GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—The Adams State University Wrestling team saw two wrestlers earn NCAA Super Region VI titles and while doing so, they punched their ticket to the NCAA Division II Championship on Sunday inside Brownson Arena on the campus of Colorado Mesa University.
Isaiah De La Cerda won the title at 125 pounds while
Noah Hermosillo won the title at 149 pounds. As a team, Adams State finished in fourth place as they accumulated 44 points. The team doubled as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship Tournament and the Grizzlies finished fourth in the team race with 47 points while Colorado Mesa won the team title with 94 points.
De La Cerda and Hermosillo will be in action on Friday, Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March, 13 at the NCAA Division II Championships, which will be at America's Cneter Converntion Complex in St. Louis, Missouri.
Finals
The championship round was exciting for the Grizzlies early. The 125-pound match dwindled down to a minute remaining and changed drastically in 25 seconds. De La Cerda, who was the No. 2 seed found himself down 6-0 late in the third period to No. 1 seeded Josh Portillo of former Grizzly rival University of Nebraska-Kearney.
However, with the two in the neutral position with a minute left, De La Cerda flipped Portillo to his back for a take down before locking in a head lock with 53 seconds remaining. As he locked it in, De La Cerda kept the pressure on the upper part of the body forcing Portillo to expel whatever energy he had remaining. As the official watched the shoulders carefully with 28 seconds remining he officially called the fall in favor of De La Cerda giving him the title, a ticket to nationals and handing UNK their first loss of the tournament.
The 149-pound match was a back-and-forth affair match between No. 1 seed Hermosillo and No. 2 seed Sam Turner of Nebraska-Kearney. As the match went late in the third period, the match was tied at four but Turner had 1:03 of ridding time. The match looked as if it was going to end with the extra point awarded to Turner for the 5-4 win, however, with eight seconds left, a penalty point was accessed to Turner for stalling giving Hermosillo the lead 5-4 before the riding time was calculated.
In the overtime period neither wrestler had the upper hand until Hermosillo decided to take a shot at the legs with three seconds and pulling off the rolling takedown as time expired. The sudden-victory win gave him the title and a ticket to the NCAA Championships.
Quarterfinals
Adams State saw De La Cerda and
Jonathan Andreatta earn byes in the opening round.
Angel Flores advanced and scored two team points as he earned a major decision over Western Colorado's Dean Noble by a count of 13-5.
At 149 pounds, Hermosillo earned three team points as he earned a fall over Colorado Mesa's Ryan Wheeler in 3:47.
At 157 pounds,
Dylan Udero earned a 4-0 decision over Chadron State for one team point while
Aaden Valdez earned two team points with a 13-5 major decision over Chadron State's Tate Allison.
At 174 pounds,
Gavin Davy earned a 7-3 decision over Colorado School of Mines' Ryan Fidel before Colorado Mesa's Nolan Krone earned a fall over Cole Gustavson at 197 pounds.
Nathan Ellis was pinned in the 285-pound match in 1:22.
After the opening round, Adams State was in third place with nine points.
Semifinals
At 125 pounds,
Isaiah De La Cerda earned six team points and had an 8-2 decision over CSU Pueblo's Parker McBride to advance to championship.
At 133 pounds,
Jonathan Andreatta lost a hard-fought 6-5 decision to Western Colorado's Patrick Allis.
Angel Flores was on the bottom end of a 5-2 decision to Nebraska-Kearney's Nick James.
At 149 pounds, Hermosillo earned an 8-6 decision over Western Colorado's Hason Hanenberg and advanced to the finals.
Aaden Valdez dropped a 9-0 major decision to Colorado Mesa's Fred Green at 165 pounds while
Gavin Davy dropped an 8-4 decision to Nebraka-Kearney's Terrell Garraway.
Consolations
After Ellis and Gustavson received byes in the first round of consolations, Lewis earned a fall over Chadron State's Joseph Renner in 4:45 to advance.
Flores finished in sixth place as he was defeated by Chadron State's Joseph Ritzen in the consolation semifinals by a 9-5 decision.
Udero was defeated by Colorado Mesa's Nick Gallegos in the consolation semifinal by a 6-4 decision.
CSU Pueblo's Justin Davis earned an 8-5 decision over Valdez in the consolation semifinals.
Rowdy Pfeil of Chadron State earned a fall over Davy in the consolation semifinals while Weston Hunt of Colorado School of Mines earned a fall over Ellis.
ASU NCAA DII Super Regional VI Results
125 –
Isaiah De La Cerda – 1st Place
133 –
Jonathan Andreatta – 3rd Place
141 –
Angel Flores – 5/6th Place
149 –
Noah Hermosillo – 1st Place
157 –
Dylan Udero – 5/6th Place
165 –
Aaden Valdez – 5/6th Place
174 –
Gavin Davy – 5/6th Place
184 –
Cody Lewis – 5/6th Place
197 – Cole Gustavson – 5/6th Place
285 –
Nathan Ellis – 5/6th Place
