The wrestling squad returned one All-American to Eugene after the NCAA Championships ended March 22.
Oregon sent three wrestlers — senior Casey Hunt, redshirt junior Jason Harless and sophomore Shane Webster — to the national tournament. Harless and Hunt both made quick exits, each picking up an 0-2 record, while Webster started strong and ended with a sixth-place finish.
No. 12-seeded Webster opened the tournament with a 3-2 decision over Cornell’s Tyler Baier. In the second round, Webster faced Tyler Nixt of Iowa, taking a 7-4 decision with two takedowns in the third period.
“Shane won a big match tonight, probably the biggest match of his life,” head coach Chuck Kearney said after Webster’s match against Nixt. “It was one of those hard-fought matches where points were stingy, and then the dam just broke for Shane.”
Webster also won his third match with a strong third period. Tied at one with Purdue’s Ryan Lange, Webster caught Lange for a takedown. Lange escaped in the last 15 seconds of the match to make the final score 3-2 in favor of Webster. Webster guaranteed himself the All-American honor with the win.
In the semifinals, Webster lost his first match of the tournament to Carl Fronhofer of Pittsburgh. Fronhofer pulled out a 3-2 decision, holding off a late takedown attempt by Webster.
“The match just as easily could have fallen the other direction,” Kearney said after Webster’s loss. “Shane went out and wrestled hard.”
In a match to determine if Webster would wrestle for third or fifth place, he faced Oklahoma State’s Chris Pendleton. Webster was caught out of position and was pinned by Pendleton 17 seconds into the match.
Facing off with Webster for fifth place, Lehigh’s Brad Dillon controlled the match, winning 11-6.
Webster, in his second national tournament in two seasons, improved over his showing in last year’s NCAA Championships, where he went 1-2. Webster came into the NCAA Tournament after a second-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
The sophomore finished the season with a 31-8 record. All eight losses came at the hands of ranked opponents.
Hunt, in his second and final NCAA tournament, lost his first match by a 2-1 decision to Lock Haven’s Mike Maney. After one point from each wrestler, Maney won the match with a point for riding time.
In the consolation bracket, Hunt lost by technical fall, 19-3, to Josh Wooton of Northern Illinois.
“Casey had a great season,” Kearney said. “He just got behind quick and had to open things up to try and catch up, but Wooton’s a great wrestler and took advantage.”
Hunt finished the season with a 22-15 record after taking third place in the Pac-10 tournament.
Harless also had two losses to open and close his national tournament trip. In his first match, Harless faced Rad Martinez of Clarion, losing a 9-0 major decision.
Facing the No. 4 seed in the consolation bracket, Harless lost a 6-2 decision to Oklahoma’s Witt Durden.
Harless earned the trip to the NCAAs as a conference wildcard for the second consecutive season. He missed five of the season’s last six dual meets with a knee injury, but came back to finish fifth in the Pac-10 tournament and end his season with a 17-15 record.
With only three Ducks at the national meet, Oregon finished with 10 points, tied for 36th overall with Ohio and Princeton.
Oklahoma State won its 31st national team championship, assisted by two individual champions. Minnesota took second place in the team standings, while Oklahoma finished third. Of Pac-10 squads, Arizona State finished fifth and Boise State finished 12th.
Oregon finished fifth as a team in the Pac-10 tournament, qualifying only three wrestlers for the NCAAs for the second time in 16 seasons.