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BSU wrestling looks to make a statement
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Coming off an amazing win at the PAC-10 wrestling tournament two weeks ago, Boise State is sending nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Mo.
The Broncos, who are coming off their fourth PAC-10 wrestling championship, will look to surprise some teams that are stacked with premier wrestlers.
Heading into the PAC-10 tournament, in Eugene, Ore., the Broncos knew what they were capable of and they proved it not only to themselves but to the entire conference.
BSU was able to come out of the tournament with two first place finishes, four second place finishes and three third place finishes on their way to the title.
Head Coach Greg Randall was extremely impressed with his wrestlers at the tournament.
“It sounds really good to send nine out of your ten wrestlers,” Randall said. “Normally in the past we would maybe get five or six, but to be able to almost take your entire team really makes a statement.”
Junior Cory Fish, who wrestles at 133 pounds, captured his first individual PAC-10 Championship of his career, defeating Oregon’s Ryan Dunn 3-1 in front of Dunn’s home crowd.
The second first place finish for the Broncos was Sophomore Nate Lee, at 174 pounds.
Lee won his first ever individual title at the PAC-10 Tournament as well.
Lee was able to defeat Tyler Bernacchi of the University of California-Davis 4-3.
Both first place finishers earned automatic bids into the NCAA Championships.
“Winning this year was a great confidence booster,” Lee said. “I came so close last year as a freshman, this year I wanted the individual title to put me in the rankings at the end of the year.”
Tyler Sherfey, at 157 pounds, battled Cal Poly’s Chase Pami into overtime but fell in the first overtime period 3-1. The second place finish earned him an automatic trip to the NCAA Championships. Freshman Kurt Swartz, wrestling at 165 pounds, fell to Patrick Pitsch of Arizona State in the final round 6-4.
Also coming in second was fellow freshman Kirk Smith, who lost to Arizona State’s Brent Criswell for the 184 pound title 8-7. Most people called it the match of the night.
Finally, coming in second was Adam Hall, who forfeited his final match to Morgan Atkinson to prepare for the national championships.
All three of the Broncos’ second place finishers earned automatic bids into the NCAA Championships.
The third place finishers were sophomore Levi Jones, capturing the title at 141 pounds by defeating Nexi Delgado of UC Davis 8-5; Matt Casperson, who was able to come out with a third place finish as well defeating Riley Orozco of Bakersfield 4-2; and Nick Smith, who was able to outlast Charlie Alexander of Oregon for the 5-2 win.
“We went into the PAC-10 Tournament with the attitude that we wanted to send everyone,” Lee said. “The more guys you get to nationals the more points you score, the higher your team places. It will say a lot for us now and in the future.”
The NCAA Championships will be held in St. Louis March 20-22.
All nine BSU wrestlers hope to surprise the nation and establish that BSU wrestling can compete with anyone.
“I just want to see a good performance out of all of them, wrestle hard and don’t take a back seat, just fight,” Coach Randall said. “If they just wrestle up to their ability and give it all they got, then that’s all that matters."
TRENT LOOTENS
Sports Writer
