Oregon wraps up its conference dual meet schedule tonight against Portland State University at the Oregon State Fairgrounds at 7 p.m.
When the OSAA state wrestling championships were held in Portland, the schools decided to hold their yearly dual the night before, at Portland State’s Stott Center. When the OSAA meet was moved to Salem they decided to move the dual meet as well, to continue giving both schools valuable exposure to the state’s top high school wrestlers.
“We’ve got every high school state qualifier in town that night with nothing to do,” coach Chuck Kearney said. “Why not have a college wrestling meet for them to watch?”
Kearney said Portland State, a long-time Division II wrestling power, moved up to Division I for the 1999-2000 season. They have struggled to remain competitive over the last seven years but as a Pac-10 program they are still dangerous.
“They’ve got guys there, from basically top to bottom, that if you go out flat footed they can really take it to you,” Kearney said. “The motivation they’re going to have going into this is that they’re wrestling against the University of Oregon and we’re a program that has traditionally been above them.
“I think they’re going to come out with a chip on their shoulder and we’re going to need to match that intensity. I’ve got confidence that our guys will show up and go hard.”
Getting up for every match is a quality that Kearney has stressed to the team all season. Championship-caliber wrestlers wrestle the same way every match and Kearney thinks that is the most important lesson that Oregon’s young wrestlers can learn this season.
“Every match you wrestle is the most important match of your career. There is no guarantee that you will have another match,” he said. “We all know that there is a future and a past but we can dwell on the past and we can’t live in the future. We need to live right now.”
Recovering from Friday’s lopsided 35-7 loss to Oregon State will be difficult and Kearney expects some hangover for his team.
“Regardless of the outcome that was a very emotional match and there’s naturally going to be a let down,” he said. “We have to make sure that doesn’t occur.”
There are five Ducks currently ranked in the Pac-10’s top-five in their weight classes. Chris Dearmon (heavyweight), Ronnie Lee (174 pounds), and Joey Lucas (133 pounds) are ranked fifth in the conference and Ryan Dunn (125 pounds) and Justin Pearch (141 pounds) rank third.
Lee broke his leg a few weeks ago in practice and has been sidelined for the rest of the regular season. His return has been scheduled for the Pac-10 tournament Feb. 24-25. Kearney said that more X-rays and tests will done this week to determine how well he is healing but he expects Lee to wrestle regardless of what the test say.
“Ronnie says he’s wrestling whether he’s healthy or not, and I don’t doubt him,” Kearney said.