Arizona St. spoils senior day for CSUB wrestlers, 24-17
| Sunday, Jan 29 2012 08:37 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jan 29 2012 09:02 PM
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In the 133 match CSUB's Frank Lomas battles ASU's Shane McGough Sunday afternoon. Lomas won the match.
CSUB's Anthony Box has the home crowd pulling for him in his 157 match against ASU's Joel Smith. Box won the match.
CSUB's Tyler Iwamura, back, went on the beat ASU's Lucas Murillo in the 125 match Sunday afternoon in a PAC 12 dual meet.
Special to The Californian
Anthony Box had a lot going through his head as he stepped out on the mat at the Icardo Center for the final home match of his college wrestling career Sunday.
But at the forefront of the CSU Bakersfield senior's mind were his normal thoughts of giving a good effort and winning.
Box did both, but it wasn't enough to save CSUB from losing 24-17 to Pac-12 rival Arizona State in front of an announced crowd of 1,045.
Among those in attendance at the dual were several members of the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, including former NCAA heavyweight champion and NFL lineman Stephen Neal.
"It was a real good environment today," Box said. "The crowd was awesome. It was one of the biggest crowds I ever wrestled in front of here at least. It was a really fun dual meet. I wish we could have won at the end, but overall it was a real good experience."
The Roadrunners won five of the 10 bouts, but lost because the Sun Devils were able to rack up more bonus points thanks to two pins and three major decisions.
CSUB's only two bonus points came via major decisions by Tyler Iwamura at 125 pounds and Adam Fierro at 165 pounds.
Senior Frank Lomas (133), AC Brown (197) and Box (157) each won decisions for the 'Runners (2-6, 0-5), who dropped to 22-10-1 all-time against ASU (6-10, 2-2).
"Even though we won half the matches, when you lose matches by falls or by a major (decision) it really costs you in the dual score," CSUB coach Mike Mendoza said.
"... Overall, I'm a little bit disappointed with the fight in some of the matches. I think some of the guys wrestled well. But overall even the matches that we won, even from our little guys 125 and 133, I don't think they wrestled really well even though they got the major."
Lomas, who said he tried not to think about it being the last home match of his CSUB career, broke open a 2-all tie with Shane McGough by scoring four points in the second period. Lomas went on to win 8-4.
"It just feels really good to have a lot of people here, a lot of people watching" Lomas said. "It's a really good way to go out."
Levi Cooper, a member of the CSUB wrestling program before transferring to ASU following the 2009-2010 season, had one of the Sun Devils' falls.
Cooper, currently ranked No. 13 in the nation by IntermatWrestle.com, pinned Frankie Hurtado at the 2:59 mark of the first period.
"I wrestled good," Cooper said. "I knew it was a freshman that I was wrestling so I felt like I went out there and did what I was expected to do."
Cooper said he enjoyed being back in Bakersfield.
"I had a good time," Cooper said. "It was a little bit weird. It's been awhile since I've been back here ... I never actually got to wrestle for Bakersfield, the way that I left and everything. It was mixed emotions I would say. But all and all, I had a fun time when I was in here so it was exciting to come back and see some people I haven't seen in awhile."
Fierro, who closed out the dual with an impressive 8-2 victory over Rush Hall, was one of four freshman in the starting lineup for CSUB.
"Our younger guys are really turning a corner and looking good," Mendoza said. "(Fierro) is doing well for a freshman. He's constantly looking to improve and making an effort to improve. Some times at this level it takes awhile before you start to see improvement. But with him, we've seen a lot of improvement this year so it's good."
For Box, Lomas and CSUB's other seniors, Sunday was a chance to reflect on four years of growth.
"It went by pretty fast," Box said. "You don't really think about it every day but I have been wrestling here (in Bakersfield) for over eight years so it's pretty crazy. I enjoyed it."
"It's kind of surreal that this it for me," Lomas said. "I remember in high school it was like that too. You don't really notice it until you're done really. It's kind of sad but I think I went out pretty nice. Coach (T.J.) Kerr was here. It was good."
