Beavers Gain Most Seeds at Pac-10 Wrestling Tourney

Salem-News.com SPORTS

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Oregon State will have nine seeded wrestlers when the Pac-10 Championships get underway Saturday at the Icardo Center at Cal State-Bakersfield.

There are six seeded wrestlers in each of the 10 weight classes, and six of the Beavers are seeded third or higher.

OSU heavyweight Ty Watterson, ranked fifth nationally by the National Collegiate Wrestling Coaches Association, is Oregon State’s lone No. 1 seed in the tournament.

Seeded second for the Beavers – who are ranked 16th nationally as a team – are 125-pounder Eric Stevenson, 133-pounder Bobby Pfennigs and 174-pounder Jeremy Larson; seeded third are 141-pounder Kyle Larson and 149-pounder Derek Kipperberg; seeded fourth is 184-pounder Kyle Bressler; seeded fifth is 197-pounder Travis Gardner; and seeded sixth is 165-pounder Brett Arand.

Fans can follow the tournament on the internet by going to www.gorunners.com, then clicking on the tab labeled “Pacific-10 Wrestling Tournament Central.”

Live video streaming of the tourney will be available at www.pac-10.org.

Three schools will enter the tournament with eight seeded wrestlers – host Cal State-Bakersfield, California-Davis and Cal Poly. Cal State-Fullerton and Boise State each have six seeded wrestlers while Arizona State, Oregon and Stanford have five each; Portland State has none.

The Pac-10 Championships begin Saturday morning at 11:00 AM, with sessions also Saturday at 6:00 PM, Sunday at 11:00 AM and Sunday at 5:30 PM.

The top three finishers in each weight class, plus nine wild cards selected from across the 10 weight classes by conference coaches, will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held March 15th-17th in Detroit, Mich.

2007 PACIFIC-10 WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS SEEDING

125 POUNDS - 1. Tanner Gardner, Stanford; 2. Eric Stevenson, Oregon State; 3. John Espinoza, Arizona State; 4. Ryan Dunn, Oregon; 5. Marcos Orozco, UC-Davis; 6. Brandon Zoetewey, Cal State-Bakersfield.

133 POUNDS - 1. Darrell Vasquez, Cal Poly; 2. Bobby Pfennigs, Oregon State; 3. Omar Gaitan, UC-Davis; 4. Joey Lucas, Oregon; 5. T.J. Dillashaw, Cal State-Fullerton; 6. Thomas Kimbrell, Cal State-Bakersfield.

141 POUNDS - 1. Derek Moore, UC-Davis; 2. Justin Pearch, Oregon; 3. Kyle Larson, Oregon State; 4. Dave Roberts, Cal Poly; 5. Matt Schumm, Cal State Bakersfield; 6. Teddy Astorga, Cal State Fullerton.

149 POUNDS - 1. Morgan Atkinson, Cal State-Fullerton; 2. Brandon Doyle, Cal State-Bakersfield; 3. Derek Kipperberg, Oregon State; 4. Eric Maldonado, Cal Poly; 5. Cam Jones, Boise State; 6. Shawn Haratani, UC-Davis.

157 POUNDS - 1. Brian Stith, Arizona State; 2. Josh Zupancic, Stanford; 3. Chase Pami, Cal Poly; 4. Tyler Sherfey, Boise State; 5. Jon Clark, UC-Davis; 6. Daniel Alejandro, Cal State-Bakersfield.

165 POUNDS - 1. Dustin Noack, UC-Davis; 2. Patrick Pitsch, Arizona State; 3. Brian Perry, Stanford; 4. Bryan Tice, Cal State-Fullerton; 5. Johnny Nunez, Boise State; 6. Brett Arand, Oregon State.

174 POUNDS - 1. Ken Cook, UC-Davis; 2. Jeremy Larson, Oregon State; 3. Nate Lee, Boise State; 4. Luke Feist, Stanford; 5. Ron Lee, Oregon; 6. Nick Hernandez, Cal Poly.

184 POUNDS - 1. Greg Gifford, Arizona State; 2. Yuri Kalika, Cal Poly; 3. Zack Geisen, Stanford; 4. Kyle Bressler, Oregon State; 5. Nate Smith, Boise State; 6. Ernesto Ancona, Cal State-Bakersfield.

197 POUNDS - 1. Matt Monteiro, Cal Poly; 2. Brandon Halsey, Cal State-Bakersfield; 3. Jason Trulson, Arizona State; 4. Eliot Kelly, UC-Davis; 5. Travis Gardner, Oregon State; 6. John Drake, Cal State-Fullerton.

HEAVYWEIGHT - 1. Ty Watterson, Oregon State; 2. Andy Patrick, Boise State; 3. Cody Parker, Cal Poly; 4. Wade Sauer, Cal State-Fullerton; 5. Colton Nichols, Cal State-Bakersfield; 6. Chris Dearmon, Oregon.

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