Gardner, who redshirted last year, had looked impressive while wrestling in open tournaments, while Mendes performed well a weight class up, filling in at 133 once All-American Darrell Vasquez was forced to sit out the season due to illness. But with Vasquez back in the lineup this year and Gardner no longer redshirting, the two crossed paths.
Chad Mendes of Cal Poly claimed the title at 125 pounds by defeating Tanner Gardner of Stanford (photo by John Sachs).Mendes retook the lead in the third 5-4 with an escape, but and rather than just hold on, Mendes scored a second takedown to increase his advantage to 7-4. Gardner did escape, but the match ended 7-5.
Although the match was the first time the two had met in college competition, the two faced each other in the 2002 NHSCA Senior Nationals (also won my Mendes).
"He's improved a lot since then." Said Mendes. "I'm happy about the win. I feel great." When asked about dropping to 125 after a season at 133 (where he won two matches at the NCAA Tournament), he said, "It's been a hard cut, but I've been doing it right and that's what makes the difference."
Cal Poly head coach, John Azevedo concurred and praised Mendes' discipline with regard to his weight. "He's going a great job and when you do it right, you're not going to feel drained."
The finals featured a number of other exciting matches. At 157, Sean Reilly of Cal State Fullerton won the title on his home mat with a pin following a high amplitude throw in the first period. Mat skills proved useful to Cal Poly's Ryan Halsey, who grinded out a hard fought 1-0 win Tyler Bernacchi of UC Davis. Halsey rode Bernacchi the entire second period (the tournament did NOT keep riding time) and then escaped early in the third for the only scoring in the bout.
Matt Monteiro of Cal Poly pinned C.B. Dolloway to win the 197-pound title (photo by John Sachs).A number of finals match did not take place as wrestlers left to catch planes before the (late evening) finals. Additionally, a number of placement matches featured double defaults as wrestlers from the same school elected not to face each other. The 141 pound bracket (the largest in the field with 47 entrants) wrestled only the fifth/sixth place match and had double defaults for first, third and seventh. But that isn't to say that the bracket lacked action. In the quarterfinals, number one seed Steve Esparza of Cal Poly found himself down 6-2 to Fresno State's Garrett Spooner entering the third period. Esparza rallied with two takedowns to tie the match 7-7 and rather than try and ride out to send the match into overtime, he went for a turn and won in regulation 10-7. In the semis, Esparza ran into Cal Davis's Derek Moore (up from 133 last year) who won the bout with exceptional mat wrestling, turning Esparza in the second for three nearfall points and then getting a reversal late in the third.
All American Brian Stith of Arizona State (sixth last year at the NCAAs) was the No. 1 seed at 157, won his first two matches, but then injury defaulted in the third round.
Aforementioned 133-pound All American Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly (fourth at the 2004 NCAAs) sat the competition out in order to rest for his appearance in Monday night's All Star Classic meet, where he'll meet Mack Reiter of Minnesota (4th at the 2005 NCAAs). About holding Vasquez, Azevedo said "It wasn't a tough decision. We didn't want him to go through the grind of this tournament."
With regard to Vasquez's chances in the match, teammate Mendes, who faced Reiter in the quarters of last year's NCAAs (won by Reiter 8-3) said, "I think Darrell has a good shot. I wrestle with him every day and he's amazing."
Fullerton Open Final Results:
125 -- Chad Mendes (SLO) dec. Tanner Gardiner (Stan), 7-5
133 -- Tommy Vargas (CSU Bak) dec. Omar Gaitan (UCD), 7-2
141 -- Derek Moore (UCD) and Jeff Bristol (UCD), double default
149 -- Anthony Baza (CSU Bak) dec. Jeff Owens (SLO), 6-3
157 -- Shawn Reilly (CSF) pinned Kyle Bickford (Menlo), 2:26
165 -- Brian Busby (CSU Bak) by default over Frank Richmond (UCD)
174 -- Ryan Budd (Titan WC) by default over Ken Cook (UCD)
184 -- Ryan Hasley (SLO) dec. Tyler Bernacchi (UCD), 1-0
197 -- Matt Montiero (SLO) pinned C B Dolloway (unatt), 0:54
Hwt -- Tyrell Blanche (Menlo) dec. Cody Parker (FSU), 6-2
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