California Baptist University
RMAC Championships
History Made In Rocky Fashion
1/31/2016 8:56:00 PM | Wrestling
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Champions are made from something deep inside of them -- a desire, a dream, a vision. Sunday morning, California Baptist University showed its championship qualities at the RMAC Championship Tournament.
For the first time in program history, CBU claimed the RMAC Championship. The Lancers won the tournament with a team score of 133.5 points, with Western State coming in second at 123.5 points.
"It's a great feeling [winning the RMAC Championship]," Head Coach Lennie Zalesky said. "There were some really tough teams to wrestle against but none of my wrestlers really surprised me today. I know they're all tough and they've showed that."
Coach Zalesky, who was a three-time All-American for the University of Iowa under Dan Gable, has won numerous medals and championships in his career and believes this championship title comes as one of his best coaching moments.
Astoundingly, the Lancers had nine of their 10 wrestlers competing for a top-three spot in their individual weight-classes. Five Lancers wrestled for third place and four wrestled for their individual titles.
Nolan Kistler, a 165-pounder,was the first wrestler to represent the Lancers for a first-place match. The criminal justice major, who recently received the RMAC Summit Award for his excellence on the matand in the classrooms, was the sixth seed at the beginning of the tournament. Kistler was in top form as he pinned his first opponent in one minute flat and won by technical fall, 18-0, in his second match against the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
In the final match, Kistler faced off against Chance Hemick of Chadron State. The Riverside native was aggressive and technical all day and it did not stop at the final match as he won 10-3 to become the 165-pound RMAC Champion.
"I trusted the coaches and they told me that being the sixth seed was a good spot to be in.I wasn't really worried about the seeding, I'm confident in my ability and skills," Kistler said. "It was a huge blessing to win this and I'll continue to work on what the coaches have been teaching me. You're never 100percent satisfied with your performance but this was a huge confidence booster."
The very last match of the day came at the heavyweight bout where two giants of Division II wrestling would finally have the chance to face off against each other.
"Uncle" Joseph Fagiano, currently ranked second in the super region and sixth in the nation, has dominated his opponents all season, including six pins, two major-decisions and one technical fall. His final match came against Jacob Mitchell of Colorado State-Pueblo. Mitchell is currently ranked first in the super region and fourth in the nation and was also the 2014 runner-up at the NCAA D-II national tournament.
Throughout the wholeseason one wrestler would pin an opponent, then the next would pin the same opponent faster and vice-versa. It was a tense match through all three periods, but Fagiano would rise as the victor winning 5-2. Fagiano had impressive hand fighting and knew when to pick his moments to go in for a shot. His defense was next to perfect as it needed to be against a well-known offensive heavyweight.
With atwo minute, 59-second pin and a 7-2 decision, Faginao would claim the RMAC co-Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.
It didn't stop there for the Lancers, as Jake Waste, No. 1 seed in the tournament, claimed a victory in the championship match over Zak Slotten of Colorado Mesa. Waste is arguably one of the more pragmatic, strategic wrestlers on the CBU squad and showed his All-American qualities are everincreasing.
At 184-pounds, he won his first matches 6-2 over Western State and claimed a 10-0 major decision against Shane Rodenburg of Chadron State. In his final match, Waste won in sudden-deathvictory 2-1 and proved he is among the best in Division II.
CBU had another finalist in 197-pounder Paul Head, but was unable to grab the win, claiming second place at the tournament. In his final match against Paul Wilson of Colorado School of Mines, Head lost 9-7 in sudden victory. The No. 2 seed in the tournament will be looking forward to the super region tournament to settle the score. Head won his two matches before the finals by major decisions 13-3 and 13-4, respectively.
Of the five Lancers that competed for a bronze medal, four grabbed victories in their final bouts.
Peter Cunningham (141), and Bradford Gerl (149) fought hard all tournament-long to finish in third place. Of his three matches, Cunningham won by technical fall (17-0), 10-3 decision and a 9-6 decision for third place over Dan Gaylor of New Mexico Highlands.
Gerl faced Tim Urenda of Colorado St.-Pueblo twice in the tournament beating him in his first match of the day 11-7. The second face-off came as the match for third place and Gerl did not disappoint. Leaving it late, Gerl came from behind to draw it even.With short time remaining, Gerl snatched a pin in 7:57.
At 157-pounds Brady Bersano came too close to the match for first place. In his second match of the day against Colorado Mesa, Bersano lost 10-9. Bersano would grab a takedown in the final seconds of the match only to have it taken back by the referees.
The Fresno native had a fantastic tournament nonetheless winning three matches 15-11, 10-0 major decision, and a 10-4 decision for third place over Western State. Bersano's win for third place was vital as Western State was trailing close behind in team points.
Christian Smith came as the last wrestler to place third at the tournament. Only a sophomore (as well as Peter Cunningham and Nolan Kistler), Smith showed strength and poise to overcome his opponents. Winning 3-1 and 6-2 in two of his three wins, the 174-pounder finished the day in style majoring his opponent from Chadron State 8-0.
Anthony Racobaldo, who wrestles at the 133-pound weight class, saw a sudden victory 4-2 loss against Fern Giron of San Francisco State, who he has previously beaten in a dual meet. However, the freshman put on a spectacle today winning three matches by an 8:49 pin, 20-2 technical fall and 14-2 major decision.
This freshman from New Jersey, who went into the tournament as the No. 3 seed, has set the world alight in his first year and proves to be a top candidate in the coming years.
Zach McKenna, who wrestles for CBU at the 125 weight class, won one match for the Lancers 8-4 over Chadron State. McKenna has recently rejoined the team and is a welcomed return to the squad as he will providemore strength to an already well-developed squad.
This has been the start of a new era for CBU wrestling under Coach Zalesky and assistant coaches Arsen Aleksanyan and Andrew Nicola. These leaders for the team have put everything they have into this squad and the RMAC Championship shows the returns they well deserve.
CBU will host Colorado Mesa Friday in a dual meet before heading back to Colorado for the Super Region IV Tournament, which will decide who advances to the NCAADivision II National Tournament.
"We're going to have to wrestle just as well as we did today to advance to the national tournament," Zalesky said. "I believe they can do it and we as coaches have faith in them."
Players Mentioned
