March 2, 2008

Eugene, Oregon -

Defending 149-pound champion Morgan Atkinson is the only Titan alive in the championship brackets of the Pac-10 Wrestling Championships after Sunday's double session with Boise State off to a big lead in the team standings.

Atkinson, the No. 1 seed, will face No.2-seeded Adam Hall of Boise State in Monday's finals. Atkinson advanced with a 5-2 decision over Eric Maldonado of Cal Poly in the semifinals.

Five Titans are alive in the consolation bracket.

At 133, No. 1-seed T. J. Dillashaw will face Francisco Manriquez of UC Davis in the wrestle-back after losing to No. 4-seeded Ryan Dunn of host Oregon, 6-2, in the semifinals.

At 141, Teddy Astorga advanced in the consolation bracket by pinning Elijah Nacita of Cal State Bakersfield in 3:28. Astorga next faces Levi Jones of Boise State.

At 157, Devan Velasquez was eliminated by CSUB's Trevor Hall by pin.

At 165, Teddy Bristol was eliminated by Kyle Barrett of Stanford, 10-6.

At 174, Todd Noel faces Michael Williams of Cal Poly after losing to Tyler Bernacchi of UC Davis, 8-0, in the semifinals.

At 184, Ian Murphy faces John Clark of UC Davis after losing to Brent Chriswell of Arizona State, 5-1, in the semifinals.

At 197, John Drake faces Riley Orozco of CSUB after losing to Kyle Bressler of Oregon State, 2-1, on a tie-breaker.

Complete Brackets and Team Standings thru Sunday night in PDF Format

Afternoon Session Report:

No. 1-seeded T. J. Dillashaw at 133 pounds, No. 1-seeded Morgan Atkinson at 149, Todd Noel at 174, Ian Murphy at 184 and John Drake at 197 won their opening bouts for Cal State Fullerton and remain in the championship bracket after the Sunday opening session of the Pac-10 Wrestling Championships.

Boise State is the early team leader with 86 points followed by a closely bunched pack of Fullerton at 59 points, Oregon State at 55, Stanford at 54 1/2, Arizona state at 52 1/2, Cal State Bakersfield at 49 1/2, Cal Poly at 48 1/2, UC Davis at 47 1/2 and Oregon at 44 1/2. Portland State is a distant tenth at 17. Boise State has eight wrestlers alive in the championship brackets.

Fullerton's Andre Gonzalez at 125 was pinned by No. 1-seeded Tanner Gardner of Stanford and lost his opening consolation match. No. 2-seeded Teddy Astorga was upset at 141 by No. 7 seed Nexi Delgado of UC Davis. Fullerton returned the favor at 174 as No. 7-seeded Noel upset No. 2 Luke Feist of Stanford, 6-4.

No. 5-seeded Devan Velasquez won his first bout at 157, lost his second bout and won his first consolation bout. No. 7-seeded Teddy Bristol at 165 lost to No. 2-seeded Kurt Swartz of Boise State, 9-1.

No. 2-seeded Ian Murphy won by fall in his opening bout at 184 and No. 2-seeded John Drake won a narrow 6-5 decison. At heavyweight, Kurt Klimek, filling in for injured All-American Wade Sauer, has been eliminated. He won his first bout by pin over Zach Smith of Portland State but then lost to No. 5-seeded Mitchell Monteiro of Cal State Bakersfield (10-1) and unseeded Quinton Pruett of Arizona State (7-5).

The second session of the day was scheduled for 6 p.m. In addition to the team standings, this meet determines the Pac-10's representatives to the NCAA Championships. The top three finishers at each weight advance plus a few wild cards.

First Session Results