Stanford wrestling is leaving San Luis Obispo with a 3-0 record after beating California Baptist University (0-4, 0-0 WAC) 24-12 and home team Cal Poly (2-2, 1-2 Pac-12) 21-15.
The Cardinal had promising starts to the back-to-back matches, as sophomore Jackson DiSario had a decision win over both CBU’s redshirt sophomore Antonio Saldate and Cal Poly’s redshirt freshman Antonio Lorenzo in the 125 weight class.
Redshirt freshman Logan Ashton competed in the second dual of the day against Cal Baptist’s Christian Nunez but lost in a 3-1 decision.
In the duel of the day against Cal Poly, however, freshman Jason Miranda subbed in for Ashton in the 133 pound weight class. Coming off of an impressive pin in his match against CSU Bakersfield, Miranda demonstrated the same offensive mindset and ended his second match with a final score of 9-1.
Sophomore Luciano Arroyo defeated CBU’s Chaz Hallmark in a 10-6 decision but struggled in his second match and fell to Cal Poly’s Lawrence Saenz in an 11-2 major decision.
Redshirt freshman Jaden Abas, in the 149 weight class, seemed fatigued from the two consecutive matches. While he won his first match — an 8-4 decision over Cal Poly redshirt junior AJ Raya — he lost his second duel of the day, falling to Cal Poly redshirt freshman Legend Lamer with a score of 4-3.
Captain and redshirt senior Requir Van der Merwe had a successful day, as he won both his matches. Despite moving up a weight class, Van der Merwe has proven to be powerful thus far: The fifth-year senior has now won all of his duels this season with major decisions.
Above Van der Merwe, in the 165 weight class, redshirt sophomore Tyler Eischens pulled out decisive victories in a similar fashion. Eischens dominated Josh Grant, defeating CBU’s own redshirt sophomore 16-0 and earned a major decision against Cal Poly redshirt sophomore Adam Kemp with an 11-5 score.
Like Abas, Jared Hill did better in the first match than second. While narrowly escaping CBU’s Johann Steinforth with a 1-0 decision, the redshirt senior suffered a technical fall in the last minute of his match against Cal Poly’s Bernie Truax. At 174 lbs., Hill has had an unfortunate start to the season; he also came up short last on Sunday with a major decision loss against CSU Bakersfield.
Redshirt junior Ethan Woods wrestled in the 184 weight class for the first match; however, after being pinned, Head Coach Jason Borelli subbed in sophomore Nick Addison — who then lost against Cal Poly.
While true freshman Nick Stemmet pulled out a tight win in the first match with a score of 2-1, junior Haydn Maley wrestled in the 197 weight class against Cal Poly. Like Stemmet, Maley earned a decision win.
In the heavyweight class, CBU’s Zach Schrader defeated sophomore Seamus O’Malley in a 9-5 decision to round out the first dual, while redshirt senior Nathan Traxler was able to control Cal Poly’s Joshua Harkey for most of the match to earn a 10-1 major decision. With Traxler’s win, Stanford won the duel against Cal Poly with a final score of 21-15.
As an extra match, Stanford freshman Charlie Darracott — at 157 lbs. — wrestled Cal Poly’s redshirt freshman Max Anderson. Like last Sunday, the freshman won with a major decision, this time with a final score of 12-3.
The Cardinal will now hit the road for a Sunday triple-header in Little Rock, Arkansas. They will face Little Rock, South Dakota State and Oklahoma while working to keep hopes of an undefeated season alive.
Contact Michael Espinosa at mesp2021 ‘at’ stanford.edu and Samantha Leventis at samantha040602 ‘at’ gmail.com.