LITTLE ROCK - Championship season is finally here, and Little Rock is set to appear in its first-ever PAC-12 Conference Championship. The single-day, three-session tournament takes place in Stanford, California at Maples Pavilion. Results will be posted on TrackWrestling and both mats will be live streamed for free for all rounds with the exception of the finals and third place matches, which will be televised on the PAC-12 Network.
Championship Central | Live Twitter Updates | Watch Mat 1 | Watch Mat 2 | Tickets
Schedule
First Session: 9:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. CT
Second Session: 4:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. CT
Finals: 6 p.m. PT/8 p.m. CT
"We have had a lot of firsts this year and we are incredibly excited to compete in yet another first - our first PAC-12 Championships," said head coach Neil Erisman. "Our guys have worked hard and I am excited for them to get this experience. Over the past few weeks our team has trained extremely hard and done really well these past few weeks. I believe we will have a great showing and put ourselves in a great position to send guys to NCAAs."
Surveying Saturday
The Trojans have only competed against three of the five other PAC-12 members, the remaining two being Cal Poly and CSU Bakersfield. Going into the conference championships, Arizona State is undefeated, while Stanford has only lost to Arizona State. CSU Bakersfield is 2-2, falling to the previously mentioned teams, while Oregon State is 2-3 with its two wins over Cal Poly and Little Rock. Meanwhile, Cal Poly holds a 0-4 conference record.
Little Rock's lower weights may have the best chance at PAC-12s, led by Paul Bianchi at 133 pounds. He holds a 12-6 overall record, going 6-3 in duals and 2-1 in conference matches. Half of Bianchi's wins have come from major decisions, while four of the junior's losses were by decision - more specifically, four points or less.
A quartet of Trojans are dark horses going into the tournament: Jayden Carson, Conner Ward, Tyler Brennan and Will Edgar. Behind Bianchi, Carson owns the best overall record (11-9) as well as dual record (4-5) while competing at 125 pounds. Underdog Ward has shown gradual improvement over the course of the year while Brennan has proven his ability to thrive in important situations, such as his pin in the Appalachian State dual to prevent a sweep. Both Ward (141 pounds, 6-13 overall) and Brennan (149 pounds, 9-13 overall) also picked up important wins against Arizona State to conclude Little Rock's home schedule.
Edgar could be the most underrated of the group - despite owning a rocky record at 165 pounds, he is one of two starters that has neither been pinned nor has lost by technical fall all season (Bianchi has only lost by tech fall once against #2 Seth Gross). That other is redshirt junior Jose Champagne, who has been unable to wrestle for the past month but is another Trojan that is usually involved in incredibly close matches. Tommy Lisher has stepped up into the 157 role recently for the Trojans, moving up a weight class in the process.
Ultimately, Little Rock wrestlers will need to show the grit they have accumulated through the highs and lows of the inaugural season in order to succeed at the PAC-12 Championships and potentially advance to the 2020 NCAA Tournament.
Little Rock Probables
125 - Jayden Carson
133 - Paul Bianchi
141 - Conner Ward
149 - Tyler Brennan
157 - Jose Champagne
165 - Will Edgar
174 - Tristan Tadeo
184 - Matthew Muller
197 - Dylan Johnson
For the latest information on Little Rock Wrestling, make sure to check out LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockWRES on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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