Kansas City, MO — As the roars of a packed crowd at the T-Mobile Center echoed throughout the arena, top-seeded wrestlers were dropping like flies against lower-ranked opponents in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships.
Graduate Adam Kemp was in the midst of his consolation match to stay alive on day two of the tournament. He found himself trying to avoid becoming one of those wrestlers to be upset in his match against the No. 23 seed in the 174-pound weight class.
The No. 9 seeded Kemp was down 1-0 going into the final period of his match against Luca Augustine out of the University of Pittsburg.
Kemp started the period in the down position and tied things up with an escape almost immediately after the period started.
Incredible defense was displayed by both wrestlers as time expired and forced the match into an overtime period.
Kemp came out firing on all cylinders on the offensive front before he became too much to handle for Augustine. Kemp secured his patented single-leg takedown just 20 seconds into the first overtime period, clinching the 4-1 win and staying alive in the consolation bracket.
That would be the only match any Mustang wrestler would win during day two of the NCAA Championships, ending Cal Poly wrestling’s season.
Rough go-around in session three
Redshirt sophomore Chance Lamer stared familiar foe Kyle Parco out of Arizona State down as he prepared for another shot at redemption.
Chance had the opportunity to finally get a win over Parco after falling to him, 5-1, in the Pac-12 Championships in the 149-pound weight division after dropping a narrow 4-3 decision during the regular season.
Despite his determination for redemption, Lamer couldn’t exercise his demons and was routed 14-4 for his third loss of the season against Parco knocking Chance out of the main bracket.
Redshirt junior Legend Lamer also couldn’t keep up with the competition as he dropped his consolation match to the No. 19 seed Tommy Askey out of Appalachian State in a 4-2 decision, ending Legend’s third appearance at the NCAA Championships.
After Kemp’s first win in the consolation bracket, he wrestled in his second match of the day against Iowa State’s MJ Gaitan.
It was a back-and-forth affair with the score tied up a four apiece going into the third period.
A Gaitan takedown and escape seemed to put that match out of reach but that quickly changed when Kemp secured an escape and takedown of his own to tie the bout with just over one minute left.
Gaitan secured a takedown, however, in the waning seconds of the match to end Kemp’s tournament run with one year of eligibility left in his collegiate career.
“I think people can underestimate how challenging [this tournament] is,” head coach Jon Sioredas said. “These guys are some of the best of the best in the world.”
One last Chance
As the last remaining Mustang in the tournament, Chance was looking for his first All-American award in the Round of 12, better known by its nickname, the Blood Round.
It was indeed a blood-filled round for Lamer as his nosebleed from earlier in the tournament started to leak again forcing the match to stop multiple times throughout.
Lamer had to deal with the bleeding on top of trying to stay alive in the tournament against the No. 11 seed out of Rider University Quinn Kinner.
The match was tightly contested as it was tied 4-4 after the first period, but a four-count near fall from his opponent helped Kinner secure the 10-5 win and knock Lamer out of the tournament.
How the team moves on
Despite not having a single All-American after having one a season ago, Sioredas says that this year’s tournament is a step in the right direction for the program.
“We’re gonna take this as a learning opportunity, get back to the drawing board and fine-tune some things moving forward,” Sioredas said.
With all the turnover in the roster from last season, Sioredas said he was expecting this season to be almost a year where they would rebuild a little.
The only remaining starters from last season were Legend, Kemp, redshirt sophomore Trevor Tinker and redshirt sophomore Jarad Priest heading into this season, so for the team to match the amount of NCAA Championships from last season is big for the program.
“The progress we’ve made is a testament to my coaching staff and our guys putting in the energy and effort,” Sioredas said.
Sioredas says that this offseason will be key in retooling the roster for next season and there will be shifts in weight classes next season with redshirt sophomore Luka Wick coming back from injury and freshman Daschle Lamer expected to heavily contribute next season.
“Next year is a year we circle and say we have not only the manpower but the experience [is important,]” Sioredas said. “I think there’s no supplement for that experience.”
Cal Poly wrestling ends their time at the NCAA National Wrestling Championships disappointed, but Sioredas says to expect the Mustangs to show out at the 2025 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia, PA next season and he knows there’s only one way to get there.
“We gotta get better at wrestling,” Sioredas said. “At the end of the day this is a wrestling tournament, and I don’t want to say that it’s an easy fix but we can really fine-tune and get guys to level up.”