CCC MEN'S WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK SET TO BEGIN FRIDAY
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 2020 Cascade Collegiate Conference Men’s Wrestling Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, is set to begin Friday in Atherton, Calif.
No. 5-ranked Menlo College hosts the championship and was predicted to win the title in the preseason coaches’ poll. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University won last year’s crown with a score of 136 points.
Day one of this year’s event (February 21) will feature head-to-head matchups up through the quarterfinal rounds, with day two (February 22) consisting of the tournament semifinals and placement matches.
The CCC will receive a total of 44 automatic qualifiers to the NAIA National Championships across all weight classes, based upon how many representatives of the conference were ranked in each weight class in the most-recent individual top-20 poll. The champion of each class will advance to the NAIA National Tournament, as well as the placements labeled below:
125 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th, 5
th (five total)
133 – 2
nd, 3
rd (three total)
141 – 2
nd (two total)
149 – 2
nd, 3
rd (three total)
157 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th (four total)
165 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th, 5
th (five total)
174 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th, 5
th, 6
th, 7
th (seven total)
184 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th, 5
th, 6
th, 7
th (seven total)
197 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th (four total)
285 – 2
nd, 3
rd, 4
th (four total)
In addition to the conference’s 44 automatic qualifiers, the CCC also possesses three ‘Wild Card’ selections, which allows the conference to send a trio of additional competitors to the national tournament who didn’t qualify via an automatic berth.
Once again, the CCC Wrestling Championships will have ‘true place matches,’ which help determine the exact placing of individual wrestlers who finish in sequential order in a given weight class, but never actually competed directly against each other during the tournament. The true place matches will only be used in the event an automatic qualification is available, and they will not alter team points or team standings.
For example, in the 125-weight class, the CCC will have five automatic qualifiers to the NAIA National Tournament. If the sixth-place finisher never competed against the fifth-place finisher, a true place matchup will ensue to determine who advances.
Last year, the CCC sent 49 individuals to the 2019 NAIA Wrestling National Championship, with Menlo producing a national champion in then junior Anthony Orozco at 184 pounds. The Oaks, who picked up eight first-place votes and 140 points, took eighth as a team on the national stage. Orozco is back for his senior year and has been the top-ranked grappler in his weight class the whole year.
The CCC boasts more institutions in the top-20 than any other conference across the country, with five teams ranked and the other seven receiving votes.
Live streaming, results, up-to-date brackets, and information on the teams involved is available through the CCC Men’s Wrestling Tournament page at
cascadeconference.org/2020mwreschamps.
Qualifiers from this weekend’s event will earn the right to compete at the 63
rd Annual NAIA National Wrestling Championships in Park City, Kan. The tournament will be held at the Hartman Arena on March 6-7.