TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Four Southern Oregon wrestlers are into the semifinals and the Raiders are in fifth place in the team point standings after Friday's first day of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank at the McLaughlin Center.

SOU saw strong starts from its light and middleweights as Pancho Barrera (125 pounds), Justin Coon (133), Devin Poppen (141) and Chandler Michael (149) stayed in title contention. Eleven of 12 Raiders competing will still be alive when the nine-team tournament resumes at 9 a.m. Pacific Time on Saturday. The finals are scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.

Fifth-ranked Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) has the lead with 76.5 points and 10 individuals still active on the championship sides of their brackets. Sixth-ranked Menlo (Calif.) is in second with 61.5 followed by No. 9 Montana State-Northern's 58, No. 10 Providence (Mont.)'s 56.5 and No. 20 SOU's 37.

Barrera, ranked No. 7 in the NAIA and seeded No. 3 at 125, survived two tight matches to advance. He came back from five points down to edge Warner Pacific's Connor Finch, 16-14, and took a 3-1 sudden victory against 13th-ranked Robert Pair of Montana State-Northern.

Coon came into the tourney unseeded and upset 15th-ranked Landon Bailey of MSU-Northern with a first-round pin, and Poppen's 17th pin of the season finished Simpson (Calif.)'s Armand Molina in 2:25 in his only match.

Michael – ranked No. 5 and seeded No. 2 – was the only other Raider to win twice and scored bonus points in both. He started with an 11-3 major decision over Providence's Jarren Kormac and won by fall in 4:49 over Warner Pacific's Chas Peterson in the quarterfinals.

Justin Acuff (141) picked up SOU's other victory, 8-3 over WPU's Lucas Higginbotham, but was one of six Raiders to go down in the quarterfinals.

TEAM SCORES – Embry-Riddle 76.5, Menlo 61.5, Montana State-Northern 58, Providence 56.5, Southern Oregon 37, Life Pacific 29, Eastern Oregon 19.5, Warner Pacific 16, Simpson 6

125 – Pancho Barrera
R1 – Barrera dec. Connor Finch, WPU, 16-14.
Quarterfinals – Barrera dec. Robert Pair, MSUN, 3-1 (SV).

133 – Justin Coon
Quarterfinals – Coon p. Landon Bailey, MSUN, 1:10.

141 – Justin Acuff
R1 – Acuff dec. Lucas Higginbotham, WPU, 8-3.
Quarterfinals – Matt Weber, MSUN, dec. Acuff, 7-0.

141 – Devin Poppen
Quarterfinals – Poppen p. Armand Molina, SU, 2:25.

149 – Chandler Michael
R1 – Michael major dec. Jarren Komac, UP, 11-3.
Quarterfinals – Michael p. Chas Peterson, WPU, 4:49.

149 – Zach Wigzell
R1 – Aaron Mora major dec. Wigzell, 20-9
Consolation R1 – Brent Evans, MSUN, major dec. Wigzell, 14-3.

157 – Hunter Hodges
Quarterfinals – Kevin James, Menlo, dec. Hodges, 6-1.

165 – Cody Stahl
Quarterfinals – Drake Randall, EOU, p. Stahl, 1:45.

184 – C.J. McKinnis
Quarterfinals – Steeler French, MSUN, major dec. McKinnis, 12-1.

197 – Tanner Fischer
Quarterfinals – John Hensley, UP, dec. Fischer, 3-2.

285 – Max Hane
Quarterfinals – Cortez Rodelo, WPU, p. Hane, 1:45.

285 – Ryland Boyer
R1 – Justin Harbison, UP, p. Boyer, :40.