Four Cal Poly Wrestlers Earn Titles at California Collegiate Invitational

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — A quartet of Cal Poly wrestlers, led by 149-pound senior Filip Novachkov, earned titles in the non-scoring California Collegiate Invitational on Saturday at San Francisco State.

Novachkov was presented the Dr. Northrup Award as the most outstanding wrestler in the tournament, recording two falls and a pair of major decisions en route to the championship at 149 pounds.

Barrett Abel, Steven Vasquez and Ryan Smith also claimed individual titles.

Novachkov, who wrestled at 141 pounds a year ago and dropped to 133 pounds to make room for his brother, Boris Novachkov, this season, struggled to make weight and elected to jump two weight classes to 149 to finish out his senior season.

So far, the plan has worked as Novachkov is 6-0 in his new weight class and
13-6 for the season.

After a first-round bye, Novachkov earned a 12-4 major decision over Luis Vargas, pinned Ethan Hall of Cal Baptist in 2 minutes, scored a 15-1 major decision against Dalton Kelley of Cal State Bakersfield in the semifinals and pinned Grant Paswal in 2:47 to win the title.

Abel notched a 10-0 major against Andrew Balch of Cal State Bakersfield in the 157-pound final. Abel recorded a 12-2 major decision, an 11-5 decision and a 16-0 technical fall en route to his spot in the championship round.

Vasquez notched 12-5 and 10-3 decisions over his first two opponents, then won by injury default over one of his Mustang teammates, Dominic Kastl, in the 174-pound final.

Smith edged Caleb Gerl of Cal Baptist 1-0 in the 197-pound championship final, his second win over Gerl this season. To get to the finals, Smith earned a 13-0 major decision, a fall in 2:35, a 12-3 major decision and a
16-4 major decision.

Pearce Swerdfeger placed fourth at 157 while Kelan Bragg also placed fourth at 184 pounds.

Cal Poly returns to action next week with its final two dual meets of the season, visiting Stanford on Friday night and hosting San Francisco State for a 2 p.m. dual Sunday in Mott Gym.

Courtesy of Cal Poly Sports Information