Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
West Regional
Gifford Wins Western Region Championship
3/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 5, 2006
Fresno, Calif. - Junior Greg Gifford pinned Eastern Illinois' Greg Perz 36 seconds into the second period of the 184 pound title match at the NCAA Western Regionals Sunday to win the Region Championship. Fresno State had two other wrestlers also reach the finals in Cody Parker and Shane Seibert. The win automatically places Gifford in the NCAA championships, being held March 16-18 in Oklahoma City.
Fresno State started out the day wrestling nine weight classes, as Fresno State was unable to enter a wrestler for the 174-pound weight class. The Bulldogs were in second place at the end of the preliminary matches, as Dustin Rocha and Darrell Goodpaster both won to advance into the semi-finals.
The Bulldogs continued to make strides in the tournament, as Greg Gifford, Cody Parker and Shane Seibert advanced to the finals for Fresno State. Seibert, wrestling in only his third match of the year due to injuries, beat Beau Tresemer in the 165-pound semifinals, but was forced to retire due to his injuries in the finals.
Cody Parker and Greg Gifford both advanced easily in their semi-final matches as well. Parker finished with a first period pinfall over Northern Iowa's Tyler Rhodes to move to the finals, and Gifford was just one point shy of a technical fall in a 21-7 major decision of Zane Hersey of Air Force. Parker was beaten in the finals by Wyoming's Dusty Hoffschneider.
Gifford sealed the region championship with a 3:36 pin of Greg Perz as well as a ticket to Oklahoma City for the region championship. Fresno State finished the tournament in third place with 61 points, behind tournament host Wyoming and champion Northern Iowa.
Along with the automatic qualification earned by Gifford, three more Fresno State wrestlers were awarded at-large bids to wrestle in the NCAA tournament. Cody Parker and Shane Seibert were given passes based on their finishes, as was freshman Cory Borges, a third-place finisher at 125 pounds.
