Last year, Navy won all three of its duals on its California trip, defeating Cal State-Fullerton, 23-12, 13th-ranked Cal Poly, 26-16, and 21st-ranked Cal State-Bakersfield, 23-19. Tanner Garrett and John Cox went 3-0 during the duals to lead the Mids to victory.
Cal State-Fullerton lost all three of its 2004-05 NCAA Tournament qualifiers to graduation, and will feature a balanced mix of young and old in its line-up this weekend. The Titans, which finished tied for 52nd in the NCAA Championship, could start as many as five freshmen and sophomores in the first seven weight classes. The final five line-up spots will likely be occupied by seniors, and just three of the returnees (Paul Tice, 141; Risto Marttinen, 165; and Jesse Taylor, 184) wrestled against Navy last year. None of the three won a match against Navy.
Cal-State Bakersfield returns one NCAA qualifier off last year's team that finished 22nd at the NCAA Championship. Anthony Baza returns at 149 pounds and is ranked 12th in the country at the same weight. Bakersfield lost two All-Americans (Efren Ceballos, 125; and Matt Sanchez, 133) due to graduation. Another wrestler to keep an eye on for the Roadrunners is 174-pounder Christian Arellano, who is ranked 14th in the nation's top 20.
UC-Davis returns one NCAA qualifier, with 11th-ranked Derek Moore (qualified at 133 pounds; wrestling at 141 this year) being the leader. It is not known what weight Moore is wrestling at this year. UC-Davis lost two NCAA qualifiers to graduation, Ron Silva at 174, and Branden Bear at 184.
Navy is coming off a solid showing at last week's season-opening Eastern Michigan Open. Eight Mids placed in the top six of their respective weight classes, including John Jarred's (Kansas City, Mo.) title at 157 pounds and Tanner Garrett's (Tulsa, Okla.) victory at heavyweight. With the wins, Garrett moved into a tie for 23rd on the school's all-time victory list. Also of note, Garrett has won 21 straight dual meets, dating back to the 2003-2004 season. He went a perfect 14-0 last season.
Navy leads the all-time series with Cal State-Fullerton, 1-0 (2004 was the lone meeting), is tied with Cal State-Bakersfield, 1-1, and leads the series with UC-Davis, 2-1. With this year's contest, the Mids will have wrestled UC-Davis in four of the last five years.
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