Fresno State Athletics
Wrestling Gets Set For Home Opener
12/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Dec. 15, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. -
BULLDOGS CANCEL TRIP TO RENO TOURNAMENTHead coach Dennis DeLiddo has cancelled Fresno State's trip to Reno, Nev., for the Reno Tournament of Champions because of student-athlete conflicts on the day of competition. The tournament is on a Thursday, which is also the last day of finals week for the fall semester. A number of wreslters who were supposed to travel to the tournament had a final scheduled for that day, so DeLiddo made the announcement on Friday, Dec. 12 that the team would not participate in the tournament. Fresno State's next event is its home opener against Columbia, UC Davis and No. 18 Northern Iowa. The meets will be held in the North Gym on Jan. 3. Wrestling begins at noon.
BULLDOGS IN THE RANKINGS
Fresno State is ranked 25th by the National Wrestling Coaches Association's Dec. 10 poll for dual meet teams. Invididually, four Bulldog wrestlers are ranked in their respective divisions. Senior Casey Olson (Clovis, Calif.), who placed fifth at the Las Vegas Invitational in the 149 division, entered the rankings Dec. 9 at No. 12 by InterMat Wrestling. He is also ranked 12th by Amateur Wrestling News (Dec. 16) and Wrestling International Newsmagazine (Dec. 9). Junior Clint Walbeck (Clovis, Calif.) stayed steady at No. 18 in W.I.N. and 19th in Amateur Wrestling News. Sophomore Greg Gifford (Las Vegas, Nev.) dropped out of all rankings except the W.I.N. where he is still ranked No. 20 in the 184 division. W.I.N. also lists 2002 All-American Marcio Botelho (Lemoore, Calif.) as No. 3 even though he has yet to wrestle this season.
LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL RESULTS
It was a tale of two Clovis boys turning heads at the Las Vegas Invitational last weekend. Olson and Walbeck, both of Clovis, Calif., led Fresno State to a 15th place finish by taking fifth and seventh respectively in the 149 and hwt. divisions. Olson took out two nationally ranked wrestlers en route to his podium finish. He beat No. 12 Matt Cox (5-2) and twice beat No. 17 David Diles (4-2). Walbeck won in the first and second rounds, but suffered a loss in the quarterfinals. He bounced back by pinning his next opponent in less than two minutes. After another loss, he won his final match by forfeit. Nebraska won the 43-team invitational and second and third place went to Michigan and Missouri, respectively.
BULLDOGS IN THE SAVE MART CENTER
Fresno State will be wrestling in the Save Mart Center for its Jan. 6 meets against No. 4 Iowa State and San Francisco State. Head coach Dennis DeLiddo wants to set a new west coast attendance record for a wrestling dual meet and his goal is to get 10,000 people at the Save Mart Center on Jan. 6. Iowa State and San Francisco State are slated to grapple at 4 p.m., then Fresno State will wrestle San Francisco State at 5:30 p.m. The feature match, Fresno State v. Iowa State is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
