Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Boise State
No. 24 Wrestling Ties Boise State
1/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 10, 2002
FRESNO, Calif. - The 24th-ranked Bulldogs tied the Broncos in a meet which was decided by senior Stephen Abas.
No. 1 Abas wrestled No. 6 Ben VomBaur in the last match of the meet. The Bulldogs were down by three points and needed Abas to win by a major decision to claim a victory over the Broncos. But in uncharacteristic form, Abas, who has won by at least major decision in every match this season, could not pull out the major and only won by a 6-4 decision, tying the score at 16-16.
An unhappy Fresno State head coach Dennis DeLiddo attributed the tie to the upper-weight jumble. DeLiddo bumped a reserve 165 division wrestler, Brian Spalliero, up to wrestle at 174 pounds where he lost by an 8-3 decision. Freshman Britt Mooney, the regular starter at the 174 division, bumped up a weight class to wrestle at 184 pounds to replace an injured Landon Seefeldt. Mooney lost an 11-3 major decision to Boise State's Tony D'Amico.
Down 13-9, the Bulldogs needed to make up the major decision loss to be in contention to win the meet. Freshman Marcio Botelho did so in the 197 division, beating Jacob McGinnis 12-4 and tying the meet up 13-13.
Heavyweight Grant Harrington (FS) lost 6-1 to Boe Rushton (BS) and the Bulldogs fell behind by three before tying the Broncos.
Fresno State (6-1-1) travels to Oklahoma to face No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Oklahoma on Sunday.
Individual Results
133- Derrick Hayes (FS) dec. Jesse Brock (BS) 8-4 (3-0 FS)
141- No. 18 Gabe Vigil (BS) dec. Ralph Lopez (FS) 7-2 (3-3)
149- No. 12 Colin Robertson (BS) dec. Jim Medeiros (FS) 3-2 (6-3 BS)
157- Ben Baca (FS) dec. Tyler Robertson (BS) 10-6 (6-6)
165- Eddie Gifford (FS) dec. Nathan Ploehn (BS) 2-1 (9-6 FS)
174- Pat Owens (BS) dec. Brian Spalliero (FS) 8-3 (9-9)
184- Tony D'Amico (BS) major dec. Britt Mooney (FS) 11-3 (13-9 BS)
197- Marcio Botelho (FS) major dec. Jacob McGinnis (BS) 12-4 (13-13)
Hwt- Boe Rushton (BS) dec. Grant Harrington (FS) 6-1 (16-13 BS)
125- No. 1 Stephen Abas (FS) dec. No. 6 Ben VomBaur (BS) 6-4 (16-16)
