Division I Nationals last season and had two All-Americans in Ashnault and Perrotti.
UP NEXT: After this weekend, the Gators will just have one tournament and two duals left in the 2016 calendar year. San Francisco State will travel to Fresno, Calif., on Nov. 20 to participate in the Roadrunner Open. Then on Dec. 2, the Gators will travel to Southern Oregon for a 7pm non-conference dual with the NAIA No. 7 Raiders. They will then travel to Redding, Calif, for a 2pm non-conference dual with Simpson University.
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Gator Athletics has a proud tradition of competitive success within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The department offers 12 intercollegiate sports programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Women's Track & Field, Women's Volleyball and Men's Wrestling.
Gator Athletics places great emphasis on academic performance as well as athletic achievement. The program offers student athletes the opportunity to reach their educational goals, as well pursue meaningful athletic accomplishments. For more information, visit SF State Athletics' website, Twitter and Facebook pages.
