TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

RENO, Nev. – Aaron Gandara reached the 157-pound quarterfinals and JJ Talavera notched four wins in the same bracket for the Southern Oregon University men's wrestling team Sunday at the Reno Tournament of Champions.

Gandara, a sophomore from Somerton, Ariz., won his first three matches of the day – pinning unattached Cael Brunson in 2 minutes 35 seconds, earning a 12-0 major decision over Gabe Blough of St. Mary, and holding off Cal State Bakersfield's Brock Rogers in a 5-3 decision. Three victories away from a title, he dropped his quarterfinal match against Wyoming's top-seeded Jacob Wright, 4-0, and was pinned in the first round of his ensuing consolation match by Boltyn Taam.

Talavera, a junior from Vancouver, Wash., advanced out of the Round of 64 and lost in the Round of 32, both by decision. In the consolation bracket he scored back-to-back major decisions, 12-2 over American University's Cole Painter and 16-6 over Southeastern's Trace Braun. He followed those with a first-round win by fall over Menlo's Abraham del Toro, but his run was stopped in the consolation quarterfinals by American's Antonio Segura, 4-3.

Max Miller was the third Raider to win a championship bracket match, pinning Montana State-Northern's Devin Crawford in the 165-pound Round of 32.

Six Raiders went home with one consolation victory apiece: Pancho Barrera (125), Lorenzo Vasquez (125), Fabian Miranda-Walls (174), Anthony Perez (141), Travis Thorpe (149) and Nolan Randles (157).

The Raiders will break until a dual match against Life Pacific (Calif.) in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Jan. 7.