Cal Poly Wrestling to Host South Dakota State, Stanford in Sunday Triangular

Cal Poly Wrestling to Host South Dakota State, Stanford in Sunday Triangular

Feb 4, 2014 by FloWrestling Staff
Cal Poly Wrestling to Host South Dakota State, Stanford in Sunday Triangular
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Attachment: Cal Poly Wrestling Statistics (pdf)

Cal Poly to Host South Dakota State, Stanford in Sunday Triangular
-- Cal Poly Wrestling --

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly enters the final two weeks of dual meets for the 2013-14 wrestling season with three matches, all in the Mott Athletics Center.

Coach Brendan Buckley's Mustangs host South Dakota State and Stanford on Sunday afternoon and will entertain Arizona State for its Homecoming match on Friday, Feb. 14.

Sunday's schedule leads off with Cal Poly facing South Dakota State at 1 p.m., Stanford wrestling the Jackrabbits at 3 p.m. and the Mustangs taking on the Cardinal at 5 p.m.

Cal Poly is 3-6 in duals on the year, defeating Bakersfield and San Francisco State in November and Menlo two weeks ago.

South Dakota State sports a 3-5 dual meet record with victories over Augustana, Wyoming and Air Force. The Jackrabbits wrestle at Utah Valley on Thursday night before arriving in San Luis Obispo.

Stanford is 15-4 for the season following victories over Grand Canyon and Arizona State on Monday. The Cardinal is ranked No. 36 by Intermat.

Cal Poly and Stanford are meeting on the mat for the 56th time Sunday and the Mustangs own a 39-15-1 advantage. The Cardinal won last year's dual 27-9 in Palo Alto.

The Mustangs and Jackrabbits are meeting for just the second time Sunday. Only other meeting was in 1973, won by Cal Poly 24-9 in Brookings, S.D.

Hoping to snap a three-match losing streak, Cal Poly will send three nationally ranked wrestlers against the Cardinal and Jackrabbits.

Sophomore Devon Lotito sports an 18-7 record at 133 pounds and is ranked No. 18 in the first NCAA Division I Coaches Poll of the season, released Jan. 23. Lotito won three straight matches by fall before earning a 5-0 decision over Drew Van Anrooy of Oregon State in a dual meet held outdoors last week.

Lotito, the defending Pac-12 champion at 133 pounds, placed third in the Reno Tournament of Champions and seventh at the Midlands Championship earlier this season.

At 174 pounds, Dominic Kastl has won seven of his last eight matches, losing only to Zach Epperly of Virginia Tech in the finals of the Shorty Hitchcock Open three weeks ago. Kastl, a junior, is 15-3 on the year and ranked No. 19 by the NCAA. He won the Pac-12 title at 165 pounds two years ago.

Blake Kastl is ranked No. 31 at 149 pounds and sports an 18-8 record. The redshirt freshman placed second in the Roadrunner Open and eighth in the Las Vegas Invitational earlier this year.

Stanford will put as many as six nationally ranked wrestlers on the mat, led by No. 10 Ryan Mango (22-3) at 133 pounds, setting up a feature match with Lotito in the last dual meet of the day. Mango is a two-time NCAA All-American, three-time national qualifier and won the Pac-12 title at 125 pounds two years ago. He was a redshirt last season and did not face Lotito.

Other nationally ranked Cardinal are No. 12 Evan Silver (18-4) at 125, No. 17 Jim Wilson (28-5) at 165, No. 19 Dan Scherer (17-3) at 197, No. 22 Bret Baumbach (15-8) at 157 and No. 32 Kyle Meyer (21-10) at 174.

South Dakota State will bring three nationally ranked wrestlers to San Luis Obispo, led by No. 19 Cody Pack (20-6) at 157 pounds. Both 165-pounder Joe Brewster (17-10) and 149-pounder Alex Kocer (22-10) are ranked 33rd in the NCAA coaches poll.

Cal Poly's Valentine's Day match with Arizona State begins at 7 p.m. and will include the 40th anniversary celebration of the Mustangs' 1973-74 NCAA Division II National Championship team.
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Eric Burdick
Associate Director of Athletics Communications
(Football, Baseball, Wrestling, Men's and Women's Golf, Men's and Women's Swimming SID)
Cal Poly
Mott Gym, Room 123
1 Grand Avenue
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0388
(805) 756-6550 (office)
(805) 550-3427 (cell)
(805) 756-2650 (fax)
eburdick@calpoly.edu