Oregon State Takes National Ranking Into Home Dual

Before the meet, OSU’s coaching staff will hold a free clinic for youth wrestlers from noon to 1:00 PM in Gill Coliseum.

OSU 149-pounder Derek Kipperberg. Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - After a successful swing through the Midwest, Oregon State has broken into the national wrestling rankings for the first time in over five years.

The Beavers (8-1 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10) are ranked 19th in this week’s National Wrestling Coaches Association poll.

OSU will take that ranking into its first home meet in over a month when the Beavers face Cal State-Fullerton (3-3, 1-2) in a Pacific-10 dual meet on Sunday at 2:00 PM in Gill Coliseum.

The Beavers are coming off a trip that saw them win 21-15 at 17th-ranked Nebraska last Friday, then fall to 18th-ranked Tennessee-Chattanooga 21-12 before beating Northern Iowa 25-16 on Sunday.

Oregon State’s current ranking is the Beavers’ first since they were ranked 25th on Dec. 19th, 2001.

It’s OSU’s highest ranking since it was 17th in final poll of 2000-01 season.

The issue of more immediate concern than the national polls is CSUF.

Going against a Pac-10 foe means these are the results that will be factored into seedings for the conference championships in February; in five weight classes, both the Beavers and Titans have wrestlers in the Pac-10 rankings.

“And some of those guys aren’t separated by much,” OSU head coach Jim Zalesky said. “This is a big meet. The Pac-10 is always important right now, just for seedings at the Pac-10 tournament and to see where we are. We’ve been wrestling well, except maybe for a few matches against Tennessee-Chattanooga.

“You try to set yourself up the best you can for the Pac-10 tournament, though it doesn’t really matter where you’re seeded when you get there - but it looks good. It’s good to get back in the Pac-10 and wrestle some dual meets there. It’s good around this time to get some momentum and keep on a roll.”

OSU again has three wrestlers in the national rankings this week.

Heavyweight Ty Watterson is ranked 12th by both the NWCA and Amateur Wrestling News, 174-pounder Jeremy Larson is ranked 19th by the NWCA and 17th by AWN, and 141-pounder Kyle Larson is ranked 19th by the NWCA.

The closest matchups of Sunday afternoon, according to the current Pac-10 rankings, are at heavyweight and 197 pounds.

At heavyweight, Watterson is ranked second in the conference and CSUF’s Wade Sauer is ranked third; at 197, OSU’s Travis Gardner is ranked fifth and CSUF’s John Drake is ranked sixth.

Another top bout figures to be at 149 pounds, where CSUF’s Morgan Atkinson is ranked first and OSU’s Derek Kipperberg is third. At 133 pounds, OSU’s Bobby Pfennigs is ranked third and CSUF’s T.J. Dillashaw is sixth; at 184 pounds, CSUF’s Ian Murphy is first and OSU’s Kyle Bressler is fourth.

“They’re ranked pretty high at some weights,” Zalesky said. “And those matches where they’re ranked ahead of you, that’s where you want to beat them. Where we’re supposed to win, we want to win; where we’re not supposed to win, we still want to win.”

Oregon State will be trying to add to an eight-meet home winning streak that has been built over the past two seasons.

OSU is 2-0 at home this season, last wrestling in Gill Coliseum when it beat Oregon 33-6 on Dec. 8th.

“It’s going to be good to be home,” Zalesky said. “We had a long weekend of travel, and everybody is looking forward to being back home and wrestling in front of the home crowd.”

Cal State-Fullerton is coached by former OSU wrestler and assistant coach Dan Hicks, who won back-to-back NCAA titles at 142 pounds for the Beavers in the late 1970s; the Titans will wrestle at Southern Oregon and Oregon on Friday before going against OSU.

Last week, CSUF won two of three meets in the Sun Devil Duals, beating 23rd-ranked Lehigh 27-18 and host Arizona State 30-14 but losing to American 22-18.

There are three Titans in this week’s national rankings, as 149-pounder Atkinson is ranked 11th by the NWCA and 12th by AWN, 184-pounder Murphy is ranked 18th by the NWCA and 13th by AWN, and heavyweight Sauer is ranked 14th by both the NWCA and AWN

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