College Roundup: Three Mustangs wrestlers reach semifinal round at Las Vegas tourney

A trio of Mustangs wrestlers earned three victories Friday to advance to the semifinal round of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Wrestling at 141 pounds, Boris Novachkov advanced to the semifinals with a 4-1 decision against Harvard’s Shay Warren, pinned Indiana’s Mitchell Richey in 5 minutes, 52 seconds, and earned an 8-1 decision in the quarterfinals over No. 7 Evan Henderson of North Carolina.

At 174, Ryan DesRoches earned victories over Boise State’s Scotty Bacon 8-2, Nebraska’s Tyler Joehn 6-1, and No. 6 Ethan Headlee of Pittsburgh 3-2.

At 285, Atticus Disney pinned Steven Wood of Cal State Bakersfield in 2:54, before upsetting sixth-seeded Brendan Barlow of Kent State with a fall in 1:19. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Nebraska’s No. 3 Tucker Lane 3-2. All three Mustangs will wrestle in the next round of the tournament this morning.

The lone Cal Poly wrestler still remaining in the wrestlebacks is 133-pounder Brandan Rocha. He lost his first-round match before earning three straight decisions in the wrestlebacks.

Britain Longmire (125 pounds), Adam Aslam (149), Elijah Jackson (157) and Sean Dougherty (184) were all eliminated Friday.

The Mustangs are 10th out of 34 teams in the overall standings after Friday's final bouts with 39 points. Ohio State leads the way with 69 points, followed by Michigan at 63.5 and defending team champion Cornell at 61.

MEN’S BASKETBALL Cuesta 87, Cypress 74

Calen Coleman had a game-high 27 points to go with seven rebounds as the Cuesta College men’s basketball team defeated Cypress 87-74 in the quarterfinals of the Grossmont College Tournament.

The Cougars advance to the semifinals against host Grossmont tonight at 6 p.m. Cypress could not slow down the Cuesta offense, as the Cougars shot 57.4 percent from the field for the game. Cuesta made 9 of 15 3-point attempts, including 3 for 3 by Luis Marrero.

Cuesta trailed at the half but outscored Cypress by 17 in the second half for the comeback. Sofian Morad had a double-double with 13 points and game-highs with 10 rebounds and three blocks. Jeremy Landenbergue had 11 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL San Mateo 72, Cuesta 65

The Cuesta women’s basketball team fell in its second round matchup.

Alyssa Palma had 20 points, as the Cougars (4-3) nearly came back from a late 15-point second half deficit. The Cougars cut the lead to three points but couldn’t complete the rally.

They will play in the third place game against Orange Coast at 2 p.m. It will be a rematch of a game earlier this season that Orange Coast won in the final seconds.

SWIMMING Cal Poly at Winter Nationals

The Cal Poly swim team competed Friday in the second day at the AT&T Winter Nationals in Atlanta.

Kylie France was the first Mustang to compete, finishing the women’s 400-yard individual medley in a time of 5:07.94. She will compete in two more events today.

Three Mustangs were in the women’s 100 butterfly — Gloria Benefield (1:03.86), Rachael Cleak (1:04.67) and Angie Haven (1:05.94).

Haven also competed in the 100 breast stroke, finishing in a time of 1:15.75.

Senior Amy Morales competed in the 100 backstroke to wrap up Cal Poly’s day, finishing in 1:08.94.

None of Cal Poly’s swimmers advanced to the finals Friday night. Five Mustangs swimmers will take to the pool in the last day of competition today.