COMPLETE SOU RESULTS

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Southern Oregon's quest for a program-record fifth consecutive NAIA West championship fell short Saturday, as the second-ranked Raiders tallied 133 points to finish behind third-ranked tournament host Great Falls in the team race.

The Raiders finished just eight points ahead of sixth-ranked Montana-State Northern (125), while Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) tallied 108 points to finish fourth in the most competitive regional tournament in the NAIA this year.

Top-ranked Raiders Mitchell Lofstedt (Roseburg, Ore./Roseburg) and Brock Gutches (Central Point, Ore./Crater) claimed individual titles in the 125 and 174-pound brackets, while second-ranked Taylor Johnson (Redmond, Ore./Redmond) won the 197 title to give SOU three individual championships and a total of 11 national qualifiers.

“Getting three regional champions is a good start heading into the national championships,” SOU head coach Mike Ritchey said. “We wrestled a little flat today, but we feel our training is on track for the national tournament.”

Great Falls finished with two individual champions and four second-place finishers, while SOU totaled three champions and two runners-up.

“We knew it would be tough to upend Great Falls in their house,” Ritchey said. “They pulled some surprises and wrestled really well and my hat is off to them.”

Lofstedt, the defending national champion and program record-holder in both wins and pins, won both of his matchups by fall. He took down MSU-Northern's Duell Stadel in 2:49 in the semifinals and downed No. 11 Sean Silva from Embry-Riddle in 2:31 to claim his third 125-pound regional title.

Gutches dominated the 174-pound bracket with a pair of pins and a technical fall. He pinned Great Falls' Brock Picard in 6:55 in the quarterfinals and earned a 17-2 victory over Embry-Riddle's Jose Cruz, III, to advance to the championship matchup. A contest between the nation's top two 174-pounders did not live up to the hype, as Gutches pinned second-ranked Max Payne in 4:44 to defend his 2012 regional title. Both Lofstedt and Gutches return to the national championships as the defending national champions and the top-ranked wrestlers in their class all season.

Johnson spent as little time as he could on the mat in winning the 197-pound crown. He pinned Embry-Riddle's Troy Killgore in a mere 26 seconds in the semifinals and pinned Dylan Lemery from Great Falls in 1:04 to claim the title.

Second-ranked Jimmy Eggemeyer (Kodiak, Alaska/Kodiak) fell just shy of the 149-pount title, as top-ranked Mike Vassar defeated him by a 3-2 decision in the championship match. Sixteenth-ranked Bubba Owens (Tillamook, Ore./) advanced to the heavyweight championship bout before settling for a second-place finish with a 9-3 loss to Menlo's Scott Brasil.

Three Raiders earned third-place finishes. Top-ranked 133-pounder Prescott Garner (West Linn, Ore./West Linn) bounced back from a 10-8 semifinal loss to No. 6 Cameron Neiss to defeat teammate Miguel Baltazar (Culver, Ore./Culver) by injury default in the third-place match. Baltazar, ranked fourth in the nation, finished fourth in the bracket.

Derek Mestrovich (Boise, Idaho/Skyview) also fell in his first match of the day, dropping a 3-0 decision to fourth-ranked Shawn Lau to fall into the 165-pound consolation bracket. He won his next two matches to take third place. Ninth-ranked Jacob Abrams (The Dalles, Ore./The Dalles-Wahtonka) placed third and finished with three pins on the day, including a pin over teammate Tyler Thomas (Salem, Ore./McKay) in the consolation semifinals. Thomas placed fifth in the bracket.

Dalton Urrutia (Lebanon, Ore./Lebanon), the 11th-ranked 157-pounder in the nation, finished fifth. Bryson Gutches (Central Point, Ore./Crater) placed seventh in the 165-pound bracket.

For the Raiders, all their attention now turns to the NAIA National Championships in two weeks in Des Moines, Iowa. Despite falling short of the regional title, Ritchey expects the Raiders to be in contention at the national tournament.

“We will take our seeds and see what happens in a couple of weeks,” Ritchey said. “We will take 11 qualifiers and focus on the hunt for another banner for Bob Riehm Arena. We may be a dark horse at this point, but we'll see if we can stay with Great Falls and Grand View.”