February 25, 2012

Cal Poly Seeks Pac-12 Team, Individual Wrestling Titles Sunday at Boise State

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly 141-pounder Boris Novachkov has a chance to accomplish what no other Mustang wrestler has been able to do -- capture three Pac-12 individual championships.

Novachkov joined Eric Osborne (1987-88), Jake Gaeir (1993-94), Chad Mendes (2006, 2008) and Chase Pami (2008-09) as two-time Pac-12 champions a year ago en route to a second-place NCAA finish at 141 pounds.

The senior from Sunnyvale and graduate of Fremont High School goes for No. 3 on Sunday at the 2012 Pac-12 Championship hosted by Boise State at Taco Bell Arena.

Novachkov (pictured at right) is ranked No. 2 in the nation in his weight class in all four major polls this week, trailing only Kellen Russell of Michigan, the wrestler who beat Novachkov in the 2011 NCAA finals by a 3-2 decision.

Two other nationally ranked Mustangs will compete for Pac-12 titles as well. Senior Ryan DesRoches is ranked from Nos. 4-8 at 174 pounds this week while Ryan Smith, also a senior, is ranked No. 18 by Amateur Wrestling News and No. 20 by WrestlingReport.com at 197 pounds.

Novachkov won titles at the Cowboy Open and Reno Tournament of Champions while finishing fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational earlier this season. He is No. 2 in the NCAA Division I Coaches Rankings released Feb. 9 and No. 1 in the NCAA's RPI rankings.

Now 27-2 this season, 13-0 in dual meets and 114-21 in his Mustang career, the senior is a two-time NCAA All-American (second in 2011, seventh in 2010), two-time Pac-12 champion and three-time NCAA qualifier. He placed third in the Pac-12 finals as a freshman in 2008.

DesRoches (23-2) suffered his first loss of the year against top-ranked Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford in an 8-0 major decision Jan. 15 and also fell 3-2 to No. 18 Dorian Henderson of Missouri in the NWCA National Duals two weeks ago. He won his first 19 matches of the season and also won four straight, all by decision, between his losses, finishing 9-2 in duals this season.

DesRoches earned first-place finishes in the Cowboy Open, Las Vegas Invitational and Reno Tournament of Champions. The Riverside High School (Deer Park, Wash.) graduate is 106-33 in his Mustang career, is a two-time NCAA qualifier, twice has placed third in the Pac-12 finals and is listed No. 4 in the NCAA Division I Coaches Rankings and No. 3 in the NCAA's RPI list.

Smith, who dropped out of the national rankings in late December, bounced back with victories in seven of his last nine bouts, losing only to Joe LeBlanc of Wyoming, the nation's top-ranked 184-pounder who wrestled up a weight class in the Jan. 20 dual, and No. 7 Brent Haynes of Missouri in the NWCA National Duals.

Smith placed second in the Roadrunner Open, fourth in the Reno Tournament of Champions and posted a 3-2 mark in the Midlands. He is 19-10 on the year, 66-45 in his Mustang career, qualified for the NCAA finals a year ago and has placed second and fifth in the Pac-12 finals.

Smith is ranked No. 17 in the NCAA Division I Coaches Rankings with an NCAA RPI of 28.

Novachkov is the lone Mustang ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 Conference. DesRoches and Smith both are ranked No. 2 in their respective weight classes.

Cal Poly's other senior, 285-pounder Kelan Bragg, also will compete in the Pac-12 finals, earning the spot over teammate Atticus Disney during practice. Bragg has earned 36 wins in his Cal Poly career and sports a 9-9 record with a trio of falls. He wrestled in his 100th match as a Mustang during the California Collegiate Open earlier this month.

Bragg is not ranked in the national polls and unranked in the NCAA Division I Coaches Rankings and Pac-12 poll. He placed sixth in the 2010 Pac-12 finals at 184 pounds.

Cal Poly's four seniors have combined for 322 victories in their Mustang careers.

The rest of Cal Poly's lineup for the Pac-12 finals will be sophomore Britain Longmire (13-7) at 125 pounds, junior Jake Tanenbaum (8-11) at 133, sophomore Kyle Chene (6-5) at 149, freshman Gianpier Yanez (5-11) at 157, redshirt freshman Dominic Kastl (9-3) at 165 and redshirt freshman Derrick Hawkins (5-6) at 184. All will be competing in the Pac-12 finals for the first time.

Cal Poly finished 1-1 in the NWCA National Duals two weeks ago, falling 34-6 to Missouri and defeating host Rutgers 24-22 at Piscataway, New Jersey.

The Mustangs (6-7 overall, 3-2 Pac-12 duals) competed in five tournaments in the first two months of the season before heading into the dual meet portion of its 2011-12 schedule. Cal Poly defeated CSU Bakersfield 28-10, Menlo College 40-6, Boise State 22-20, San Francisco State 25-13, Arizona State 26-11 and Rutgers 24-22.

The Mustangs competed in the Cowboy Open (non-scoring), Roadrunner Open (non-scoring), Las Vegas Invitational (11th), Reno Tournament of Champions (sixth), Midlands Championships (33rd) and California Collegiate Open (non-scoring) this season.

First-year Mustang head coach Brendan Buckley has guided his team to national tournament power rankings of No. 15 by WIN Magazine, No. 19 by InterMat and No. 23 by WrestlingReport.com. The Mustangs are unranked in the NWCA Coaches Poll.

In addition to Cal Poly, other Pac-12 teams in the national polls are Oregon State and Stanford. The Beavers are ranked No. 16 by WrestlingReport.com, No. 17 by InterMat and No. 18 by WIN Magazine while Stanford owns national rankings of No. 15 by InterMat, No. 23 by WIN Magazine and No. 24 by WrestlingReport.com.

Cal Poly lost 23-17 to Stanford and 36-6 to Oregon State in home dual meets earlier this season.

Boise State is the defending Pac-12 team champion.