Webster and Bracamonte Look to Bring Home National Titles
Senior wrestlers Shane Webster and Joey Bracamonte will head to Oklahoma City, Okla., to compete in the National Championships held at the Downtown Arena.
“This is what it is all about for these two young men, this is what they have wrestled their whole lives for,” head coach Chuck Kearney said. “This is wrestling’s March Madness, Joey and Shane are both physically and psychologically ready.”
“We are looking forward to it and it should be a lot of fun,” Kearney said. “Our job as coaches is to ensure that they have a match-to-match mentality and that they stay focused and do what they need to do to win the close matches.”
Webster who rolled through his senior season lost only once to, Mike Tamillow of Northwestern, a 2-0 decision in the finals of the Reno Tournament of Champions. As a result of his solid, spectacular season, Webster was rewarded with a fifth-seed in the tournament.
“Being seeded means you don’t have to face another seeded wrestler in your first round,” Kearney said. “The thing is just like in basketball sometimes the unseeded little guy can be dangerous, if you aren’t prepared. Shane should be able to get off to a solid start in wrestling some one he should beat and get some confidence for his next match.”
At the Pac-10 Championships, Webster was as dominant as he had been all season, winning all three matches, two by major decision and one by technical fall. In the final Webster defeated C.B. Dollaway of Arizona State by major decision, 24-11, for the third time in as many matches between the two highly-touted wrestlers.
Bracamonte stumbled a bit in the tournament as he came home with a fifth-place finish. The senior from Albuquerque, N.M., looked sharp in his first match against Boise State’s Johnny Nunez, winning 15-3. Against Robb Maxwell of Cal Poly, Bracamonte was unable to mount an offensive attack and fell 19-7. Bracamonte then wrestled his way through the consolation bracket, securing his fifth-place finish with a 6-3 decision victory over Maxwell in a rematch.
“Joey being unseeded is perhaps a good thing, because he can maybe lie in wait and ambush someone in the early rounds,” Kearney said. “He is a solid competitor and we know he will have a great tournament.”
The tournament begins Thursday, with action going all day in several sessions and will last until Saturday’s championship matches.
