They weigh close to 160 pounds, and each week they wrestle opponents up to 14 pounds heavier than themselves.
Junior Leif Williams and freshman Luke Larwin have been underdogs for most of the season at 165 and 174 pounds, respectively.
Due to an injury to projected starter Matt Lee in the fall, Williams and Larwin have had to wrestle up a few weight classes all season.
“It’s incredibly tough wrestling up a class,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said. “But they never complain, and they’re always ready to go out and compete. They’re good friends, and they encourage each other.”
In a wrestle-off to decide who would wrestle in which class at the upcoming Pacific-10 Conference Championships, Larwin defeated Williams in two straight matches by scores of 8-2 and 7-3, respectively.
Larwin will compete at 165 pounds, where he has a 4-4 season record. The Bend native is 6-8 overall.
The unexpected return of Lee this month forced a wrestle-off for the 174 pound slot. Williams (8-15) defeated Lee twice to earn the nod. Lee hadn’t wrestled a collegiate match in over a year.

Final Pac-10 Standings
No. 11 Arizona State wrapped up the Pac-10 regular season title on February 4 with a win over Cal State-Bakersfield. The Sun Devils finished the season 4-0 in the conference, 10-5 overall.
Arizona State and second place Boise State never met during the regular season, but the Broncos’ upset loss to third place Oregon State took them out of the running.
The Ducks (4-4) finished fourth behind the Beavers (6-2) after wrapping up the season with five straight dual match losses.

Recruiting watch

All three of Oregon’s early signees won their respective district championships last weekend and move on to the state tournament.
Shane Webster, the top-ranked 171-pounder in the nation, from Central Point’s Crater High, stormed through his bracket en route to his third consecutive state tournament appearance. Webster is 34-0 this season and the fourth wrestler from Crater to sign with Oregon in six years.
Ten miles to the northeast, Eagle Point’s Chet McBee also won his district bracket. McBee is ranked third among Oregon preps and is expected to wrestle at either 149 or 157 pounds next season.
Halfway across the country, heavyweight Neil Phillips of Broken Arrow, Okl., also won his district tournament. Phillips is the younger brother of current Oregon wrestler Branson Phillips.

Rankings
The devastating Civil War loss to Oregon State last Wednesday cost the Ducks several places in the Amateur Wrestling News polls. Oregon dropped to No. 20 in the team rankings following their fifth straight loss.
Sophomore heavyweight Eric Webb dropped one spot to No. 5 after sitting out the Oregon State match with a concussion.
Senior All-Americans Doug Lee and Chael Sonnen remained the No. 7 wrestlers at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively.
Junior Shaun Williams and sophomore Brian Watson both dropped out of the top ten following upset losses to Beaver wrestlers.
Junior Eugene Harris rounded out the ranked Ducks at the No. 20 spot at 157 pounds.