Brysen French hates losing.
That’s what attracted him to wrestling in the first place. In sixth grade French lost a schoolyard fight to classmate Jordan Rangle, who had been wrestling for several years already, and it piqued his interest in the sport.
“I was a punk kid, always wanting to fight everybody, and he was a wrestler,” said French. “So when we would clash it was kind of a draw but he would still beat me with his wrestling skill.
“So that kind of made me want to be a wrestler, and in high school he ended up being the one who really got me into the sport. Now we’re best friends. We’re like brothers.”
Wrestling coaches everywhere, Oregon coach Chuck Kearney included, will tell you that an overwhelming disdain for defeat is an essential quality in a championship wrestler. Especially for a freshman like French, competing against more experienced, more technically sound wrestlers.
“When somebody is dominating a position in wrestling they are dominating you,” said Kearney, a former NCAA All-American and Pacific-10 Conference Champion at Oregon. “When you’re out there in your spandex getting cranked on in front of your family and everybody it can be tough.”
And that’s where hating to lose comes in – because when you hate to lose you find a way, you spot an opening, you give that last-ditch effort.
“To be able to compete, you have to get past all that stuff. Wrestle through adversity, that’s first and foremost,” Kearney said.
Last Friday after beating Cal Poly’s Yuri Kalika 4-0, French said, “I just told myself ‘I’m not going to lose, I’m not giving up.’”
Aside from his competitive nature, French’s athletic ability also sets him apart as a wrestler, Kearney said.
“He’s got the body and the athletic ability of a (Division I) strong safety,” he said. “A lot of 184 pound guys with his athletic ability end up doing those kinds of things (football) instead of wrestling.”
But French hates to lose, and Hillsboro’s Century High School, where he lettered in football, wrestling, and track, is a little fish in the big pond of high school football in Portland’s Metro League.
“Century is more known for wrestling than it is for football,” French said. “If I had gone to a bigger school with a better football team I might have ended up liking it more, but for me I felt like wrestling was something that I could be good at.”
And he was.
French set a school record for takedowns with 195 in his career at Century, winning 101 matches.
Another factor in French’s commitment to wrestling was his high school coach, Guy Takahashi, who took an interest in French during French’s freshman year and was a mentor to him throughout high school in wrestling, academics, and life in general.
“Coach Takahashi is the one who really got me to the point where I’m at,” French said. “If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here.”
Here, for French, means the starting 184-pound wrestler for the Ducks, a distinction worn by senior Tony Rolen before he injured his neck last month.
Before him it was National Champion Shane Webster.
Those are big shoes to fill, but so far French has performed well, winning five of his seven dual matches this year.
“I’m feeling some pressure, but it’s also a big opportunity for me to step it up,” French said. “Coming in I knew Shane had just won the national title, and whoever his dueling partner was would be the guy. That was Tony, and he got hurt, and I got the spot. I don’t know, but I guess I’m doing a pretty good job.”
Tonight, French will see his toughest competition yet when Oregon (5-4, 1-2 Pac-10) takes on Cal State Fullerton (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10) in a dual meet at McArthur Court at 7 p.m.
Cal State Fullerton’s 184-pound wrestler is Ian Murphy, ranked first in the Pac-10 in his division and No. 18 nationally. Murphy was the champion for his weight at the Reno Tournament of Champions, and was subsequently named TheMat.com’s National Wrestler of the Week for Dec. 19-25.
“There’s a little bit of pressure, but I’m the underdog,” said French. “So if I can win it’s like ‘dang, a freshman just beat the Reno Tournament champion.’”
Another Duck facing some stiff competition Friday is heavyweight Chris Dearmon, who will take on Wade Sauer, ranked third among Pac-10 heavyweights and fourteenth nationally. Dearmon didn’t get to wrestle against Cal Poly, as a result of a forfeit, but won the heavyweight draw at the Portland State University Invitational two days later in Portland.
While Cal Poly had four nationally ranked wrestlers to Cal State Fullerton’s two, defeating Fullerton would be a bigger upset, Kearney believes.
“Where Cal Poly has a few guys that are in the top four or five nationally, Fullerton is just solid from top to bottom,” he said. “This is a match where we are going to have to rise to the occasion.”
After wrestling against Cal State Fullerton tonight at 7 p.m., at McArthur Court, the Ducks will head to Redmond, Ore. Saturday to wrestle in the Oregon Classic.