TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

RENO, Nev. – After going eight years without a placer at the Reno Tournament of Champions, the Southern Oregon men's wrestling team had four of them and left with a new program-best fourth-place finish in the team standings at Sunday's annual event.

Aaron Gandara was the runner-up at 157 pounds, Vonn Fenn (125) and Adrian Chavez-Morales (184) placed fourth in their brackets, and Asher Ruchti (197) took sixth as the Raiders accumulated 61 ½ team points even without All-Americans Alex Hernandez and Evan Potter.

Gandara, ranked No. 3 in the NAIA, became SOU's first runner-up at the tournament since four-time national champion Brock Gutches in 2013. The senior opened with a technical fall and proceeded through the 157 bracket with four consecutive decisions. He outscored his opponents 39-10 combined before dropping a 4-1 decision to Oregon State's CJ Hamblin in the final, leaving his overall record at 15-2.

Fenn, the NAIA's No. 12-ranked 125-pounder, reached the semifinals with decisions over Eastern Oregon's Kai Carson (7-0) and Western Wyoming's Sefton Douglas (2-0). He lost his next two matches against a pair of unattached NCAA Division I opponents.

Chavez-Morales, ranked No. 25 at 184, pinned Thomas Stadel of Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) and won 4-1 against Zak McPhee of Wisconsin-Eau Claire to reach his semifinal. EOU's No. 3 Kyle Knudtson held him off for a 5-0 win in their third-place match.

Ruchti, ranked No. 9 at 197, rallied with five consecutive consolation wins after dropping his opening match to top-ranked Garavous Kouekabakilaho of Grand View (Iowa). The last of those victories was a first-round pin of Montana State-Northern's No. 14 Austin Vanek, who'd defeated Ruchti 9-8 during Thursday's dual in Ashland.

The Raiders also got three wins out of Carson Gooley (197), two from Timothy Lopez (133) and Travis Thorpe (149), and one apiece from Dylan Mann (157), Dylan Straley (157), Elias Corona (197) and Shaiden Carr (165).

They're off until Jan. 10-11, when they'll travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to put their 12-0 record on the line at the NWCA National Duals.

COMPLETE SOU PLACES
2nd place – Aaron Gandara (165)
4th place – Vonn Fenn (125), Adrian Chavez-Morales (184)
6th place – Asher Ruchti (197)
No place – Dylan Clark (133), Zach Keinonen (133), Timothy Lopez (133), Simon Graeber (141), Travis Thorpe (149), Dylan Mann (157), Dylan Straley (157), Shaiden Carr (165), Josiah Greene (174), Ethan Miller (184), Braylin Ruchti (184), Elias Corona (197), Carson Gooley (197), John White (197), Sebastian Echeverria (285), Ben Hughes (285)