Oregon wrestling wrapped up its home schedule Friday night at McArthur Court, losing to the No. 18 Oregon State Beavers 35-7.
Seniors Justin Pearch and Chris Dearmon wrestled the final home matches of their careers, and were honored along with fellow senior Tony Rolen, who missed most of the season due to injury.
Pearch gave the Ducks (6-12, 1-8 Pac-10) a 7-4 lead with his 20-7 major decision over Clifton Ivanoff.
Ivanoff was wrestling in his first collegiate match and the experience gap was evident. Pearch took the freshman down early and often, racking up nine takedowns and holding a ride time advantage of almost three minutes in the seven-minute match.
Pearch was expected to wrestle Kyle Larson, the nineteenth-ranked 141-pound wrestler in the country.
“Justin wrestled well tonight against a guy we really knew nothing about,” coach Chuck Kearney said in an Oregon press release.
The only other Duck to score a victory was redshirt freshman Ryan Dunn, who got Oregon out of the gates to a 3-0 lead with a 7-2 decision over Jake Gonzalez at 125 pounds. The win was the sixth time in nine Pac-10 dual meets that Dunn’s victory has gotten the Ducks out to an early lead. Oregon’s strength in the lighter weight classes has kept them competitive in most duals but its youth throughout the lineup has not allowed them to keep other teams off the board for long.
“I seem to say it every week, but it’s true. We are a young team and we are getting better. Hopefully we can get a good couple weeks of practice in before the Pac-10 Tournament and come out and wrestle strong there,” Kearney said.
Oregon travels to wrestle Portland State University on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to wrap up its conference schedule before traveling to the Pac-10 Tournament at Cal State Bakersfield’s Icardo Center Feb. 24-25.
The tournament will be broadcast live, for the first time in its history, on Pac-10.org. Admission is free.