It’s too bad it was just an exhibition.
Oregon sophomore wrestler Ron Lee overcame a slow start to finish his three-round exhibition match with a scoring flurry to beat Stanford’s Luke Feist 5-3 in one of three exhibitions before the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s All-Star Classic Monday night at McArthur Court.
Approximately 3,000 spectators watched the competition, which was a showcase of 20 of the nation’s best wrestlers, including six wrestlers ranked No. 1 in their respective weight classes in the preseason.
Wrestling at 174 pounds, Lee and Feist wrestled for the first time since the Pacific-10 Conference Championships in February, when Feist won. Besides continuing the momentum of his 6-2 mark for the young season, it was a bit of payback for Lee, who, like Feist, was an NCAA Tournament qualifier in 2006.
“It really felt good, he beat me last year at Pac-10s, so there’s no love lost there,” Lee said. “I had something to prove going out tonight.”
Lee and Feist started, and completed, the first round scoreless, despite several attempted takedowns by Feist before the pair twice went tumbling out of bounds. An aggressive attack by Lee with less than 10 seconds left was negated by the end of the first period.
After Lee notched the second period’s only score, he appeared to have control before Feist came back with a one-point score 13 seconds into the final period. After resetting, Lee scored a decisive takedown of Feist with 45 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 3-1 and the partisan crowd – a hundred or more wearing “Save Oregon Wrestling” T-shirts – responded with a roar of support for the home wrestler, Oregon’s lone entrant in the meet.
After a shifty escape by Feist to make it 3-2, Lee countered a strong takedown effort by Feist into a two-point takedown to end the match. The win, albeit non-counting, was an positive step for both head coach Chuck Kearney and Lee.
“These guys are two of the top-ranked guys in the conference,” Kearney said.
“It’s just one of those stepping stones,” Lee said. “I got a little better this match, and next match, win or lose, I’m going to get a little bit better.
“That wasn’t a great performance but I got it done. I’m happy with it though.”
An energetic Lee slapped high fives and was greeted by several of his current and former teammates at ringside after the match, before being taken aside by Kearney for some coaching.
Kearney praised his wrestler for his third-round execution to end the match and seal the win over the quality opponent.
“The third round he put together was the way he needs to start the match, but that last two minutes of wrestling he did a nice job of attacking and making it a match of courage,” Kearney said.
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