TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

TEAM SCORES – 1. Eastern Oregon 130.5, 2. Menlo (Calif.) 123, 3. Montana State-Northern 117, 4. Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 105.5, 5. Vanguard (Calif.) 98, 6. Providence (Mont.) 95.5, 7. Corban 57.5, 8. Southern Oregon 57, 9. Simpson (Calif.) 41, 10. Life Pacific (Calif.) 24, 11. Arizona Christian 20.5, 12. Warner Pacific 0

HAVRE, Mont. – As the No. 7 seed at 157 pounds, Southern Oregon's Aaron Gandara came into the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank with something to prove and wrestled like it on his way to a title Saturday at Armory Gymnasium.

Gandara, a sophomore from Somerton, Ariz., was untouchable all weekend, giving up just two points in four matches. The Fresno State transfer became SOU's first CCC champion since 2019 and first 157-pound champion since Aaron DeMay won the NAIA Western Regional six years ago.

Pancho Barrera, ranked 17th at 125, joined him on the all-conference podium by placing third. Lorenzo Vasquez (125) and 14th-ranked Justin Coon (133) both placed fourth, Evan Potter (133) took seventh, and Zack Wigzell (141) finished eighth.

Based on the CCC's NAIA Championship bid allocations – determined by the number of nationally-ranked wrestlers the conference had in each weight class in the NAIA's final regular season poll – Barrera, Coon and Gandara became automatic qualifiers for the national tournament. The conference awarded Potter a wild card bid, while JJ Talavera, ranked 11th at 157 but eliminated during Friday's action, will hope for an at-large next week.

SOU finished eighth in the team standings with 57 points. Eastern Oregon, ranked 16th in the NAIA, pulled off an upset to win the tournament with 130 ½ points. The Mountaineers beat out ninth-ranked Menlo (Calif.) with 123 points and eighth-ranked Montana State-Northern with 117.

Gandara improved to 22-9 on the season with his unbeaten run. After knocking out top-seeded and No. 8-ranked James Williams of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) in Friday's quarterfinals, he opened Saturday with an upset of Menlo's No. 15 Abraham Del Toro, pinning him with seven seconds left in the second period. In the final, he outmuscled Arizona Christian's Carlo Castagnaro in an 8-1 decision. Gandara broke a scoreless tie in the second period with an escape and a takedown, and in the third scored a four-point near fall before adding a point on riding time.

In the 125-pound semifinals, Barrera dropped a 3-2 decision to Menlo's 13th-ranked Gregory Viloria and Vasquez lost 11-4 to Menlo's seventh-ranked Riley Siason. Both Raiders bounced back in the consolation semis – Barrera with a 5-3 decision over Eastern Oregon's Luciano Fasulo, Vasquez with a 6-0 decision over ERAU's Joshua Nira – to set up a clash for the CCC's third and final NAIA Championship bid in the weight class. Barrera shut out Vasquez, 4-0, to clinch his third national tournament appearance.

Coon – now a four-time national qualifier – had to win his second and third straight consolation bouts to reach the 133 third-place match. He started the day with a first-round pin against ACU's Isaiah Marquez, and in the consolation semis checked off a 9-6 upset Providence (Mont.)'s eighth-ranked Joel Avila. In Coon's finale, MSU-Northern's 11th-ranked Nick Kunz topped him by decision for the second time in as many days, 8-4.

Potter, ranked 17th at 133, dropped his first consolation match of the day 11-5 to EOU's Zach Mauras. That led to a must-win seventh-place match, in which he pinned ACU's Isaiah Marquez in 3:55 to boost his national tournament credentials.

The NAIA Championships will be held March 4-5 in Park City, Kansas.

COMPLETE SOU RESULTS
125 – Pancho Barrera (3rd place)
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Round 1 – Barrera dec. Wesley Vasquez, Corban, 10-5
Quarterfinals – Barrera dec. Joshua Nira, ERAU, 6-4 (SV)
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Semifinals – Gregory Viloria, Menlo, dec. Barrera, 3-2
Consolation Semifinals – Barrera dec. Luciano Fasulo, EOU, 5-3
3rd-Place Match – Barrera dec. Lorenzo Vasquez, SOU, 4-0

125 – Lorenzo Vasquez (4th place)
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Quarterfinals – Vasquez dec. Luciano Fasulo, EOU, 5-2
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Semifinals – Riley Siason, Menlo, dec. Vasquez, 11-4
Consolation Semifinals – Vasquez dec. Joshua Nira, ERAU, 6-0
3rd-Place Match – Pancho Barrera, SOU, dec. Vasquez, 4-0

133 – Justin Coon (4th place)
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Quarterfinals – Nick Kunz, MSUN, dec. Coon, 4-2
Consolation R2 – Coon dec. Mario Barrios, Vanguard, 7-6
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Consolation R3 – Coon p. Isaiah Marquez, ACU, 1:41
Consolation Semifinals – Coon dec. Joel Avila, Providence, 9-6
3rd-Place Match – Nick Kunz, MSUN, dec. Coon, 8-4

133 – Evan Potter (7th place)
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
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
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Consolation R3 – Zach Mauras, EOU, dec. Potter, 11-5
7th-Place Match – Potter p. Isaiah Marquez, ACU, 3:55

141 – Zack Wigzell (8th place)
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Round 1 – Martin Wilkie, MSUN, p. Wigzell, 5:29
Consolation R2 – Wigzell dec. Trevor Downey, ACU, 5-2
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Consolation R3 – Steven Kroesen, Vanguard, dec. Wigzell, 10-7

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

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

157 – Aaron Gandara (1st place)
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Round 1 – Gandara p. Yasyf Sorensen, Corban, 0:43
Quarterfinals – Gandara dec. James Williams, ERAU, 6-1
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Semifinals – Gandara p. Abraham Del Toro, Menlo, 4:53
1st-Place Match – Gandara dec. Carlo Castagnaro, ACU, 8-1

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

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

174 – Noah Talavera
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
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
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Round 1 – Michael Densmore, ERAU, dec. White, 9-3
Consolation R2 – Isaiah Hernandez, Vanguard, dec. White, 3-2