TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

TEAM SCORES (Day 1 of 2) – 1. Southern Oregon 84, 2. Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 72.5, 3. Corban 63.5, 4. Providence (Mont.) 54.5, 5. Eastern Oregon 45.5, 6. Montana State-Northern 41, 7. Arizona Christian 22, 8. Simpson (Calif.) 13, 9. Evergreen (Wash.) 8.5, 10. Westcliff (Calif.) 8

REDDING, Calif. – After entering the tournament third in the Cascade Conference poll, the CCC Men's Wrestling Championship presented by U.S. Bank is suddenly Southern Oregon's to lose at the halfway point.

The No. 10-ranked Raiders took over the driver's seat Friday at the Grant Center by getting nine of their 12 wrestlers through to the semifinals, keeping one more alive in the consolation rounds, and winning 17 of 22 matches overall – including 11 by fall – on Day 1.

They accumulated 84 points to No. 5-ranked Embry-Riddle (Ariz.)'s 72 ½ and No. 14 Corban's 63 ½. No. 6 Providence (Mont.), the favorite according to the conference poll, stumbled out of the gate and stands in fourth place with 54 ½ points.

The Raiders' total of nine semifinalists is a tournament high, though Embry-Riddle has seven with 11 total wrestlers still alive. SOU's group, ordered by weight class, includes Vonn Fenn (125 pounds), Dylan Clark (133), Simon Graeber (133), defending champion Evan Potter (141), Aaron Gandara (157), Dylan Straley (157), Adrian Chavez-Morales (184), Elias Corona (197) and Asher Ruchti (197).

Corona – a true freshman who hadn't wrestled since December – pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tourney and delivered a gut-punch to Providence in the process, knocking off top-seeded and No. 7-ranked Caleb Werner by 14-7 decision in his first match. He went on to defeat Corban's Asaiah Kamplain by technical fall, becoming an automatic qualifier for the NAIA Championships.

NAIA qualifier spots are allocated based on the number of Top 25 wrestlers per weight class. Gandara was the other Raider to secure a berth, doing so for the fourth consecutive season, with a 4-1 sudden victory over No. 16 Justin Windauer of Montana State-Northern in the quarterfinals.

Along with the semifinalists, Braylin Ruchti (174) was the 10^th Raider to move on to Day 2 by prevailing in a consolation match.

The Raiders are seeking their second CCC championship. They won the inaugural title in 2018 but have finished better than fourth place just once since.

Saturday's action starts at 10 a.m. The finals begin at approximately 5 p.m.

COMPLETE SOU RESULTS
125 – No. 13 Vonn Fenn
Round 1 – Fenn dec. James Maheras, ACU, 4-1
Quarterfinals – Fenn p. No. 25 Kai Carson, EOU, 1:21

133 – No. 12 Dylan Clark
Round 1 – Clark p. Santiago Pacheco, WU, 6:31
Quarterfinals – Clark p. Kade Willis, MSUN, 2:33

133 – No. 18 Simon Graeber
Round 1 – Graeber injury def. Jesus Bracamonte, WU, 0:36
Quarterfinals – Graeber p. No. 21 Allan Hendricks, ERAU, 4:13

141 – No. 3 Evan Potter
Round 1 – Potter p. Gianluca Munoz, ACU, 2:50
Quarterfinals – Potter wins by forfeit over Orion Rhinehart, ESC

157 – No. 4 Aaron Gandara
Round 1 – Gandara p. Jacob Inton, ESC, 1:23
Quarterfinals – Gandara dec. No. 16 Justin Windauer, MSUN, 4-1 (SV-1)

157 – No. 13 Dylan Straley
Round 1 – Straley received a bye
Quarterfinals – Straley p. Hassan Abdi, ESC, 1:04

174 – Braylin Ruchti
Round 1 – Ruchti received a bye
Quarterfinals – No. 10 Tyson Stover, CRB, dec. Ruchti
Consolation R2 – Ruchti tech. fall Malachi Dowdell, SU, 19-3 (5:14)

184 – No. 11 Adrian Chavez-Morales
Round 1 – Chavez-Morales p. Lucas Thacker, MSUN, 2:20
Quarterfinals – Chavez-Morales p. Kaden Martin, ACU, 2:22

197 – No. 8 Asher Ruchti
Round 1 – Ruchti p. Carlos Mendez, SU, 2:51
Quarterfinals – Ruchti p. Michael Moreno, ACU, 6:18

197 – Elias Corona
Round 1 – Corona dec. No. 7 Caleb Werner, UP, 14-7
Quarterfinals – Corona tech. fall Asaiah Kamplain, CRB, 17-2 (5:54)

285 – Sebastian Echeverria
Round 1 – No. 16 Ethan DeRoche, UP, dec. Echeverria, 4-1 (SV-1)
Consolation R1 – Echeverria dec. Will Willsey, ESC, 1-0
Consolation R2 – No. 15 Corbin Hayes, ERAU, dec. Echeverria, 4-2

285 – Ben Hughes
Round 1 – No. 15 Corbin Hayes, ERAU, dec. Hughes, 7-3
Consolation R1 – Zion Longsine, ACU, dec. Hughes, 11-4

Automatic qualifiers per class: 125 – 5, 133 – 5, 141 – 5, 149 – 4, 157 – 7, 165 – 4, 174 – 4, 184 – 5, 197 – 6, 285 – 7