Cuesta Wrestling improved to 7-3-1 in dual meets on the season with a SouthEast Conference win at Lemoore, 28-19, last Thursday.  The Cougars previously beat the Golden Eagles in a non-conference dual in the season at the Southern Dual Tournament, but Thursday's win also marked a milestone for Coach Joe Dansby.  Dansby is the 6th coach to lead Cuesta's second sport, after football in 1965, and has now tied Coach Gary Meissner (1972-00), who led the Cougars to a State Title in 1980, for the program's all time dual win record. Meissner (130-136-3) and Dansby (130-110-1), who are both members of the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, are now tied atop the Cougars' all-time leader board with 130 dual wins each.  Dansby and his Cougars have one more scheduled dual this season at Moorpark on November 12.  

 

After their win against Lemoore the Cougars spent the weekend at the Menlo Tournament.  The "all-comers" event was open to teams from the NCAA (Divisions 1 & 2), 3C2A, NAIA programs and did not tally individual team scores.  The Cougars brought ten grapplers to the event, who competed in six divisions and compiled an overall record of 11-18.  Returning All American Preston Scharf and fellow Returner Kodie Cooks both placed for the Cougars.  Scharf, who suffered his first defeat of the season, earned 4th place at 165, while Cooks earned the Bronze at 174.  The Cougars, with more than a month left in the season before the State Championships on December 12, have equaled their 2024 season total of 280 individual wins and are on pace to easily take down the recognized program record of 297 wins set in 2014.  Scharf and fellow sophomores Grant Eklund and Chance Evans have already begun their assaults on the Cougars' all-time leader board.  Scharf's career winning-percentage of .919 is currently ahead of the mark of .840 set by 2000 State Champion Dan Martinez, while Eklund, at .866, has moved into second place and Evans sits in 4^th place with a .833 percentage.  Last week, Eklund also moved into second on the career wins list, after notching his 58th career victory.  He is currently five wins behind Michael Williams' 63 wins from 2004-06.  Sophomore Dom Marquez (52 wins) and Scharf (51) also cracked the 50-win barrier and are 5th and 6th on the Cougars' all-time list.     

 

Cuesta Grapplers shall take this week off to recover and train for their final SouthEast Conference Dual at Moorpark on November 12.