BUILT TOUGH

By Brandon Petersen

One of two veteran grapplers on D'Rell Gist's first-year Westcliff men's wrestling team, Thomas Venezia has been asked all year to lead by example.

Venezia isn't the loudest guy, but he does help set the tone at matches and in the room for the young Warriors.

Last weekend at the Oaks Open, Venezia quietly helped lead the way once again, this time wrestling so well, that he didn't lose until the tournament finals against an NCAA Division I opponent.

Venezia claimed second overall on a weekend in the which many Warriors made the same sort of positive steps forward with the season-end tournaments approaching.

"Thomas had a runner-up finish at 165 and wrestled really tough," Gist said. "He was very offensive on his feet and aggressive on top. His only loss was to DI Cal Poly in the finals."

Gabriel Rangel was just as impressive. Rangel took home four falls, the highest count in the tournament and finished third after losing to a DII opponent from Simon Frazier.

At 141, Santiago Pacheco took third place.

"He kept a great pace out there and picked up three falls," Gist said. "He had the second most falls in the entire tournament. His only loss was to a DI kid from Oregon State."

Will Moore returned to action for the first time since Embry-Riddle and finished fourth overall, a fantastic showing. Although Moore wrestled well, Gist said the rust was apparent, and that Moore still has time to fine-tune.

"Overall, our men's team looked good," Gist said. "It looks like we are starting to peak at the right time, going into the postseason. It was awesome to see two Westcliff athletes (Rangel and Pacheco) have the two most falls in the entire tournament, especially since there was some really tough competition there.

"It was also awesome to have Thomas in the finals. We will continue to work as a team and get better every day."

The Cascade Conference tournaments will be head at the end of February and in early March.