Three Titans were crowned champions, two more were runners-up, four were third and two were fourth. Conditioning played a big part in the home team's dominance.
"We trained hard this year," said head coach Dan Hicks. "Especially for Navy a while ago. We beat 'em, but it was a brawl. We knew they would be tough and come on hard, so we trained for them all fall to get ready. We knew we'd be in good shape coming into this tournament, but now we've got to carry it on through."
In no final was Fullerton's conditioning more apparent than at 157 pounds, where Steven De La Fuente stopped unattached Randal Allerman, 7-4. De La Fuente held a slim 5-4 lead, but yet pressed the attack and scored a final takedown at the end of the third period.
"He seemed tired," De La Fuente said. "It gives me motivation. You're like a lion … you see your prey and you get excited."
Using his shape to his advantage was part of his strategy.
"Going into that match, I planned on wearing him out," said De La Fuente. "Go hard on the head the whole time. This is college wrestling -- both guys are going to get tired at some point. You've just got to push through it."
De La Fuente was joined on the top step of the podium by teammates TJ Dillashaw (133) and Devin Velasquez (165) -- both of whom beat opponents from Cal-State Bakersfield. Dillashaw won 7-3 bout over Tomas Kimbrell and Velasquez won 7-4 over Joey Granata. The senior Dillashaw looked especially sharp in all three positions, including a ride out for the entire second period.
Fullerton's Teddy Astorga appeared close to victory in his 141-pound finals match with Boris Novachkov of Cal-Poly. Down 0-1 on the scoreboard in the third period, the match was actually tied since Astorga had riding time. But the crafty Novachkov scored a quick takedown, two backpoints and erased the riding time to win 5-0.
The only lopsided match of the evening saw Fullerton's Tim Hawkins lose to Zack Giesen (wrestling unattached for Stanford) 12-1.
The closest bout of the evening was a 3-2 victory for Enock Francois of Cal Baptist over
Jason Points of Cal-Bakersfield. In a bout that featured more action than points, the match was ironically won on a stalling call.
Coach Hicks was fairly pleased with the results, but felt that his team simply had to build on it.
"For us, we need confidence," said Hicks. "We have two and a half scholarships here. There are good kids in California, but a lot of times we haven't been getting the number one guy in the country … although we beat a few of them today. So we need to get in great shape so we can win matches and build confidence. Keep building where our kids feel that we can win."
He also stressed that while his wrestlers have to continue to improve, he and his assistants also have work to do.
"We really have to coach," said Hicks. "The kids that get that win most of the time. We've got to focus. We've got Mark Munoz working with us now. Just having him walking around is helpful. I mean, he's a national champ. We've got a great coaching staff now. For us, it's staying in shape, fixing the little things, and getting more and more experience."
With the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational coming up, a tough dual meet schedule and hosting the Pac-10 tournament, that experience is certainly forthcoming. But the success has also been building already.
"Before I came six years ago," Hicks said. "Fullerton hadn't conference dual in five years. Now we've won nine in a row."
With the loss of the (Pac-10) Oregon wrestling program and the near-loss of Arizona State to Title IX compliance, Hicks understands the importance of building up not only his program, but wrestling itself at the college level.
"We had high school team day on Friday when we wrestled Stanford and we had this whole bottom level filled with high school kids. We do that to get kids out. We're hosting the Pac-10s here this year. We have to do a lot of things to promote the sport up."
Fullerton Open Brackets
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