Josh Hensely is ranked No. 1 in the country. He defeated No. 2 Andre Harrision of Fort Hays State by a 12-2 score earlier this season.Grizzlies set to host competitive NCAA Super Regional
February 24, 2010ASC brings in co-tournament high five ranked wrestlers
ALAMOSA, Colo.— The Adams State College Grizzlies are ready to host what should be one of the most competitive and wide-open NCAA Division II Super Regional Four/Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Wrestling Championship tournaments in recent memory this Saturday in Plachy Hall.
Action begins at a 9 a.m. and will run throughout the day. The championship finals begin at 7:30 p.m.
Six of the 11 competing teams, including the No. 15 Grizzlies, are ranked in last week’s NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coaches Association Top 20 poll while another (Mesa State) is receiving votes.
Nebraska-Kearney, which won seven straight RMAC Championships from 2002-08 and this year’s unofficial RMAC Dual Meet Championship, leads the bunch and comes in ranked seventh in the country. Western State, which won last year’s title in Kearney, ahead of the Grizzlies, is tied for 11th in the rankings while Fort Hays State, an associate member of the RMAC is ranked 14th. Fellow associate members San Francisco State and up-and-coming Grand Canyon (Ariz.) are also nationally ranked sitting in the No. 18 and 20 spots of the poll.
The RMAC teams also have a combined 22 individually ranked wrestlers ranked amongst the nation’s top eight in their respective weight classes That total includes four different wrestlers ranked first in the nation and another 10 that are ranked second, third of fourth.
Each of the 10 weight classes will have at least one nationally ranked wrestler in the field while the 125, 141 and 157-pound brackets appear to be the deepest as each has three probable entrants ranked in the top four amongst the nation.
In addition to determining the RMAC team and individual champions, the tournament also serves as a qualifier for the Mar. 12-13 NCAA Division II National Championships in Omaha, Neb.
Tickets for Saturday’s tournament may be purchased at the Plachy Hall ticket window starting at 7:30 a.m. that day. Adult all-day tickets will be sold for $12 while seniors and children can purchase tickets for $8. College students with valid I.D.’s will be admitted throughout the day for $5. Fans that only wish to attend the finals will pay $10 (adults), $5 (seniors and children) and $3 (college students) to gain admission.
Parking in the north lot of Plachy Hall will be for $5 per vehicle.
As it is an NCAA event, Grizzly Club passes cannot be honored.
Those that cannot the tournament can watch latter stages of it for free on B2 Networks. That coverage will begin at 4 p.m. and will run through the championship finals, when former Grizzly 2-time All-American and 2007 RMAC Champion Casey Woodall will join RMAC Assistant Commissioner and RMAC Showcase host Eric Danner on the broadcast.
Updated brackets will also be posted throughout the day on the Grizzlies’ tournament website, which can be accessed by clicking here.
The Grizzlies, who come into the tournament, which they last hosted in 2002, have five individually ranked wrestlers, equal to the most in the tournament. That group is led by top-ranked 141-pounder Josh Hensley (Alamosa, Colo.), a sophomore who sports a team-best 23-3 record.
Hensley, who finished third in the 2008 edition of the tournament, has been dominant this year recording 13 straight wins since the calendar rolled to 2010, all by bonus-point margins. He has outscored his opponents by a 128-14 margin in that time and posted a 12-2 major decision win over No 2-ranked Andre Harrison of Fort Hays State in one of his closest matches during the streak. Fourth-ranked Ben Lockett of San Francisco State could also contend.
The Grizzlies also have two returning champions in seniors Arsenia Barksdale (Norfolk, Va.) and Kyle Sand (Arvada, Colo.) who both went on to win NCAA Division II National Championships last year.
Barksdale, who has 96 career wins entering the tournament and has won seven straight. The 125-pounder, who is ranked second in the country, has won the last two RMAC titles and is a 3-time All-American at the weight class. He went 16-5 during the regular season posting an 8-1 record in dual-meets and his hoping to get a chance at avenging that one loss, his only one at home throughout his high school and collegiate career against No. 1 ranked Seth Wright of New Mexico Highlands.
Fort Hays State’s Tommy Edgmon, who wrestled Barksdale in the finals of last year’s national tournament, is ranked third in the country.
Sand is ranked fifth in the country at 197 pounds, a weight class above where he won last year’s RMAC and then national title. Tabbed as the RMAC’s Preseason Wrestler of the Year, Sand has done nothing to disappoint posting a 21-6 overall record and a 10-2 record in dual meets.
Western State’s Donavan McMahill, the 2009 RMAC Champion and 2008 NCAA Division II runner-up at 197 pounds last year, is ranked fourth in the country and looks to be Sand’s top competition.
The Grizzlies also have another heralded senior in 2-time Joey Deaguero (Commerce City, Colo.), who will be looking for his fourth career national tournament spot. Deaguero, who finished third at 149 pounds last year after placing the same at 141 pounds in 2007, has moved up to 157 pounds this year and is currently ranked second in the country. He holds a 20-8 record and has a Grizzly-high nine wins coming by fall. Still looking for a RMAC title, Deaguero has some tough foes again this year as Western State’s Kyle Francis and Fort Hays State’s Danny Grater are ranked third and fourth in the country.
Also nationally ranked for the Grizzlies is true freshman Daniel Kelly (Parker, Colo.), tabbed seventh in the country at 149 pounds. Kelly sports a 19-7 overall record and went 6-2 in dual meets this year after having his redshirt pulled. The 2-time state champion out of Ponderosa High School is one of just two ranked wrestlers in what could be a wide-open, yet competitive bracket. Nebraska-Kearney’s T.J. Hepburn, a man that defeated Kelly in sudden victory, is ranked fourth.
Grizzly senior heavyweight Jeff Schossow (Fort Morgan, Colo.) is also hoping for a second straight national tournament appearance after finishing third in last year’s regional. Western State’s Charlie Alexander, the RMAC champion a year ago, and San Francisco State’s Steve Franklin are nationally ranked in the No. 4 and No. 8 spots, respectively.
Grizzly coach Jason Ramstetter, who has guided 17 individual champions and 62 national qualifiers in the previous 10 years at the helm of the program, is also hoping to get some of his other younger, yet experienced, wrestlers like sophomores Dominic Valencia (Albuquerque, N.M.) and Torben Walters through to the national tournament. Valencia, who finished fifth in last year’s Super Regional/RMAC affair, has gone 4-3 in limited 133-pound action this season while Walters, a former 4-time high school state champion, has gone 15-8 overall while posting a 10-8 dual-meet record this year, mostly at 184 pounds.
Those men will also be key to the Grizzlies’ efforts in the team standings as the squad has finished in the top three of the team standings in seven of the last nine years placing second in 2005, 2006 and again last year. Adams State’s last team title came in 1996, a year the then Indians hosted the affair.
San Francisco State’s Naveed Bagheri, last year’s RMAC Freshman of the Year and weight class champion is ranked third in the country at 133 pounds while sixth-ranked Todd Wilcox of Grand Canyon sports an impressive 35-2 overall record in that same weight class.
Charlie Pipher of Western State is ranked No. 1 in the 184-pound weight class while Fort Hays State’s Chance Rencountre is tabbed fifth.
The 165-pound weight class, which will include Grizzly true freshman Anthony Gomez (Albuquerque, N.M.), also has two individually ranked wrestlers in No. 6 Victor Carazo of Grand Canyon, the reigning RMAC Wrestler of the Year, and No. 7 Blake Malloy of Fort Hays State, a man Carazo (32-4) beat last week.
Nebraska-Kearney’s Kamarudeen “Marty” Usman appears to be the favorite at 174 pounds and is the conference’s only nationally ranked wrestler in the weight class. He won last year’s RMAC title and finished second in the national championships behind now departed Chadron State national champion Brett Hunter. Usman is 37-1 this season, the best overall record of any of the six returning RMAC champions and the best in the entire tournament.
