Grand Canyon showed the depth of its fifth-ranked wrestling program Monday.
Using backups at numerous spots in the lineup, GCU opened its Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference dual season with a 21-11 victory over No. 18 Colorado Mesa. It defeated state rival Embry-Riddle 35-0 earlier in the evening.
“We rebounded from a rough weekend (at the GCU Duals Saturday),” said GCU assistant coach Larry Wilbanks. “We had some younger guys and some backups step in and wrestle well.”
Justin Martin wrestling up a weight class at 174 and subbing for starter
Brett Sanchez (184) picked up a pair of victories on the evening. Sophomore up-and-comer
Lino Estrada had his best day as a ‘Lope with two key wins at 133.
Backups
Nate Zobott (Hwt.),
Eric Fan (197) and
Vincent Hererra (141) all had wins against Embry-Riddle.
Two-time All-American
Victor Carazo wrestled up a class at 184 and earned two victories.
No. 7 ranked
Kyle McCrite (125),
Bobby Ward (149) each picked up a pair of victories. Heavyweight
Jordan Johnson won his lone match in a key battle against CMU.
“We showed the depth of our team,” added Wilbanks. “We had some key guys out and didn’t lose anything. It’s a big compliment to our backups.”
The shutout win over Embry-Riddle is the first in the five-year program’s history.
Ted Bristol (157) and
David Wilber (165) had wins to open the match against the Eagles.
Carazo had the only pin of the evening. He earned GCU six points against Embry-Riddle with a pin in 4:45.
GCU (4-3) takes on Simon Fraser 7 p.m. Friday at Antelope Gymnasium and welcomes three teams, including RMAC foes Western State and CSU-Pueblo, as well as, California Baptist, on Saturday. Action begins at 3 p.m. Fans unable to attend can watch the live action via the
AmericaOne Network on
GCULopes.com.
Saturday’s action wraps up a stretch of nine dual meets in eight days.
“We knew with the amount of dual meets we had this week we were going to have to count on some backups,” said Wilbanks.
GCU 35, ERAU 0
GCU 21, CMU 11