Gilroyan grappler wins weight class crown for Cal-State
Bakersfield
FULLERTON – Cal State Bakersfield’s wrestling season has officially opened and it couldn’t have started any better than it did at the 2003 Fullerton Open.
Junior Matt Sanchez (Gilroy, Calif./Bellarmine College Prep/Iowa State) and sophomore Matt Monteiro (Paso Robles, Calif./Paso Robles HS) each won individuals titles at the tournament. There was no team scoring.
In addition to Sanchez and Monteiro’s wins, senior Brian Cobb (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine Prep HS) was second at 157 pounds, while junior Jack Anaya (Placentia, Calif./Cypress College) was fourth at 125 and freshman Eric Parker (Ramona, Calif./Ramona HS) was fourth at heavyweight.
Sanchez, ranked No. 17 in NCAA Division I, entered the tournament as the top seed and didn’t prove the seedings wrong. He went 5-0 in the tournament with a technical fall and a major decision, but had a pair of close matches in the semifinals and the finals before he eventually won the 133-pound title. Sanchez needed a 3-1 victory over Fresno State’s Shannon Slack in the semis and a 5-4 decision over UC Davis’ Derek Moore before he could finally be the tournament champion.
While Sanchez had some close matches, the unseeded Monteiro surprised the Fullerton crowd by not having any problems winning at 197 pounds. He was 4-0 in the tournament and used a second-round pin of Stanford’s Drew Martinez, a 15-0 technical fall over Fresno State’s Sandeep Singh in the semifinals, and a 13-0 major decision in the final over Cal Poly SLO’s Ralph Garcia to take the title. His closest match of the tournament came in the third round when he won 10-3 against top-seeded Landon Seefeldt of Cal State Fullerton.
Cobb, the 2003 Pac-10 runner-up at 157 pounds, was equal to his No. 2 seed in the tournament, but dropped a 12-6 decision to top-seeded Matt Gentry of Stanford in the final. Anaya reached the tournament semifinals at 125 before losing 6-2 to eventual tournament champion Chad Mendes of Cal Poly SLO. Parker took a different route to his fourth-place finish, losing in the third round before winning three matches in the consolation bracket to reach the third-place match.
CSUB opens up the home portion of its schedule on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with the Blue/Gold Intrasquad meet at the Icardo Center.
