Oregon finally got what it was hoping for Friday: a win.
Oregon defeated Army, arguably its toughest opponent of the day, 23-21.
But it was also the third team the Ducks faced in the Oregon Wrestling Classic, an 11-team tournament held annually in Redmond. The other two matches didn’t yield the same results for the Ducks.
The Ducks began Friday’s tournament with a loss to Pacific-10 Conference counterpart Cal State-Fullerton, 34-15. The box score didn’t come close to explaining what transpired, as the theme for the season has been.
To say it was a tough team battle may not be appropriate. It was three Oregon wrestlers — senior Jason Harless, junior Luke Larwin and freshman Cody Parker — that scored all 15 points for the Ducks.
“We wrestled flat today and did not show the emotion we have in the past,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said. “Cal State-Fullerton was fired up to wrestle us and they came out hard.”
Oregon then took on San Francisco State, a late addition to the tournament after Air Force was scratched from the classic.
The Ducks lost 20-12, earning points from Larwin, sophomores Skyler Woods and Chet McBee and senior Jake Leair.
“San Francisco State was the same way,” Kearney said. “They came out ready for us and we did not rebound from the first loss.”
It was the win against Army that had the most significance on the day for the Ducks. And it wasn’t solely because they earned their first victory of the year. It provided the Ducks with an opportunity to wrestle under conditions they hadn’t all season long.
Oregon lost the first five of nine matches and was trailing Army 21-19 heading into the final match between Army’s James Hollis and Oregon’s Cody Parker in the heavyweight division. The match was over from the get-go as Parker earned a 18-4 victory giving the Ducks four team points and the team victory, 23-21.
The Ducks also received strong performances from McBee and Harless, who both pinned their opponents for important team points toward the victory.
“Army was the best of three teams we competed against, and we wrestled hard,” Kearney said. “The things we have been working on in practice showed up on the mat.”
The win comes at an important time for the Ducks. Oregon is in the midst of its schedule that features six different opponents in the next two weeks. Although the victory isn’t a milestone for the Ducks, it does provide some confidence for a team that has already faced No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 5 Nebraska this season.
“As a group we need to continue to stay on course and keep working hard at practice,” Kearney said. “Continue to battle and compete in the practice room and eventually the things we work on will show up in competition.”
That was the case this Friday, at least in part, but a more serious correlation between the practice room and the matches can be made if Oregon continues to work on its weaknesses and starts putting together a string of victories.
It won’t be long before Oregon finds out as the Ducks travel to Stanford on Thursday. The trip south begins another round of competition. This time it comes against three teams in three days. Oregon faces UC Davis the night after Stanford, followed by the Aggie Open in Davis, Calif.