3 of 4 Fullerton Wrestlers Are Eliminated at NCAA Championships; Flores Advances

Three of four wrestlers representing Cal State Fullerton, including 158-pound Ardeshir Asgari, were eliminated from the NCAA Championships Thursday at College Park, Md.

The fourth, Jose Flores, a 177-pounder, dropped a 7-3 overtime decision in the first round to Nebraska’s R.J. Nebe after they battled to an 8-8 standoff in regulation. But Flores came back in a consolation match and defeated Paul Green of Morgan State, 3-2, to advance to today’s second round.

Asgari (36-3-1), who went to last year’s semifinals before being ousted and earned All-American honors, was forced to default to The Citadel’s Clayton Ogden in a 158-pound match. He defaulted a second match to Lehigh’s Tom Toggas in the consolation round.

Titan heavyweight Bob Button pinned Keith Cameron of Cleveland State at 5:39 in a wild-card match but lost to Maryland’s Rom Reese, 4-0, in the first round. Reese won his next match, carrying Button into the consolation rounds, where he lost his first match to North Carolina State’s Mike Lombardo, 5-4.

Fullerton’s John Cholakian (134 pounds) lost to New Mexico’s Chris Nuttrell, 5-1, in the first round.

Iowa State was in first place with 32 3/4 points after the second-round matches, followed by Oklahoma State (32) and Penn State (30 3/4).

Iowa, trying for a record 10th consecutive NCAA wrestling championship, sustained two second-round losses Thursday night and was in fourth place with 28 points. But the Hawkeyes’ John Heffernan, an unseeded 158-pounder, pulled off the upset of the opening round.

Heffernan, 14-10-2 this season, stunned top-seeded Rob Koll of North Carolina (41-2) with a third-period pin to give the Hawkeyes six qualifiers for today’s quarterfinals. Heffernan is the brother of Jim Heffernan, Iowa’s returning 150-pound champion, who also won twice Thursday to advance.

Iowa’s John Regan, the fifth seed in the 118-pound division, was beaten by Paul Kapper of Cleveland State, 7-5. Greg Randall, seeded fourth at 142, was upset, 9-2, by Mike Cole of Clarion. Later, Randall lost his consolation match.