Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
West Regionals
Bulldogs Take Second at NCAA West Regional Championships
3/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 9, 2002
FRESNO, Calif. - Northern Iowa was the team to watch and the team to beat at the 2002 NCAA West Regional Championships at Fresno State on Saturday. The Panthers placed first with 107.5 points and stole close to half of the regional's predetirmined amount of NCAA tournament bids. Northern Iowa had eight wrestlers in the finals and will take just as many to the NCAA Championships in Albany, N.Y. March 21-23.
Fresno State placed second with 67.5 points and Wyoming took third with 62.5 points. The Bulldogs had a meet champion in senior Stephen Abas, the only Fresno State wrestler to earn automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships.
Fresno State will take four wrestlers to the national tournament. Junior Ralph Lopez (141), junior Eddie Gifford (184) and freshman Marcio Botelho (197) received three of the nine wild card entries. The other six went to Heath McKim (125) and Kevin Hoy (Hwt.) of Air Force, Pat Dowty (133) of Eastern Illinois, Jon Garvin (149) and Eric Hauan (174) of Northern Iowa, and Levi Prevost (157) of Wyoming.
The individual winners of the 10 divisions earned automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships. In all, 19 positions were allotted by the NCAA for West Region wrestlers to advance to the national championships. The wild card bids were decided by the coaches of the five participating teams.
Wrestlers Advancing
1. (125) Stephen Abas- FS
2. (133) Mark Manchio- UNI
3. (141) Dylan Long- UNI
4. (149) Scott Frohardt- AFA
5. (157) Frank DeFillippis- EIU
6. (165) Nate Lawrenz- UNI
7. (174) Terry Parham- AFA
8. (184) Kyle Hansen- UNI
9. (197) Jason Payne- UNI
10. (Hwt.) Paul Hynek- UNI
11. (125) Heath McKim- AFA
12. (133) Pat Dowty- EIU
13. (141) Ralph Lopez- FS
14. (149) Jon Garvin- UNI
15. (157) Levi Prevost- UW
16. (174) Eric Hauan- UNI
17. (184) Eddie Gifford- FS
18. (197) Marcio Botelho- FS
19. (Hwt.) Kevin Hoy- AFA
