Kerr honored, wrestlers take 7th at Reno

Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 CSUB Sports Information News Release

RENO, Nev.— On a night that Head Coach T.J. Kerr was honored for his 30-plus year career in coaching wrestling, his Cal State Bakersfield wrestling team put together its best effort of the season by placing seventh at the prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions at the Reno Events Center on Wednesday.

Kerr was honored with the Reno Tournament of Champions Heritage Award, which is given to a different person each year who has dedicated their lives to wrestling. Kerr, who is in his 23rd year with the Roadrunners and 35th overall as a head coach, was chosen to receive the award this year.

But it will be his wrestlers’ performances on Wednesday and not the award that Kerr will remember the most. The seventh-place finish at Reno equals the Roadrunners’ third best finish ever at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Bakersfield also had three placewinners, with Matt Schumm finishing second at 141, while Brandon Doyle and Brandon Halsey each finished fifth at 149 and 197 respectively.

Schumm’s second-place finish was impressive despite the fact that Northwestern’s Ryan Lang, UC Davis’ Derek Moore and Oklahoma State’s Nathan Morgan — the nation’s first, second and third ranked wrestlers at 141 — all scratched. But despite that fact, Schumm still did what he needed to do to become just the fifth Roadrunner to ever reach the finals of the Reno Tournament of Champions.

Schumm had little problems getting through the bracket until the quarterfinals when he faced Chris Smith of Montana State-Northern. The Bakersfield senior squeezed out an 8-6 win before an easy 14-4 major decision over Joey Deaguero of Adams State. In the final, Schumm fell just short of the tournament title, losing 7-1 to Oregon State’s Kyle Larson.

Doyle reached the semifinals of the 149-pound weight class. After pinning UC Davis’ Shawn Haratani in the second round, Doyle edged Tommy Owen of Boise State 8-6 in the third round and had little problems with Duke’s Daniel Shvartman with a 10-5 decision in the quarterfinals. But in the semifinals, Doyle dropped a 9-3 decision to No. 10 Morgan Atkinson of Cal State Fullerton.

Doyle then lost to Levi Duyn of The Citadel before edging Central Michigan’s Brandon Carter 3-1 for the fifth-place award.

Halsey made quite a splash in his first competition as a Roadrunner, and made an even bigger splash in his first match of the tournament. The sophomore opened against Eliot Kelly of UC Davis, who entered the tournament ranked No. 2 in the Pac-10. Expect that to change, though, as Halsey knocked off Kelly 7-4. He then defeated Stanford’s Jared Boyer 6-3 before No. 15 Matt Monteiro of Cal Poly defeated Halsey 10-1.

Halsey pinned Arizona State’s Thor Moen and Oklahoma State’s Jared Shelton before No. 10 Nate Moore of Purdue edged Halsey 3-1. But in the fifth place match, Halsey didn’t even need to wrestle, winning the match by default.

But that wasn’t the only good that happened for Bakersfield. Ernesto Ancona missed out on becoming a placewinner by just one match at 184 pounds, and Thomas Kimbrell missed the same honor by just two matches at 133 pounds.

The Roadrunners return to the mat on Dec. 29 and 30 when they travel to Greensboro, N.C. to take part in another prestigious tournament, this time it will be the Southern Scuffle.