Fresno State Athletics
Bulldogs To Wrestle in West Regional
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 4, 2004
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the West Regional on Saturday. The region includes Fresno State, Air Force, Eastern Illinois, Northern Iowa, and Wyoming. This year's regional tournament is hosted by Air Force.
The West Regional serves as the NCAA Championship qualifier for the five schools in the region. The teams wrestle a double-elimination tournament with only five wrestlers in each division. Matches to determine the true second place finisher are wrestled if necessary. Seeding for the tournament will be determined on Friday.
The region has 23 bids to allocate to the most deserving wrestlers. The winner of each division is automatically awarded a bid to nationals. The participating schools' coaches decide who receives the other 13 bids at the conclusion of the tournament.
Fresno State wrestled Northern Iowa and Wyoming in dual meets, but has not faced Air Force or Eastern Illinois in team competition. The Bulldogs (7-11) lost to the Panthers 25-12 and beat the Cowboys 18-17.
Fresno State's lineup for the West Regional is as follows:
125- Christian Bowerman (11-9)
133- Joe Stewart (6-9)
141- Shanon Slack (6-11)
149- Casey Olson (25-8)
157- Shane Seibert (16-13)
165- Sean Sheets (14-15)
174- Anthony Rubalcava (11-10)
184- Greg Gifford (22-9)
197- Marcio Botelho (7-2)
Hwt- Clint Walbeck (26-3)
Last season the Bulldogs took third in the West Regional behind Northern Iowa and Wyoming, respectively. Fresno State qualified five wrestlers to the NCAA Championships where junior Marcio Botelho took eighth in the 197 division to win All-America status.
