Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney knew that his team would have to be at the top of its game if it wanted to win the Pacific-10 Conference wrestling title at McArthur Court.
But despite having three wrestlers in the finals and five others in position to qualify for the NCAA tournament, the Ducks were effectively eliminated from the team chase even before the match started.
Sophomore Eric Webb, ranked No. 5 in the nation and the second seed at the heavyweight position, was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a severe concussion sustained in warm-ups. Webb was warming up with teammate Doug Lee prior to the match when the two struck heads and Webb fell unconscious for approximately 20 seconds. The concussion is Webb’s third this season.The blow to the head was rated a grade-three concussion, an injury which requires a two-week break from practice and competition. The concussion is Webb’s third this season, which eliminates him from the Pac-10 Tournament and rest of the season.
“When you’ve got a tight race of three to four teams, you can’t have a projected finalist out,” Kearney said. “We were fourth without him and we’d be first or close to first with him.
“It’s devastating,” Kearney added. “The guys are used to watching him wrestle and feed off his energy. Our big concern right now is getting kids to the NCAA’s.”
Despite the setback, Oregon finished the day third in the team standings after Oregon wrestlers went 16-7 in the first three rounds. Favorite Arizona State leads the competition with 92 points, six ahead of Oregon State, who faltered in the semifinals. Defending Pac-10 champion Boise State trails Oregon by only half a point with 81. The remaining six schools are more than 20 points behind the leaders, well out of contention.
Three Ducks will wrestle in the championship finals today at 6:30 p.m. Senior All-Americans Lee and Chael Sonnen cruised through the first three rounds of play while sophomore Brian Watson earned an upset in the semifinals for his first finals appearance.
No. 6-ranked Sonnen (32-5) racked up 42 points off two major decisions and a technical fall and will face Boise State’s No. 5 Rusty Cook at 197 pounds. Sonnen is 1-2 against Cook this season.
Defending conference champion Lee lived up to expectations as the top seed at 184 pounds. Lee (30-5) scored body slamming takedowns in each of his matches to advance. Lee will wrestle third seed Jeremy Wilson (27-8) of Portland State in the finals. Lee defeated Wilson 2-1 on Jan. 12.
Watson avenged an earlier loss to Oregon State’s Ben Richards, the No. 2 seed, with a 3-1 decision. Richards led the match 1-0 for two-and-a-half periods before Watson escaped, scored a takedown and held on for the win. Watson will face No. 11 David Douglas of Arizona State in the finals.
“Brian wrestled extremely tough tonight,” Kearney said. “He got the win against the Oregon State kid after a questionable call up in Corvallis (on Feb. 14).”
Three more Ducks were in a position to reach the finals but dropped close decision and fell into the consolation bracket.
Top seeded 125-pounder Shaun Williams saw his finals run come to an end with an overtime loss to No. 5 Reuben DeLeon of Cal State-Bakersfield. Williams and DeLeon exchanged takedowns and escapes through three periods for a 9-9 deadlock. Thirteen seconds into the sudden-death overtime period, DeLeon turned Williams for the win.
Junior Eugene Harris and sophomore Tony Overstake were unable to overcome severe knee injuries in the semifinals and both fell by decision.

Overstake put up a heroic effort against Arizona State’s Dana Holland but an escape in the last two seconds, coupled with riding time advantage, gave Holland the win.
“Tony wrestled with real courage tonight,” Kearney said. “That’s the kind of kid he is. Unfortunately he got some takedowns at the end of each round. We’ll know in the morning if he’ll wrestle.”
Harris sustained a split lower lip and hyperextended left knee against top-seeded Kirk White of Boise State, in addition to two unanswered takedowns for a 4-0 loss. Harris’ condition is listed as day-to-day status, and may not wrestle today in the consolation semifinals.
After setbacks in the opening rounds of the tournament, sophomore Casey Hunt and freshman Luke Larwin find themselves still alive in consolation round play.
Hunt went 2-1 on the day, falling only to finalist Shane Cunanan of Oregon State in the quarterfinals. The transfer from Portland State defeated Cal State-Fullerton’s John Blalock and Cal State-Bakersfield’s Zhon Kuraspediani and is guaranteed of a top-six placing.
“Casey had a real tough day but wrestled good,” Kearney said. “We knew what he was capable of, it just came down to a couple of matches.”
Larwin showed poise in two consolation wins. The true freshman earned an escape to defeat Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo’s Brody Barrios and earned a late takedown to defeat Fullerton’s Lionel Sanchez, 3-1.
“Luke is really starting to put things together,” Kearney said. “He’s had a tough season and a real good tournament.”
All wrestlers in the consolation round can still qualify for the NCAA tournament if they reach the third place final. An additional three at-large bids will also be awarded.
Junior Leif Williams wrestled for the last time in an Oregon singlet. The Pleasant Hill native was eliminated from the 174-pound bracket after two losses. Williams graduates this spring and is leaving the team following this season.
Arizona State remains the favorite with five finalists while Oregon, Oregon State and Boise State each have three — meaning the race should come down to the wire and will depend heavily on how each wrestler performs.
“Our concentration is on tomorrow morning’s matches,” Kearney said. “We’ve been able to hang onto third and might be able to come through the back door on Arizona State.”
The tournament continues today at 11 a.m. with the consolation semifinals, followed by third and fifth place championship matches. At 6 p.m., all finalists will be paraded through Mac Court before their championship matches.
Championship finals will be televised by Fox Sports Northwest at 6:30 p.m.