Sports Editor
CSU Bakersfield’s wrestling continues to dominate this season as they defeated Grand Canyon University 28-9 on Jan. 31 at the Icardo Center.
“Our guys wrestled hard and focused on scoring,” said CSUB head coach Mike Mendoza. “I look at the scores a lot of times and it’s a good indication that obviously we’re scoring points and we’re winning. So to win by a large margin is good. We’re on the right track.”
In the 133-pound division between CSUB freshman Carlos Herrera (15-15) and GCU freshman Jauquin Olivas (8-13) the match was decided in six overtime periods as the two wrestlers traded off one point escapes in the first couple overtime periods.
Herrera was able to prevent Olivas, who was in the down position, from getting an escape point in the fifth overtime period. Herrera was in the down position in the sixth period in which he was able to escape Olivas and hold him off making the score 7-6 and getting his 15th win of the season.
“It was a good match overall. I felt like I could’ve gave a little bit more effort towards the end,” said Herrera. “It shouldn’t have been that close but a ‘W’ is a ‘W’ so I got what I wanted for the team.
CSUB’s redshirt-senior Reuben Franklin (26-5) wrestled at 197 against GCU’s redshirt-junior Austin Trujillo (2-11).
Both wrestlers came out aggressive shooting to take down one another, but Franklin scored two takedowns and added two four-point near falls in the first period. In the second period, with 52 seconds left, Franklin was able to pin Trujillo and get his team six points.
“That’s kind of how you want to go out there,” said Franklin. “You just want to go out there and be able to dominate the guy and that’s how I felt like I was able to do this time.
Mendoza said that he was excited to see Herrera grind out and get the win.
“It’s been like this all year. He’s just a machine,” Mendoza said about Franklin’s performance. “It seems like he’s bringing it to another level. He wrestles the way we want all of our guys to wrestle.”
The Roadrunners (9-3, 2-0 PAC-12) were able to keep Antelopes (5-17) scoreless until the Antelopes’ freshman Kenny Moore (13-8) was able to beat CSUB’s redshirt-senior Jesus Ambriz (5-8) and earned three team points for GCU.
Another notable match was at 149 between CSUB’s redshirt-sophomore Coleman Hammond (18-9) and GCU’s Joe Huber (0-2). Hammond dominated the match and got the win in the first period by technical fall 18-0 with 17 seconds remaining.
CSUB will host Oregon State University at Centennial High School on Feb. 6 at 5 p.m.
