Sonnen finished fifth at the Pac-10 Tournament, just out of the automatic berths to the national championships. He did earn enough respect from coaches, being selected the first alternate out of the Pac-10. He learned Mon., March 10, that he would go to Iowa, due to a knee injury suffered by Scott Surplus of Boise State. Chael recorded his ninth pin of the year in Tempe, over Jeremy Bridges in the fifth-place final. He is now in a six-way tie for tenth-place all-time at Oregon for number of pins in a single season. The record is held by Don Brown (1978-79) with 21. Five of his pins have come inside the first three minutes of the match and at one point this year, Chael had recorded six pins in the span of five days. He is second behind Scott Norton in points scored during dual meets with 49. He finished fifth at the Oregon Classic and placed third at the University National Greco-Roman Championships. Sonnen is a two-time junior national finalist in Greco-Roman and also won prep All-America freestyle
honors. This is his first trip to the national meet. |