TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

TEAM SCORES – 1. Montana State-Northern 69, 2. Eastern Oregon 64.5, 3. Menlo (Calif.) 62.5, 4. Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 60.5, 5. Providence (Mont.) 51, 6. Vanguard (Calif.) 42.5, 7. Corban 36.5, 8. Southern Oregon 30, 9. Simpson (Calif.) 19.5, 10. Life Pacific (Calif.) 18, 11. Arizona Christian 17, 12. Warner Pacific 1

HAVRE, Mont. – Southern Oregon got three wrestlers through to the semifinals and sits in eighth place after Day 1 of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank on Friday at Armory Gymnasium.

On opposite sides of the 125-pound bracket, No. 17-ranked and third-seeded Pancho Barrera and fifth-seeded Lorenzo Vasquez are both one win away from an all-SOU title match. At 157, seventh-seeded Aaron Gandara executed one of the afternoon's biggest upset by knocking off top-seeded and eighth-ranked James Williams of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) in the quarterfinals.

Montana State-Northern, the NAIA's No. 8-ranked team and tournament host, tops the team standings with 69 points, clinging to a slight edge over No. 16 Eastern Oregon (64.5), No. 9 Menlo (Calif.) (62.5) and No. 19 Embry-Riddle (60.5).

The Raiders accumulated 30 points. In addition to their semifinalists, they have three others still alive in the consolation brackets: Justin Coon (133), Evan Potter (133) and Zack Wigzell (141).

Action continues at 9 a.m. Pacific Time on Saturday.

Barrera – a two-time national qualifier who placed sixth in his only other appearance at the CCC Championships in 2019 – got through with a pair of decisions, winning 10-5 against Corban's Wesley Vasquez and scoring a 6-4 sudden victory against Embry-Riddle's Joshua Nira. Vasquez received a bye to the quarterfinals, where he won 5-2 over EOU's Luciano Fasulo.

They'll face the top-two seeds from Menlo in the semis. Barrera gets No. 13-ranked Gregory Viloria, while Vasquez will face seventh-ranked Riley Siason. The CCC's top-three placers at 125 will get automatic bids to the NAIA Championships.

Gandara put forth SOU's most dominant showing, starting with a 43-second pin of Corban's Yasyf Sorensen. He had little trouble against Williams either, scoring two takedowns in the first period en route to a 6-1 decision. The CCC has four automatic bids at 157.

Evan Potter (133), JJ Talavera (157) and Noah Talavera (174) each advanced to the quarterfinals before bowing out. Potter, ranked 17th, dropped back-to-back decisions to ERAU's No. 20 Jacob Seto and Vanguard's Sunny Luna. JJ Talavera, ranked 11th, went to a third extra period before going down against Arizona Christian's Carlos Castagnaro, then lost a decision to Vanguard's Adam Valdez in the consolation bracket. In his quarterfinal, Noah Talavera suffered a tournament-ending injury.

Coon is seeking a fourth a fourth straight NAIA Championships appearance at 133, where the CCC has six automatic bids. He and Potter – who both kept their runs going with consolation decisions – need one more win to secure their spots.   

Wigzell also stayed alive with a consolation decision at 141, where the CCC gets just two automatic bids.

COMPLETE SOU RESULTS
125 – Pancho Barrera
Round 1 – Barrera dec. Wesley Vasquez, Corban, 10-5
Quarterfinals – Barrera dec. Joshua Nira, ERAU, 6-4 (SV)

125 – Lorenzo Vasquez
Quarterfinals – Vasquez dec. Luciano Fasulo, EOU, 5-2

133 – Justin Coon
Quarterfinals – Nick Kunz, MSUN, dec. Coon, 4-2
Consolation R2 – Coon dec. Mario Barrios, Vanguard, 7-6

133 – Evan Potter
Round 1 – Potter injury def. Isaac Kephart, LPU, 4:32
Quarterfinals – Jacob Seto, ERAU, dec. Potter, 9-3
Consolation R2 – Potter dec. Sunny Luna, Vanguard, 5-3

141 – Zack Wigzell
Round 1 – Martin Wilkie, MSUN, p. Wigzell, 5:29
Consolation R2 – Wigzell dec. Trevor Downey, ACU, 5-2

149 – Travis Thorpe
Round 1 – Conrado Lopez, Simpson, tech. fall Thorpe, 17-2 (6:51)
Consolation R2 – Gabriel Cortez, Vanguard, dec. Thorpe, 9-3

157 – JJ Talavera
Round 1 – Talavera dec. Malakai Moyer, EOU, 8-2
Quarterfinals – Carlos Castagnaro, ACU, dec. Talavera, 10-4 (TB-2)
Consolation R2 – Adam Valdez, Vanguard, dec. Talavera, 7-3

157 – Aaron Gandara
Round 1 – Gandara p. Yasyf Sorensen, Corban, 0:43
Quarterfinals – Gandara dec. James Williams, ERAU, 6-1

165 – Max Miller
Round 1 – Jesus Zamorano, Menlo, major dec. Miller, 11-3
Consolation R2 – Devin Crawford, MSUN, p. Miller, 2:49

165 – Ayden Wolgamott
Round 1 – Devin Crawford, MSUN, major dec. Wolgamott, 9-1
Consolation R2 – Jesus Zamorano, Menlo, dec. Wolgamott, 3-2

174 – Noah Talavera
Round 1 – Talavera dec. Jacob Viera, ACU, 7-4
Quarterfinals – Gerardo Hernandez, Vanguard, injury def. Talavera, 5:30
Consolation R2 – Tyler Moore, Corban, wins by medical forfeit over Talavera

197 – John White
Round 1 – Michael Densmore, ERAU, dec. White, 9-3
Consolation R2 – Isaiah Hernandez, Vanguard, dec. White, 3-2