SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- After suffering its first dual meet loss of the season, the Cal Poly wrestling team, presented by Meathead Movers, puts its 6-1 overall record on the line with another pair of Pacific-10 Conference dual meets this weekend -- Friday at home against Cal State Bakersfield, starting at 6:30 p.m., and Sunday at Arizona State, commencing at 1 p.m.
Co-head coaches John Azevedo and Mark Perry have guided the Mustangs to a No. 22 national ranking by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Neither Cal State Bakersfield nor Arizona State is ranked this week.
Cal Poly beat Cal State Fullerton 36-14 in its first Pac-10 dual meet back in November and upset No. 13 Oregon State 18-15 last Friday night in Corvallis, Ore. Two days later, No. 9 Boise State defeated the Mustangs 29-6 in Boise, Idaho.
Cal State Bakersfield is 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Pac-10 duals while Arizona State sports a 5-8 record for the season and also is 1-1 in Pac-10 duals. The Roadrunners beat the Sun Devils 27-17 last Friday night in Tempe, Ariz.
Cal Poly sports as many as six wrestlers in the national polls this week.
Mustang 141-pounder Boris Novachkov is ranked No. 2 by WrestlingReport.com, Amateur Wrestling News and D1CollegeWrestling.net. A junior, Novachkov owns a 20-1 record after recording a pair of wins over nationally ranked wrestlers last week. He earned titles at the Fullerton Open and the Midlands and a second-place finish at the Las Vegas Invitational. A Pac-10 champion and seventh-place NCAA finisher at 133 pounds a year ago, his only loss of the current season was a 3-2 decision against Kellen Russell of Michigan in the finals of the Las Vegas Invitational.
Cal Poly 133-pounder Filip Novachkov is ranked as high as No. 11 by WrestlingReport.com and No. 13 to No. 15 in four other polls. A two-time NCAA qualifier and a senior, Novachkov is 7-6 on the year, wrestling five consecutive top-20 wrestlers. He finished fourth at the Midlands at 133 pounds. The Novachkov brothers switched weight classes this year.
Junior 165-pounder Ryan DesRoches (pictured above) is ranked as high as No. 14 by WIN Magazine and is ranked No. 15, 16 and 17 by other organizations. DesRoches is 26-5 on the year with two decisions last week and 13 pins for the season.
DesRoches is four falls shy of the school record for falls in a season which he tied a year ago. Tom Kline also registered 17 falls in the 1968-69 season en route to an NCAA Division I title.
Mustang 157-pound senior Barrett Abel is ranked No. 24 by D1CollegeWrestling.net and No. 26 by WrestlingReport.com. Abel, a transfer from UC Davis and the Pac-10 champion at 149 a year ago, is 19-8 on the year.
Junior Ryan Smith is ranked No. 19 at 197 pounds by WrestlingReport.com and No. 24 by D1CollegeWrestling.net. Smith (12-5) will be challenged by No. 17 Riley Orozco (20-7) of Cal State Bakersfield on Friday night.
Sophomore Atticus Disney, a transfer from Minnesota, is 10-8 with a No. 30 national ranking by WrestlingReport.com at 285 pounds.
The initial NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches Panel rankings were released last week. Boris Novachkov is No. 4 at 141, Filip Novachkov earned a No. 10 ranking at 133 and DesRoches is ranked 16th at 165. In addition, Abel is ranked No. 27 at 157 pounds while Smith is No. 30 at 197 and Disney is No. 32 at 285.
It was Smith’s 10-8 decision in the final bout of the evening that secured Cal Poly’s 18-16 dual meet victory over No. 25 Wyoming two weeks ago in Mott Gym.
Last Friday, the Mustangs beat Oregon State 18-15, their first win over the Beavers since 1989 and snapping an 18-match losing streak against Oregon State. Filip Novachkov scored a takedown with 10 seconds remaining and Boris Novachkov earned enough riding time as the brothers beat two nationally ranked Beavers to clinch the dual meet victory for Cal Poly.
The rest of Cal Poly’s probable lineup for the dual meets this weekend includes Britain Longmire (11-7) or Brandan Rocha (10-8) at 125 pounds, Stephen Thalin (9-10) or Geoffrey Doss (9-2) at 149, Steven Vasquez (11-10) at 174 and Kelan Bragg (7-13) at 184.
In addition to Orozco, Cal State Bakersfield’s other nationally ranked wrestler, all by WrestlingReport.com, are No. 20 Elijah Nacita (18-6) at 141, No. 23 Tyler Iwamura (14-10) at 125, No. 28 David Morgan (17-8) at 285, No. 29 Joey Granata (15-9) at 174 and No. 33 Troy Goodban (15-8) at 184.
Mike Mendoza, an assistant coach for eight seasons under T.J. Kerr, is in his first season as head coach at Cal State Bakersfield. A three-time NCAA Championships qualifier, Mendoza concluded his career with a 76-55 record and placed second, third and fourth in the Pac-10 Championships.
Arizona State, coached by Shawn Charles (second season, Arizona State ‘93, four-time NCAA All-American, 103 career wins), features No. 2 Anthony Robles (23-0) at 125 and No. 4 Bubba Jenkins (14-2) at 157. Others ranked by WrestlingReport.com include No. 28 Eric Starks (15-8) at 174, No. 27 Levi Cooper (19-7) at 285 and No. 31 Luke Macchiaroli (10-5) at 197.
Jenkins and Starks are not expected to wrestle this week due to injury.
Cal Poly and Cal State Bakersfield are wrestling for the 43rd time this week with the Roadrunners leading the all-time series 25-15-2. Cal Poly defeated CSUB 22-18 last season in Bakersfield.
Arizona State leads the series against Cal Poly, 31-11. The Mustangs snapped an 18-match Sun Devil winning streak three years ago in Mott Gym with a 24-17 decision, Arizona State won last year’s dual in Tempe, 36-10 and Cal Poly posted a 20-18 triumph last year in San Luis Obispo as Smith and Filip Novachkov won by technical falls and Chase Pami won by major decision to give the Mustangs just enough bonus points.