The Oregon wrestling team avenged its early-season loss with a strong outing at the 32nd annual Cowboy Open on Sunday in Laramie, Wyo. The Ducks won three different weight class titles at the 18-team tournament and claimed consolation titles in four other weight classes.
Standout juniors Shane Webster and Joey Bracamonte aided Oregon, winning the 174 and 165-pound weight classes, respectively. For his unprecedented performance, Webster was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Finishing behind Webster in votes were Bracamonte and Scott Barker, giving Oregon a top-three sweep of the MOW voting. Bracamonte earned the tournament’s award for most falls in the least amount of time. The addition of Webster and Bracamonte to Oregon’s starting roster for the tournament was an improvement from Friday’s 30-16 loss to the Cowboys – neither wrestled in the duel because they could not make weight. Barker, a transfer senior from St. Louis, rounded out the first-place finishers for Oregon by taking home the 197-pound title.
Webster climbed his way to the top of his weight class with little difficulty. In each of his four matches, Webster tallied major defeats of 19-4 (first round), 21-10 (quarterfinals), 12-4 (semifinals) and 15-4 (finals). Webster handily defeated Travis Koppenhafer of Adams State for the title.
Bracamonte followed a similar path to first place as he raked in four technical fall decisions in five matches. His closest margin of victory was a 5-3 decision over Travis Peak of Chadron State.
Following a forfeit victory in the first round, Barker swept the competition in flawless form by recording three technical falls in his final matches. Barker’s quickest victory came in the quarterfinals against D.C. Hazen of Colorado School of Mines. Hazen’s technical fall against Barker came in the second minute of the match.
Consolation champions for Oregon included juniors Skyler Woods (141), Martin Mitchell (131), Chet McBee (184) and sophomore Chris Dearmon (Hwt.). All three placed third in their weight classes and caught the eye of their head coach Chuck Kearney.
“I am proud of our third-place finishers,” Kearney said. “They lost matches they were capable of winning, but responded in a big way.”
As for his team’s performance in the
tournament, Kearney was more
than content.
“We had a lot better performance today,” Kearney said. “We showed improvement from top to bottom. Overall, we have some things to work on, but I am very pleased with the effort.”
The Cowboy Open was an open formatted tournament and featured 17 schools from the Midwest and pacific coast, including host Wyoming, Air Force, Adams State, Chadron State, Colorado School of Mines, Northern Colorado, Northwest Wyoming, Fort Hays State, Utah Valley State, Montana State-Northern, Boise State, Western State, Nebraska-Kearney, Western Wyoming Community College, Colby Community College, Dickinson State, Corritos Community College and Oregon. A total of 406 wrestlers competed, the biggest turnout in the history of the Cowboy Open.
The Ducks continue their season with the Best of the West tournament at Medford on Nov. 20. They wrap up November with a duel against UC Davis.

Scott J. Adams is a freelance sports reporter for the Daily Emerald