Men's Wrestling:Oregon State Sweeps To Win Hancock Title

Oregon State’s next home meet will be Dec. 8th against Oregon in the season’s first Civil War, presented by Northwest Dodge Dealers

OSU heavyweight Ty Watterson. Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - Oregon State won four meets to win the Jack Hancock Duals Invitational on Saturday, and the victories pushed the Beavers to the 900 mark in all-time dual meet wins in a wrestling history dating back to the 1909 season.

OSU heavyweight Ty Watterson recorded three pins as he kept his record perfect this season, and also remaining unbeaten for the Beavers were 125-pounder Jake Gonzales, 133-pounder Bobby Pfennigs, 141-pounder Kyle Larson, 149-pounder Derek Kipperberg and 174-pounder Jeremy Larson.

The Beavers (5-0 overall, 1-0 Pacific-10) captured the tournament championship with a 25-12 win over Western State, which is ranked No. 7 nationally in NCAA Division II; that gave Oregon State an all-time record of 900-286-26 in dual meets.

To reach the finals, OSU beat Division I squads Utah Valley State 49-0 and Eastern Michigan 28-9 in pool competition, then topped Chadron State, another Division II school that received votes in the national poll, 46-3 in the semifinals at Steinhauer Fieldhouse. Chadron State beat host Colorado School of Mines 30-15 for third place in the 13-team event.

Against Western State, the Beavers led just 16-12 with two matches to go but got a decision from 197-pounder Travis Gardner to secure the victory and then a pin from Watterson to wrap it up.

Watterson, ranked seventh nationally in the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll and eighth by Amateur Wrestling News, improved to 5-0 this season with his three pins and a forfeit victory on Saturday.

All four times he’s wrestled this season, Watterson has pinned his opponent and three of those have come in the first period.

Watterson now has 20 pins in his career, moving the senior into a tie for 27th place on OSU’s list of all-time leaders. With a 59-19 career record, he’s eight wins from moving onto the Beavers’ all-time top 50 in career wins.

Jeremy Larson, ranked 19th nationally in the NWCA poll and 12th by AWN, had one pin and three major decisions on Saturday to also improve to 5-0 this season.

In his four matches that haven’t ended in a pin, the senior has averaged over 17 points per match this season.

Besides Watterson and Larson, Pfennigs picked up two pins and two decisions and Kipperberg won four decisions. Gonzales, a sophomore, had a pin, a major decision, a decision and a forfeit for his four victories; Kyle Larson, a junior, earned a pin, a major decision and two decisions.

The Beavers recorded six pins against Chadron State, getting falls from Gonzales, Pfennigs and Kyle Larson to start the meet and then from sophomore 184-pounder Kyle Bressler, Gardner and Watterson to finish the meet.

That was the most pins in a meet for OSU since it also recorded six in a 42-9 win over Cal Poly on Dec. 14th, 1998.

Oregon State’s win over Utah Valley State included four pins, by Pfennigs, Jeremy Larson, Bressler and Gardner. The 49-0 margin of victory over UVSC was the Beavers’ biggest since a 49-0 win over Portland State on Jan. 9th, 2004.

OSU had one pin in its victories over Eastern Michigan and Western State. In its five dual meets this season, the Beavers have recorded 17 pins.

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