REDDING, Calif. – A tournament that was billed as being up for grabs fell right back into the hands of the usual suspects Saturday at Simpson University.

For the seventh time in nine years, 10th-ranked Southern Oregon fired on all cylinders to win the NAIA West Group Qualifier title behind a pair of champions and six more top-three placers. Redshirt-sophomore Devin Poppen, the fifth-seeded wrestler in his weight class, captured the 141-pound title and second-ranked senior Tyler Cowger topped the 149-pound bracket for the third year in a row.

Hunter Hodges (157), Andrew Orr (174) and Tanner Fischer (197) were each runners-up. SOU's three third-place finishers – Casey Coulter (133), Chandler Michael (157) and Aaron DeMay (165) – all outperformed their pre-tournament seeds.

The Raiders finished with 131 points, running away from No. 8 Great Falls (Mont. (117 points), No. 25 Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) (110.5) and No. 3 Menlo (Calif.) (99.5). Going into the tourney, those four teams were separated by five points in the West Group poll.

SOU has won 14th regional titles since Mike Ritchey took over as head coach in 1995.

Each of SOU's top-three finishers became automatic qualifiers for the NAIA Championships, which will take place March 3-4 in Topeka, Kan. Individual at-large bids will be announced early next week.

Poppen – who came into the day having pinned 10 of his last 12 opponents – continued his roll into nationals, finishing with a 17-13 upset of seventh-ranked Shonn Roberts of UGF in the title bout. To get there, he pinned UGF's Justin Whitman in 4 minutes 4 seconds, topped third-seeded teammate Justin Acuff in an 8-2 decision, and pinned Embry-Riddle's Cameron Huizar in 2:56 in the semifinals.

Cowger, who will attempt to become SOU's seventh fourth-time All-American, rank his win streak to 13 and his season record to 29-4 with little trouble. He shut out his first three opponents – Eastern Oregon's Jared Neiss (8-0), Menlo's Jeff Uyesaka (16-0) and Embry-Riddle's Anton King (4-0). In the finals, he took care of Embry-Riddle's Jerod Booth, 6-2.

Hodges, the third-ranked 157-pounder in the NAIA, advanced to the finals with a pair of decisions: 8-1 over EOU's Terry Mason and 5-1 over Michael, his teammate. Montana State-Northern's Brandon Weber, ranked fourth, edged him 6-3 for the championship.

At 174, Orr (seeded fourth) started with a 5-2 quarterfinal win against Warner Pacific's Alex Cruz and got through the semis with a 4-3 upset of Great Falls' sixth-ranked Randy Keesler, the region's top seed. Embry-Riddle's ninth-ranked Brenn Schiess beat him in the final, 7-4.

Fischer, ranked 11th at 197, started with a win by fall over Menlo's Young Woo an in 4:05. He, too, pulled off an upset in the semifinals, pinning eighth-ranked Mathew Hopkins of UGF in 4:56, but was defeated by UGF's third-ranked John Hensley in the final, 14-5.

Coulter – an All-American last year at 125 but wrestling now at 133 – wrestled four matches decided by a total of five points, finishing with a 3-2 overtime upset of Menlo's seventh-ranked Brian Ha. He also needed overtime to win in the quarterfinals, 3-1 against Embry-Riddle's Collin Anderson, but was stopped in the semis by WPC's Joshua Crager, 3-2 He stayed alive and advanced to the third-place match by edging UGF's Jarren Komac, 3-1.

Michael (157) scored a pair of pins on the day – in 3:44 against MSU-Northern's Tommy Cooper in the quarterfinals, then in 24 seconds against UGF's Gage Bentley in the consolation semis after he was defeated in the championship semis by Hodges. In the third-place match he topped Embry-Riddle's James Williams, 3-1 in overtime.

The Raiders went 4-1 in overtime matches as a team.

DeMay (165) will go to nationals for the second straight year after going 3-1 at the tourney, finishing with a pin of MSU-Northern's Drake Randall in 2:12 for third place. He beat MSU-Northern's Andrew Bartel in the quarterfinals, 7-6, and was stopped by WPC's second-ranked Blake Cooper in the semis, 10-4. In the consolation semis, he pinned ERAU's Kody Davis just before the third-period buzzer.

The Raiders also got a fifth-place finish out of heavyweight Alejandro Sandoval, who wrapped up with a 3-2 overtime win against Menlo's Talyn La Tour.

TEAM SCORES – Southern Oregon 131, Great Falls 117, Embry-Riddle 110.5, Menlo 99.5, Montana State-Northern 92.5, Warner Pacific 78, Eastern Oregon 64, Simpson 30.5.

133 – Casey Coulter (3rd place)
Championship Round 1 – Coulter received a bye.
Quarterfinal – Coulter dec. Collin Anderson, ERAU, 3-1 (OT).
Semifinal – Joshua Crager, WPC, dec. Coulter, 3-2.
Consolation Semifinal – Coulter dec. Jarren Komac, UGF, 3-1.
3rd-place Match – Coulter dec. Brian Ha, MC, 3-2 (OT).

141 – Justin Acuff
Championship Round 1 – Acuff dec. Brendon Vladic, EOU, 7-5.
Quarterfinal – Devin Poppen, SOU, dec. Acuff, 8-2.
Consolation Round 2 – Acuff p. Tyler Miler, EOU, 2:00.
Consolation Round 3 – Matt Weber, MSUN, dec. Acuff, 7-3.

141 – Devin Poppen (1st place)
Championship Round 1 – Poppen p. Justin Whitman, UGF, 4:04.
Quarterfinal – Poppen dec. Justin Acuff, SOU, 8-2.
Semifinal – Poppen p. Cameron Huizar, ERAU, 2:56.
1st-place Match – Poppen dec. Shonn Roberts, UGF, 17-13.

149 – Tyler Cowger (1st place)
Championship Round 1 – Cowger major dec. Jared Neiss, EOU, 8-0.
Quarterfinal – Cowger tech. fall Jeff Uyesaka, MC, 16-0.
Semifinal – Cowger dec. Anton King, ERAU, 4-0.
1st-place Match – Cowger dec. Jerod Booth, ERAU, 6-2.

157 – Hunter Hodges (2nd place)
Championship Round 1 – Hodges received a bye.
Quarterfinal – Hodges dec. Terry Mason, EOU, 8-1.
Semifinal – Hodges dec. Chandler Michael, SOU, 5-1.
1st-place Match – Brandon Weber, MSUN, dec. Hodges, 6-3.

157 – Chandler Michael (3rd place)
Championship Round 1 – Michael received a bye.
Quarterfinal – Michael p. Tommy Cooper, MSUN, 3:44.
Semifinal – Hunter Hodges, SOU, dec. Michael, 5-1.
Consolation Semifinal – Michael p. Gage Bentley, UGF, 0:24.
3rd-place Match – Michael dec. James Williams, ERAU, 3-1 (OT).

165 – Aaron DeMay (3rd place)
Championship Round 1 – DeMay received a bye.
Quarterfinal – DeMay, SOU, dec. Andrew Bartel, MSUN, 7-6.
Semifinal – Blake Cooper, WPC, dec. DeMay, 10-4.
Consolation Semifinal – DeMay p. Kody Davis, ERAU, 6:59.
3rd-place Match – DeMay p. Drake Randall, MSUN, 2:12.

174 – Andrew Orr (2nd place)
Quarterfinal – Orr dec. Alex Cruz, WPC, 5-2.
Semifinal – Orr dec. Randy Keesler, UGF, 4-3.
1st-place Match – Brenn Schiess, ERAU, dec. Orr, 7-4.

184 – Max Hane
Quarterfinal – Joe Dickinson, WPC, major dec. Hane, 10-2.
Consolation Round 1 – Sam Voigtlaender, UGF, major dec. Hane, 14-4.

184 – Oscar Flores
Quarterfinal – Tyler Noon, MC, major dec. Flores, 12-1.
Consolation Round 1 – Clark Woodward, EOU, p. Flores, 6:43.

197 – Tanner Fischer (2nd place)
Championship Round 1 – Fischer received a bye.
Quarterfinal – Fischer p. Young Woo An, MC, 4:05.
Semifinal – Fischer p. Mathew Hopkins, UGF, 4:56.
1st-place Match – John Hensley, UGF, major dec. Fischer, 14-5.

285 – Alejandro Sandoval (5th place)
Quarterfinal – Austin Lobsinger, Simp., p. Sandoval, 4:44.
Consolation Round 1 – Sandoval dec. David Rupp, ERAU, 3-1.
Consolation Semifinal – Stephen Wilbert, WPC, dec. Sandoval, 2-1 (2OT).
5th-place Match – Sandoval dec. Talyn La Tour, MC, 3-2 (OT).