FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Cal Poly to Compete in Pac-12 Finals on Saturday

-- Cal Poly Wrestling --

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Cal Poly will send nine wrestlers to the 2013 Pac-12 Championship, slated for Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona.

First session begins at 9:30 a.m. PST, followed by the second session (consolation semifinals and finals) at 2:30 p.m. The championship finals are slated to wrap up the second session at 4 p.m. The awards ceremony and team trophy presentation is expected by 6 p.m.

The championship finals will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks. A live blog providing updated brackets, team scores and coverage from all three mats is available at www.TheSunDevils.com

Arizona State is hosting the event and the Sun Devils have won 16 of the last 33 Pac-12 Championships. Oregon State is the defending team champion and Arizona State last won the Pac-12 team title in 2006.

Five wrestlers return to defend their Pac-12 titles. They are Brian Owens of Boise State (133 pounds), Mike Mangrum of Oregon State (141), Scott Sakaguchi of Oregon State (149), RJ Pena of Oregon State (157) and Jacob Swartz of Boise State (184).

A year ago, Cal Poly advanced three wrestlers to the finals. Dominic Kastl won the title at 165 pounds while Boris Novachkov (141 pounds) and Ryan DesRoches (174) placed second in their weight classes. Novachkov and DesRoches were seniors last year and Kastl did not wrestle this season due to a back injury.

The 285-pound class could be the toughest with three nationally ranked wrestlers -- No. 4 Chad Henke of Oregon State, No. 10 J.T. Felix of Boise State and No. 16 Levi Cooper of Arizona State. The 149-pound class features two Pac-12 champions -- Sakaguchi in 2012 and Boise StateÂ’s Jason Chamberlain in 2009 and 2011.

Cal Poly finished the 2012-13 dual meet season 2-11 and 0-5 in Pac-12 duals, defeating only Cal Baptist and San Francisco State.

No Mustangs are ranked by InterMat this week.

Mustang 133-pound freshman Devon Lotito is close to returning to the InterMat top 20 in his weight class, sporting a 27-7 record. He was ranked No. 18 in the NCAA's second coaches' panel rankings for the season two weeks ago and No. 11 in the RPI. The final rankings, expected after all conference finals have concluded, will be one of the tools used as part of the selection process to determine the qualifiers for the 2013 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

From Bethlehem, Penn., Lotito placed first in the Keystone Invitational in Philadelphia, earned a third-place finish at the 32-team Las Vegas Invitational and was a champion at the California Collegiate Open hosted by San Francisco State earlier this month. He has pinned three of his foes but has not wrestled since the California Collegiate Open due to injury.

In addition to Lotito, Mustang 157-pounder Kyle Chené and 184-pounder Sean Dougherty finished the regular season with winning records.

Chené, who hails from Newport Beach, sports an 18-14 record with a fourth-place finish in the Reno Tournament of Champions and a title at 157 pounds in the California Collegiate Open. Chené has won 17 bouts by decision and one by major decision.

Dougherty, from Walnut Creek, is 22-13 on the year, placing second in the Roadrunner Open at Fresno, fifth in the Keystone Invitational and first in the California Collegiate Open. He has six pins and three technical falls this year.

Mustang 285-pound senior Atticus Disney suffered a knee injury in the Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 1 and underwent season-ending surgery.

Cal Poly wrestling, presented by Meathead Movers, competes in the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 21-13.

Probable Lineup for Cal Poly:

125 -- Britain Longmire, Junior, Las Vegas, NV (8-9)

133 -- Devon Lotito, Freshman, Bethlehem, PA (27-7)

141 -- Brandan Rocha, Junior, Lemoore, CA (11-12)

149 -- Dillen Rocha, Freshman, Lemoore, CA (1-13)

157 -- Kyle Chené, Junior, Newport Beach, CA 18-14)

165 -- Connor King, Freshman, Poway, CA (5-19)

174 -- Mitch Woods, Freshman, Camino, CA (2-19)

184 -- Sean Dougherty, Junior, Walnut Creek, CA (22-13)

197 -- J.T. Goodwin, Freshman, Stockton, CA (7-16)

285 -- Forfeit

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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

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