It was an up-and down-weekend at McArthur Court for the Oregon wrestling team.
After two wins on Friday against Cal State-Bakersfield and No. 21 Fresno State, the Ducks dropped a close match to Pacific-10 Conference rival Cal Poly. Oregon’s record now stands at 7-7 overall and 3-4 in the Pac-10.
Oregon’s weekend began with an afternoon win over Bakersfield, which dropped its record to 2-6 overall and 0-4 in the Pac-10. The meet, a 35-9 decision, featured three forfeits by Bakersfield and one by Oregon’s Shaun Williams. The Ducks’ only true loss came in the 149-pound weight class when Casey Hunt dropped an overtime decision to Thomas Juarez.
Freshman Elias Soto picked up his first major decision victory of his collegiate career with a 15-6 victory. Also in the Bakersfield meet, No. 5 Eugene Harris secured a technical fall, winning his 165-pound match, 21-6.
In the Friday nightcap, Oregon beat the tough Fresno State team despite another forfeit in the 125-pound weight class. Williams, who is 7-4 on the season at 125 pounds, has had trouble making weight lately. In all three of this weekend’s meets, Williams was just over the required limit and also missed the meet against Arizona State on Feb. 2 because he missed weight.
“Shaun is having some problems,” Harris said. “We don’t quite know what is going on, but it would be great to have him back
in there.”
Fresno State’s record now stands at 10-7 due in large part to Oregon freshman Shane Webster’s battle in the 174-pound class. Heading into Webster’s match against Britt Mooney, the Ducks were ahead 15-12 after consecutive wins by Tony Overstake and Harris. Webster came close to pinning Mooney at two points in the match, picking up six total nearfall points. With 1:20 remaining in the third period, Webster put Mooney on his back to earn enough points for a technical fall win.
Head coach Chuck Kearney called the Fresno State victory a “big win,” and was pleased with how his athletes were competing through the entire meet.
“Both last night and this afternoon, our guys are wrestling the full seven minutes,” he said on Saturday. “Whether we are ahead by one or behind by seven, we’re still out there attacking our opponents the entire time.”
In the Oregon loss to Cal Poly on Saturday, the Ducks were clearly hindered by the absence of Williams at 125-pounds. Beginning the meet at 184-pounds, Cal Poly’s Charles Sandin defeated Soto 9-5 and the Mustangs never surrendered the lead.
Jake Leair and heavyweight No. 19 Eric Webb won the next two matches for Oregon, but the Ducks fell behind 13-6 from the forfeit at 125 and Jason Harless’s major decision loss to Cal Poly’s 133-pounder Nathaniel Ybarra.
Oregon charged back with three straight wins from Hunt, Overstake and Harris to close the gap to 15-16 in favor of the Mustangs, which brought up an important final match involving Webster and No. 13 Steve Strange.
“Steve Strange is very tough and has a lot of other things on his side,” Kearney said. “But with Shane, you are talking about a guy that is extremely hard to wrestle. He wrestles with great intensity and is very physical.”
Webster led the match after the first period after a takedown and a Strange escape, but the Cal Poly junior proved too much for Webster. Strange’s 8-5 win sealed a 19-15 victory for the Mustangs.
“We were surprised Webster got after him like that,” Harris said. “That was a really quality guy that he was wrestling, and if he could have pulled out the win, that would have been great.”
The Ducks compete next against Oregon State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Mac Court.