Beavers Sign Five State Champs to Wrap Up Wrestling Recruiting

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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State has wrapped up its wrestling recruiting by adding a national junior college champion and five high school state champions during the spring/summer signing period.

OSU announced nine wrestlers in its recruiting class on Tuesday – projected 141-pounder Heinrich Barnes (Pretoria, South Africa/North Idaho JC, Centurion HS), projected 141-pounder Garrett Drucker (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison HS), projected 184/197-pounder Chad Hanke (Dayton, Ore./Dayton HS); projected 184/197-pounder Barry Hood (Portland, Ore./Jefferson HS), projected heavyweight Clayton Jack (Vacaville, Calif./Vacaville HS), projected 174/184/197-pounderJarod Morris (Sandpoint, Ida./Sandpoint HS); projected 174/184/197-pounder Taylor Morris (Sandpoint, Ida./Sandpoint HS); projected 157/164-pounderAlex Reser (Hillsboro, Ore./Westview HS) and projected 133/141-pounder Cameron Rosenfield (Madras, Ore./Madras HS).

Those nine join OSU’s group of signees from last fall – projected 133-pounder Kelly Kubec (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS); projected 149-pounder Shane Nay (Kansas City, Mo./Oak Park HS); projected 133/141-pounder Tyler Phillips (Turner, Ore./Cascade HS) and projected 165-pounder Josh Stalcup (Estacada, Ore./Estacada HS).

“We filled some future needs and strengthened our room,” OSU head coach Jim Zalesky said. “These guys will give us more competition in the room, and that’s what we were lacking. A lot of these guys coming in have pretty high goals. It’s a class that is really going to up our room as far as the intensity and the competition in the room.”

Barnes won the junior college national championship at 141 pounds this past season, finishing with a 40-3 record and 10 pins for North Idaho College.

As a freshman at NIC, he placed fifth in the nation and was 29-8 with 12 pins. Barnes has placed eighth in the Junior World Championships; in his native South Africa, Barnes won a national title and had a 125-7 record in high school.

“He’s only wrestled here collegiately for two years and has mostly a freestyle background, so we feel he has a lot of upside as far as getting in our room and developing collegiately,” Zalesky said of Barnes. “At the same time, he’s got the dreams of representing South Africa down the road in the World Championships. He’s wrestled some high-level competition. We watched him at Las Vegas, where he was close but got beat on the mat because of the mat wrestling.”

Drucker won the California state title at 135 pounds as a senior, going 48-5.

“He’s only wrestled four years and he has a lot of upside to him, a lot of potential that way,” Zalesky said of Drucker.

Hanke is a three-time Oregon state champion, winning at 189 pounds as a senior, 160 pounds as a junior and 145 pounds as a sophomore.

“He’s from a small school so he probably didn’t get a lot of recognition,” Zalesky said of Hanke. “He’s one of those guys who kept getting bigger – he wrestled at 160 last year and 189 this year, so he’s probably going to project at 184 or 197, the kind of weight class we need. Just watching him, we think he has a lot of potential down the road for us. He’s one of those kids who could make a big jump once he gets here.”

Hood won the Oregon state title at 171 pounds this past season after placing second at 160 as a junior and third at 140 as a sophomore.

“He’s kind of a late signing,” Zalesky said of Hood. “We thought he was going to play football in college but he decided to wrestle. He had a good year; he won state this year and was second last year. He’s an upper-weight guy who can help us fill in some places where we were pretty thin last year.”

Jack won the California heavyweight title this past winter, going 49-3 with 39 pins and earning a No. 8 national ranking from Amateur Wrestling News. As a junior at 215 pounds, he placed fifth in the state.

“We were looking for heavyweights,” said Zalesky, whose team loses All-American Ty Watterson and backup Jamie Rakevich; OSU has applied to the NCAA for a sixth year for Watterson. “Right now, Clayton brings us some potential at heavyweight and we may need someone in that spot.”

Jarod and Taylor Morris are twins, with Jarod winning the Idaho state title at 171 pounds this past season and compiling a 43-5 record, and Taylor placing second at 189 pounds with a 42-6 record.

“We need some depth at 174, 184, 197 – they’ll fill in there and be good additions to our program,” Zalesky said of the Morrises.

Reser placed third in Oregon at 152 pounds this past season.

“Alex’s dad (Marty Reser) wrestled here, and Alex likes the Beavers,” Zalesky said of Reser. “He’s one of those guys who has gotten better every year. He placed at state this year and maybe could have won it; he should bring us some good competition in the room.”

Rosenfield is a two-time state placer at 135 pounds, finishing fifth as a senior and second as a junior.

“Cameron will come in and be a guy who makes our room better and he has a chance to develop,” Zalesky said of Rosenfield.

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