No. 16 Oregon State Ready to Win Pac-10 Wrestling Title

OSU has nine wrestlers ranked, including seven of those ranked third or higher.

OSU heavyweight Ty Watterson Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - Oregon State will be looking for its first conference title in over a decade when the 16th-ranked Beavers (17-2 overall, 8-1 Pac-10) compete in the Pac-10 Championships on Saturday and Sunday at Cal State-Bakersfield’s Icardo Center.

OSU will be seeking its first Pac-10 title since 1994 in a meet that could be the closest in many years.

OSU takes a senior-dominated lineup into the meet, with five of the Beavers taking their last shot at a Pac-10 title.

“These guys haven’t won the title for 13 years; I think it means something to them,” said first-year OSU head coach Jim Zalesky. “Coming into the season they maybe thought they could do it, but we’ve wrestled pretty well.

“The main thing is, we’ve just got to go out there and wrestle well. However we’ve wrestled this year, now we’ve got to up our level for this tournament because this is what it’s all about -- not so much even winning the Pac-10 championship, but qualifying for the national tournament, that’s the ultimate goal here.”

The top three placers at each weight class, plus nine wild cards selected from among all weight classes by the conference coaches, will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held March 15th-17th in Detroit, Mich.

“You’ve got 39 qualifiers,” Zalesky said. “And you’ve got to be one of those 39 guys.”

Based on the final Pac-10 rankings of the season, this weekend’s team race figures to be a wide-open affair.

OSU has nine wrestlers ranked, including seven of those ranked third or higher.

Beavers in the final Pac-10 rankings are heavyweight Ty Watterson in first; 125-pounder Eric Stevenson, 133-pounder Bobby Pfennigs and 174-pounder Jeremy Larson in second; 141-pounder Kyle Larson, 149-pounder Derek Kipperberg and 184-pounder Kyle Bressler in third; 197-pounder Travis Gardner in fifth; and 165-pounder Brett Arand in sixth.

California-Davis is the only school with 10 ranked wrestlers, but six of those are ranked fourth through sixth.

Cal Poly has eight ranked wrestlers, with two ranked first, two ranked second, two ranked fourth and two ranked fifth.

Cal State-Bakersfield has eight ranked wrestlers, but six of those are ranked fourth through sixth.

Defending champion Arizona State has just six ranked wrestlers, but three of those are ranked first and two more are ranked third.

“It’s bunched up,” Zalesky said of the final set of conference rankings; the actual seedings will be released on Friday. “It’s just one of those things where you have to be ready to wrestle. Like we tell our guys, seeds don’t matter at this point; you might have a favorable seed and you might not, but once you step on the mat it doesn’t matter what you’re seeded, you still have to wrestle well.”

Last season for OSU, Jeremy Larson and Watterson placed second, Kyle Larson placed third, Stevenson placed fourth and Pfennigs placed fifth.

OSU’s propensity for scoring team bonus points -- the extra team points earned for a major decision, technical fall or pin -- could play into the race.

Oregon State’s lineup for the meet has averaged 3.3 major decisions, 0.6 technical falls and 4.3 pins per wrestler this season.

“Bonus points can be a big difference,” Zalesky said. “When it’s a close meet, you have to have those bonus points – that could be the difference at the end. It could be a one-point or two-point margin of victory, so getting the pins early in the tournament or later in the tournament could be huge for you.”

Watterson has a 24-4 record with seven pins this season; he is ranked fifth nationally by the National Wrestling Coaches Assocation and fourth by Amateur Wrestling News at heavyweight.

His weight class includes Andy Patrick of Boise State, ranked sixth by the NWCA and fifth by AWN; Cody Parker of Cal Poly, ranked 12th by the NWCA and 10th by AWN; and Wade Sauer of Cal State-Fullerton, ranked 13th by both the NWCA and AWN.

“Ty has wrestled all those guys and the main thing is, Ty just has to open up – he can’t stand around and let guys throw him down,” Zalesky said. “He has a lot of capabilities and he has a lot of things he can do that a lot of heavyweights can’t, so he’s just got to force his style on the people he’s wrestling.”

Jeremy Larson has a 26-6 record with five pins this season; he is ranked 17th nationally by the NWCA and 16th by AWN at 174 pounds.

Ranked first in the Pac-10 is Ken Cook of UC-Davis, who is ranked fourth nationally by the NWCA and sixth by AWN.

“Jeremy has been wrestling well, he just has to keep staying in his offense,” Zalesky said. “When he’s on the attack, he’s really good. He’s beaten Ken Cook once and lost to him twice, so it’s one of those things where we know the guy and he knows us; it’s just a matter of when the match comes around, you’ve got to put points on the scoreboard.”

Stevenson has an 8-2 record with three pins this season.

Ranked first in the Pac-10 at 125 pounds is Tanner Gardner of Stanford, who is ranked third nationally by both the NWCA and AWN.

“Eric has been wrestling well, and he’ll probably be seeded second,” Zalesky said. “He hasn’t wrestled Tanner Gardner, but he’s wrestled some other guys. He feels confident going into the tournament; he’s wrestled Gardner in the past but he hasn’t wrestled him this year.”

Pfennigs has a 21-6 record with four pins this season.

Ranked first in the Pac-10 at 133 pounds is Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly, who is ranked sixth nationally by the NWCA and fifth by AWN.

“Bobby has wrestled all those guys in that weight class,” Zalesky said. “He’s lost to Darrell Vasquez twice this year, so now he’s got to get there (to the finals), and when he gets there he’s got to come out first and be ready to wrestle.”

Kyle Larson has a 21-7 record with eight pins this season; he’s ranked 18th nationally by the NWCA at 141 pounds.

Ranked first in the Pac-10 is Derek Moore of UC-Davis, who is ranked third nationally by both the NWCA and AWN; ranked second in the conference is Justin Pearch of Oregon.

The field also includes Matt Schumm of Cal State-Bakersfield, who is ranked fifth in the conference but 19th nationally by AWN.

“Kyle has wrestled Derek Moore twice this season; it’s one of those things were we’ve been in the matches but a couple things here and there have kept us from beating him,” Zalesky said. “We’ve just got to stay on the attack, stay in our positions and stay out of where he’s good.”

Kipperberg is 17-9 with one pin this season. Ranked first in the Pac-10 at 141 pounds is Morgan Atkinson of Cal State-Fullerton, who is ranked 12th nationally by the NWCA and 11th by AWN; ranked second is Brandon Doyle of Cal State-Bakersfield.

“Derek has just got to go out and wrestle the whole match,” Zalesky said. “Sometimes when he’s gotten in trouble, he’s wrestled maybe five minutes tough or six minutes tough and then hasn’t completed a couple matches where we’ve lost at the end.”

Bressler is 16-10 with three pins this season.

Ranked first in the Pac-10 at 184 pounds is Greg Gifford of Arizona State; ranked second is Zack Geisen of Stanford.

“Kyle has wrestled a lot of those guys in that weight class,” Zalesky said. “He can beat anybody, but he can also get beat by some guys who maybe he shouldn’t beat him. When Kyle goes out and attacks and is on the offense, that’s where he’s the best and that’s how he has to wrestle this weekend.”

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