Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
West Regionals
No. 15 Wrestling Takes Second at West Regional
3/4/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 4, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - Three Bulldog wrestlers won their respective divisions at the West Regional Championship in Laramie, Wyoming, earning automatic entries to the NCAA Championship tournament held in Iowa City, Iowa, March 15-17.
Champions from Fresno State included No. 1 Stephen Abas (125, Hayward, Calif.), Ralph Lopez (141, Fresno, Calif.) and No. 9 Nathan Vasquez (157, Bakersfield, Calif.). Fresno State, ranked 15th by the National Wrestling Coaches Association and 16th by Intermat, placed second to 18th and 15th ranked Northern Iowa.
Fresno State's Derrick Hayes (133, Seaside, Calif.) and Billy Blunt (285, Modesto, Calif.) also earned entries into the NCAA Tournament. Ten wild card entries in each division were determined late Saturday night. Hayes, who was seeded first in the West Regional, won his semi-final match against Air Force's Andrew Peters, but lost in the final match to Northern Iowa's Dylan Long by a 14-2 major decision. Blunt defeated third seeded Kevin Hoy of Air Force 5-1 in the semi-finals, but forfeited his final match due to an injured knee.
Abas had two pins on the tournament, his first on Wyoming's John Faczak in 3 minutes and 35 seconds in the semis and his second on Northern Iowa's Eric Dunmire in 6 minutes and 21 seconds in the finals.
Lopez, seeded second, defeated Wyoming's Thad Trujillo 10-3 in the semi-finals, and went on the upset the No. 1 seed Mark Rial of Northern Iowa by a 5-4 decision in the finals.
Vasquez beat Eastern Illinois's Frank DeFilippis 3-0 in the semi-finals, but experienced trouble in the finals. In the final match between Vasquez and NI's Drew Kelly, Vasquez pulled out a 6-4 decision in overtime for 157-pound victory.
In other divisions, Fresno State's Jim Medeiros (149, Fremont, Calif.) placed fourth, Jason Rossotti (184, Selma, Calif.) and Tom Gohde (197, Bozeman Mont.) both placed third.
