ST. LOUIS — San Francisco State wrestler Mason Boutain's college career came to a close on Friday at the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships at Chaifetz Arena. The 157-pound Boutain fell 13-10 to Ashland's Chance Esmon and concluded his day with a narrow 3-2 loss to Noah Tarr of Davis & Elkins.

In the opening bout, Boutain struck first with a takedown 21 seconds into action. Esmot escaped and countered with a pair of takedowns, both of which Boutain escaped to finish the first period trailing 5-4. Esmont chose bottom and escaped. Boutain scored another takedown in the second period but Esmont escaped with two seconds left and quickly earned a takedown himself to maintain a 9-6 advantage. That proved costly. Boutain chose bottom headed into the third period and escaped in 10 seconds, then scored a takedown with 1:05 to go to even the score at 9-9. However, a caution awarded a point to Esmont, who then scored an escape and a takedown with 22 seconds remaining. Boutain picked up a point for riding time but it wasn't enough.

Against Tarr, Boutain suffered a first-period takedown before escaping. Boutain deferred in the second period and Tarr scored an escape with 54 seconds remaining. Boutain chose bottom in the final period and scored an escape in 16 seconds but was unable to pick up a point to tie.

The redshirt senior wraps up his career after six seasons with the program. He redshirted his first season in 2016-17, then burst onto the scene with a 22-13 record. That season, he was named RMAC Champion at 157 pounds and and earned All-RMAC First Team honors. In 2018-19, injuries limited Boutain to a 10-5 record. In 2019-20, the Benicia native was ranked No. 5 in the nation at 149 pounds and was an All-RMAC First Team selection, finishing fourth at Regionals. This season, Boutain finished in third place at Regionals and punched his ticket to St. Louis with a 3-1 overtime victory.
 

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"We're happy to see all that Mason's accomplished over his career and proud to see the leader he's become," said Head Coach Jason Welch. "Mason's going to go on to do great things in the future and we're proud to call him an alumni now."