Cuesta Wrestling qualified six grapplers for the 2024 CCCAA State Championships last weekend in Lemoore. The Cougars posted a combined 15-12 mark and boasted four place winners, while finishing 6th as a team. Freshmen Preston Scharf (165) and Chance Evans (197-pict) both reached the title match to lead the Cougars with a pair of Silvers as they also claimed All American honors. Fellow Freshmen Grant Eklund and Marshall Beecham both finished one spot short of All-America status with 5th-place finishes at 157 and 165, respectively. Scharf and Eklund also made the ranks and reached some of the marks left by Cougars' all-time leaders.
Scharf and Eklund were tough to beat this season, and both reached Cuesta's Top 10 for winning percentage in the season. Scharf went 28-3 to compile a 90.3 winning percentage, while Eklund finished the season with a 37-7 record and broke Nestor Ruelas' 2010 school record of 36 wins in a season. He is one of only nine Cuesta wrestlers, on record, to eclipse the 30-win mark, while teammate Chance Evans, and his 29 wins just made Cuesta's single-season Top 10 with a three-way tie for the final spot. Eklund also moved onto the season win-percentage list with Scharf, where he claimed the 10th and final spot at with an .841 winning percentage.
The Cougars finished the season 280 individual victories, which trails only the 2014 campaign's 297 victories for Cuesta's most individual wins in a season. Cuesta finished in the Top 10 in nine of their ten tournaments, including winning the SouthEast Conference (SEC) Tournament title. This year's 6th place finish marks the Cougars' first Top 10 finish since 2016. A five-time SEC Coach of the Year, Joe Dansby is Cuesta Wrestling's sixth coach since 1966, but only the second to guide the program since 1972. After completing his 23rd season at the helm, he led the team to 2nd place in the SEC, with a 7-3 overall dual record, and 6th place in the State. He trails only former Coach and fellow California Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductee Gary Meissner's Cuesta win total for dual matches, 130 to 123.
2024 Wrestling Awards
Preston Scharf- All American, 2nd State, State Qualifier, All-Regional 2nd Team, All-SEC 1st
Chance Evans- All American, 2nd State, State Qualifier, All-Regional 3rd Team, All-SEC 2nd
Grant Eklund- 5th State, State Qualifier, All-Regional 3rd Team, All-SEC 1st
Marshall Beecham- 5th State, State Qualifier, All-Regional HM, All-SEC 2nd
Dominic Marquez- State Qualifier, Regional HM, All-SEC HM
Luke Vanbrabant- State Qualifier, Regional Qualifier, All-SEC HM
Daimen Rodriguez- State Qualifier, Regional Qualifier, All-SEC HM
Ian Rodriguez= Regional Qualifier, All-SEC 2nd
Mark Bonenberger- Regional Qualifier, All-SEC HM
Ben Green- Regional Qualifier, All-SEC HM
Kaiden White- All-SEC HM
Ashkan Dehnaey- All-SEC HM
