Oregon wrestling travels to California to compete in two of its last four Pacific-10 Conference dual meets Friday against the UC-Davis Aggies, 11 a.m., and the Stanford Cardinal, 7 p.m.
Both opponents field strong teams this year, with a slight edge going to UC-Davis. The Aggies are undefeated in Pac-10 competition this season and handed the Cardinal their only conference loss so far back on Jan. 5, 29-12.
Both opponents also feature multiple wrestlers who are among the Pac-10’s elite, but Oregon’s Ryan Dunn (16-10, 6-6 duals) will have the toughest weekend of any Duck, facing the top two 125-pound wrestlers in the conference in Stanford’s Tanner Gardner (No. 1) and the Aggies’ Marcos Orozco (No. 2).
“That will be a good challenge for Ryan,” coach Chuck Kearney said. “It’s a weekend where he can really help himself out in terms of Pac-10 tournament seeding.”
Senior Justin Pearch (21-7, 10-3 duals) has won his last four dual matches to rise to No. 3 in the Pac-10 at 141 pounds and could rise even higher with a win this weekend over the Aggies’ Derek Moore, ranked No. 1 in the conference at that weight.
Another Oregon wrestler that could receive a big bump up in the seeding for the conference tournament with an impressive weekend is freshman Brysen French. Despite losses in four of his last five dual matches, French (16-15, 5-9 duals) has risen to sixth in the Pac-10 rankings and will face the two wrestlers directly above him in the rankings in UC-Davis’ Tyler Bernacchi (No. 5) and Stanford’s Zack Geisen (No. 4).
“We want these guys to look at this as an opportunity,” Kearney said. “We can do some things this weekend to position ourselves for the conference tournament.”
One question mark for the Ducks is the starting position at 174 pounds, occupied by freshman Ronnie Lee (16-14, 4-9 duals) until he suffered a broken leg in practice two weeks ago. Last weekend the Ducks forfeited the match against Boise State on Saturday and tried bumping wrestlers up a weight class to fill out the lineup Sunday against Arizona State with little success.
Kearney hasn’t committed to a plan for the 174-pound position and said that he can never be completely sure of a strategy until the meet is close at hand.
“We’ll see when we get down there what it looks like and who they weigh in,” he said. “If we think we see something that will help us win the dual, then we’ll make that adjustment.”
The Ducks return to McArthur Court Friday, Feb. 9, for their final home meet of the season against Oregon State.