California Baptist University
San Francisco State
Waste No Time
1/23/2016 8:16:00 PM | Wrestling
RIVERSIDE, Calif.— Domination was in full effect Saturday night as California Baptist University defeated the San Francisco State Gators, 35-3.
Currently ranked No. 8 in NCAA Division II, CBU won nine of its 10 matches with the Gator's.
"It wasn't our best wrestling performance, but we have to be happy with the result," Head Coach Lennie Zalesky said. "We need to improve on our bottom wrestling as a whole, but individually there were some guys that really stood out tonight."
One of the aforementioned star athletes came at the 141-pound weight class where Peter Cunningham pinned his opponent in three minutes, 53 seconds. Cunningham was mounting the pressure on his opponent before the pin, winning 8-0 in the match with a combination of athleticism and technical ability.
"I opened up a lot and I had a lot of top wrestling, which is something I didn't really have before, but I worked on it with Coach Zalesky and it's really improved," Cunningham said.
Earlier in the year, the Lancers faced a majority of Division I competition, which has been benefitted wrestlers like Cunningham.
"I'm just getting better, as I've wrestled the top kids in the nation," he said. "I've got a lot of data and things to work on. It's really all coming together and I know what I need to do."
The dual meet started at the 165 weight class where Nolan "The Grasshopper" Kistler won an overtime 7-5 decision over Tyson Kuahine, who was ranked above him. It was a thrilling, back-and-forth match.
Kistler, who recently returned from injury, showed heart and strength by fighting until the very end to grab the victory.
Christian Smith followed with a dominant performance topped off by a pin in the fourth minute.
A welcomed return to the Van Dyne Gym came at 184 for Jacob Waste. He majored his opponent, Johnny Costa -- a national qualifier last year, 9-1.
"I started to put enough pressure on him so he would make bad decisions and make mistakes, so I capitalized on that," Waste said. "I think with everything we did today there were improvements. It was great to perform in front of our home crowd and put on a good show for them."
Up next at the 197 weight class, Paul Head showed his power as a wrestler, forcing his will on the opponent winning 13-0.
Freshman Anthony Racobaldo, Bradford Gerl, Brady Bersano and Joe Fagiano all won by decisions. Fagiano beat Alnissiri 4-2, who was ranked behind him at third in the Super Region IV.
The Lancers head to the RMAC Championship tournament next week as preparations for the national tournament begin. The tournament will be held in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Jan. 31.
