LITTLE ROCK - Little Rock wrestling heads to Corvallis, Oregon this weekend in their second-ever conference championship appearance. The first round of the Pac-12 Championships will begin at 1:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, Feb. 28 and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. Make sure to follow the Trojans on social media throughout the weekend as well on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
"Looking at this weekend's competition is really exciting," said head coach
Neil Erisman. "We can't wait for the opportunity to see all our hard work come together for part of the end goal. We have had a lot of close matches in all our conference duals, and we've had several weeks to train and focus solely on the guys going. Now we have the opportunity to revenge some losses, separate ourselves from those we have beat and punch our ticket to Nationals. It's going to be a great weekend."
WATCH LINKS & SCHEDULE
Round 1, 1:30 p.m. CT
Watch Mat 1 |
Watch Mat 2
Round 2, 3:15 p.m. CT
Watch Mat 1 |
Watch Mat 2
Consolation Semifinals, 5:00 p.m. CT
5th and 6th Place Matches, 6:45 p.m. CT
Championship Rounds, 8:00 p.m. CT
Watch Championship Rounds
Paul Paving the Way
In his last time out,
Paul Bianchi claimed a ranked win over Oklahoma and went 3-0 on his Senior Day in dominant fashion. Being a leader on #LittleRocksTeam is not new to Bianchi: he placed 2nd at 133 pounds in the Trojans' first appearance at the 2020 Pac-12 Championships last season. His overall performances during last year's inaugural season helped Bianchi earn the program's first-ever preseason rankings, coming in at #24 on TrackWrestling and #33 on OpenMat. This year, the senior did not disappoint either:
his efforts also led to his and the program's first NCAA Coaches Ranking, checking in at #26 on both Feb. 11 and Feb. 25.
Program History Made
January 24 was monumental for the Little Rock wrestling program, as the Trojans picked up back-to-back dual wins in their first-ever D1 victory over Fresno State, followed by their first conference win over Pac-12 opponents CSU-Bakersfield just hours later.
Read all about the historic day and Coach Erisman's first wins as a head coach here. Little Rock will continue to look to set more milestones this weekend at the conference championships.
Tough Trials in Year Two
Out of Little Rock's 12 duals this season, five were against ranked teams. In addition, out of all 120 bouts that the Trojans participated in during a dual, 34 of those were against top-25 ranked individuals via FloWrestling. Little Rock's schedule was arguably the toughest in the Pac-12 conference in both amount and difficulty level: its 12 opponents are three more than Oregon State's nine total duals and the Trojans' five ranked opponents are two more than both Arizona State and Cal Poly's three.
A Glance at the Bracket
Out of the six teams in the Pac-12 Conference, Arizona State has the highest team rank, tied for ninth in this week's
NWCA Coaches Poll. Stanford is the next-closest, unranked but receiving votes in the poll. Going into the conference championships, the Sun Devils claimed four top seeds (125, 133, 197 and 285) while Oregon State has three (141, 157 and 184), Cal Poly (149, 174) has two, and Stanford has one (165).
Gabe Beyer boasts the highest seed for the Trojans, sitting fourth at heavyweight, so Little Rock will be looking to be the dark horse of the tournament.
Little Rock Probables
125:
Khyler Brewer, Fr. (4-7)
133:
Paul Bianchi, R-Sr. (8-3)
141:
Conner Ward, R-So. (1-11)
149:
Kyle Prewitt, R-Fr. (2-9)
157:
Joseph Bianchi, R-Fr. (3-7)
165:
Alex Hernandez, Fr. (3-8)
174:
Triston Wills, R-Fr. (5-8)
184:
Tanner Mendoza, Fr. (4-7)
197:
Dylan Johnson, Sr. (4-9)
HWT:
Gabe Beyer, R-Fr. (6-7)
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.
#LittleRocksTeam
