"We always have high expectations, but knowing the youth of the team, we tried to make sure that the athletes treat this like any normal tournament."
Showing the power of youth as one of five frosh wrestlers for
Grand Canyon University Club Wrestling at the event, Lopes' freshman
Marisol Pena proved to her head coach,
Austin Moore, that she listened to that statement by finishing 5
th in the 124-pound weight class at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association National Championships. While Pena was the only one of GCU's young nine-wrestler contingent to place, Lopes' senior
SeanMatthew Garcia won three of his five matches and freshman
Anthony Kearney split his four clashes at the prestigious double-elimination meet in Shreveport, Louisiana. It was the Lopes' fourth straight trip to the national event in as many years.
After earning a first-round bye, the 3
rd-seeded Pena got out of the gates quickly with a pin of University of Georgia's Kate Panone in her first match before losing to Florida State University's 6
th-seeded Madison Moody, 4-2, in the quarterfinals. Undeterred as she dropped to the consolation bracket, Pena posted dominant performances, outpointing her next two opponents by a combined score of 28-5 to reach the consolation semifinals, where the Tucson native was surprisingly pinned by 4
th-seeded Daniela Martinez (Tarleton State University) at two minutes and 45 seconds. That sent Pena to the 5
th-place match, where she avenged her earlier loss to Moody via forfeit.
Meanwhile on the men's side,
SeanMatthew Garcia, making his 3
rd appearance at nationals, showed his experience with a quick pin of RPI's Arcangelo Losee in his first match in the 157-pound category, but then never led in a 16-8 decision loss in the Round of 32 to 7
th-seeded (and eventual 3
rd-place finisher) Lane Snyder (Tarleton). The consolation round rejuvenated Garcia as he bounced back with back-to-back decision wins to reach the Consolation Round of 16's #2 match before the luck ran out in a defensive-minded 3-0 loss to Springfield Tech's Justin Barr.
The 19
th-seeded Kearney got a first-round bye in the 184-point class, shut out University of Idaho's Ridge Kehr, 5-0, in the Round of 32, then suffered his first loss in the Round of 16. Kearney rebounded with a two-minute pin before being eliminated in the Consolation Round of 8.
"This was mostly a new team (we took to nationals), and we learned from last year, when most of our athletes were making their first trip and got starstruck," said Moore. "Most of our guys last year were eliminated by the end of the first day, so having more wins overall this year (both junior
Holden Kelly and freshman
Ryan Garcia won their initial matches) by worrying about the one in front of you made a difference. It was a learning experience for all our freshmen, and it just showed us that the future is bright."
