News

Feb 27, 2010

Cody Vasconcellos, shown here wrestling an opponent earlier in the season, finished runner-up at 174 pounds at the NCAA Division II Super Regional Four/RMAC Championships on Saturday in Alamosa, Colo.

ALAMOSA, Colo. – The youthful Chadron State wrestling didn’t show much inexperience during the NCAA Division II Super Regional Four/Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships Saturday in Alamosa, Colo., as three wrestlers punched their tickets to the national tournament.

Junior transfer Cody Vasconcellos finished as runner-up at 174 pounds, while junior Jimmy Savala and freshman Ryan Fillingame each shrugged off first round setbacks for third place finishes.

The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualify for the NCAA Division II Wrestling National Championships March 12-13 in Omaha.

“I’m really pleased with how things turned out,” CSC head coach Scott Ritzen said. “Both Jimmy and Ryan wrestled tough guys in the first round and they came back strong to get third. We liked Cody’s draw and he wrestled a nice tournament.”

Vasconcellos breezed through his first two matches by recording consecutive major decisions, but a nagging leg cramp in the final against the University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Marty Usman cost him a chance at the championship.

Savala, who wrestles at 141, is making his third national tourney appearance, despite missing much of the season with a back injury. Fillingame, who has the highest freshman winning percentage in school history with 78.7 percent (26-7) at 133 pounds, was named the RMAC Freshman of the Year.

Savala, now 11-4 on the season, dropped a 5-2 decision to Jessie Snider of Colorado School of Mines, but he came back to win his next four matches. He took a 10-5 decision over Western State’s Jesse Cruz to finish in third place.

After suffering a 3-2 decision to Travis Kuhn of Fort Hays State in the opening round, Fillingame rattled off four wins where he didn’t allow an opponent to score more than three points the rest of the way. He pinned UNK’s Joey Morris before wrapping up third place with a 4-2 decision over Western State’s Daren Hockett.

Several other Eagles performed well, but just missed qualifying for nationals. Heavyweight Sam Udell finished in fifth place and Brian Easterling (157 pounds) and Chris Leak (184 pounds) both took sixth place.

With three individual champions and seven wrestlers finishing in the top four, Western State won the team title with 121.5 points. Chadron State and Adams State tied for sixth place with 67.5 points.

NCAA Division II Super Regional Four/RMAC Team Results

1, Western State, 121.5; 2, Nebraska-Kearney, 102; 3, Fort Hays State, 94.5; 4, San Francisco State, 88.5; 5, Grand Canyon State, 72.5; T6, Chadron State, 67.5; T6, Adams State, 67.5; 8, Colorado State University-Pueblo, 48.5; 9, New Mexico Highlands, 38.5; 10, Mesa State, 35.5; 11, Colorado School of Mines, 28.5.

NCAA Division II Super Regional Four/RMAC Individual Results

Chadron State

125 – Dustin Stodola, CSC, dec. Tyler Nelson, MSC, 3-1; Seth Wright, NMHU, pinned Stodola, 2:23; Kyle O’Brien, WSC, dec. Stodola, 1-0. (Stodola finishes season, 18-13)

133 – Travis Kuhn, FHSU, dec. Ryan Fillingame, CSC, 3-2; Fillingame dec. Donovan Troup, NMHU, 9-3; Fillingame major dec. Chris Rubalcaba, MSC, 11-2; Fillingame pinned Joey Morrison, UNK, 1:46; Fillingame dec. Daren Hockett, WSC, 4-2 (for third place)

141 – Jesse Snider, CSM, dec. Jimmy Savala, CSC, 5-2; Savala major dec. Nick Stahler, CSUP, 13-4; Savala dec. Tyler Baker, UNK, 10-6; Savala dec. Ben Lockett, SFSU, 3-1; Savala dec. Jesse Cruz, WSC, 10-5 (for third place)

149 – Justin Morris, WSC, tech fall Jake Lords, CSC, 21-5; Austin Cordova, CSM, dec. Lords, 4-1. (Lords finishes season, 3-17)

157 – Joey Deaguero, ASC, dec. Brian Easterling, CSC, 6-4; Easterling dec. Isaiah Jimenez, SFSU, 3-1; Easterling dec. Ryan Sprackling, CSM, 12-8; Stephen Towne, GCU, dec. Easterling, 3-1; Chase Walker, MSC, dec. Easterling, 2-1 (overtime-for fifth place) (Easterling finishes season, 15-12

165 – Blake Malloy, FHSU, major dec. Justin Dekok, CSC, 13-4; Jarrod Purvis, NMHU, dec. Dekok, 4-1. (Dekok finishes season, 9-19)

174 – Cody Vasconcellos, CSC, major dec. Zach Frazier, WSC, 10-0; Vasconcellos major dec. Shawn Kuhlman, FHSU, 13-1; Marty Usman, UNK, wins by medical forfeit over Vasconcellos (for championship)

184 – Chris Leak, CSC, major dec. Bradley Price, CSM, 13-0; Chance Rencountre, FHSU, dec. Leak, 4-1; Leak pinned Adam Pacheco, NMHU, 3:29; Chris Leak dec. Adam Carey, CSUP, 10-8; Derek Ross, UNK, dec. Leak, 7-4; Chance Rencountre, FHSU, pinned Leak, 1:44 (for fifth place) (Leak finishes season, 18-21)

197 – Donovan McMahill, WSC, pinned Duke Eardley, 5:54; Eardley dec. Brennen Knerr, CSM, 5-2; Steven Kyler, FHSU, dec. Eardley, 3-2. (Eardley finishes season 7-5)

285 – Sam Udell, CSC, dec. Justin Glenn, FHSU, 7-2; Jesse Boggs, NMHU, dec. Udell, 2-1; Udell dec. Jeff Schossow, ASC, 4-1 (overtime); Udell major dec. Trevor Stapp, MSC, 8-0; Patrick Carey, CSUP, dec. Udell, 5-3; Udell pinned Richard Hernandez, GCU, 6:15 (for fifth place) (Udell finishes season, 13-11)