The final Pac-10 wrestling rankings indicate that only two Cal State
Fullerton wrestlers will place in the top three at this weekend's Pac-10
Championships and thus earn berths in the NCAA Championships along with
11 "at-large" selections.
The Titans' Juan Mora is ranked No. 3 at 141 pounds and Leonel Sanchez
is No. 3 at 174. Official seeding will be conducted by the head coaches
prior to the meet which begins Sunday at Arizona State. Competition begins
each day at 11 a.m.
But the competition takes place on the mat, not on paper, and several
Titans are looking to prove themselves. Jesse Miramontes (No. 6 at 125),
Brett Gordon (No. 7 at 149), Dustin Vance (No. 6 at 157), Ian Murphy (No.
6 at 184) and Landon Seefeldt (No. 5 at 197) all have upset capabilities,
as does Risto Marttinen, who was injured much of the year at 165. Longshots
are Chris Sanchez at 133 and Matthew Fitu at heavyweight.
The rankings are far from scientific and don't compare well with national
rankings by thewrestlingmall.com. or InterMat Wrestling.
At 125, Tommy Schurkamp of UC Davis is ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10 but
is not in the wrestlingmall national top 20, where you can find
Cal Poly's Vic Moreno at No. 7 (No. 3 in the Pac-10), Cal State Bakersfield's
Efren Ceballos at No. 10 (No. 2 in the Pac-10) and Arizona State's Christian
Staylor at No. 20 (No. 4 in the Pac-10). InterMat has Ceballos
No. 6, Moreno No. 9 and Staylor No. 10. Miramontes is not nationally ranked
but has beaten Ceballos.
Fullerton's Leonel Sanchez is second in the nation with 32 wins (9 losses)
and 11 pins.
The toughest field might be at 197 pounds. Three Pac-10 wrestlers are
ranked in the top nine nationally -- Bakersfield's Matt Monteiro at No.
3, Arizona State's Ryan Bader at No. 6 and Boise State's K. C. Walsh at
No. 9.
In the team competition, defending champion Arizona State, Boise State
and Cal Poly are the top contenders with Oregon State and Stanford hovering
a notch below.
Last year the Titans placed eighth in the team standings, an improvement
from a pair of tenth-place showings in the previous two years. Four Titans
qualified for the 2003 nationals -- Mora, Seefeldt, Chris Carlino (174)
and Rowdy Lundegreen (184).
