In front of the 1,289 fans at McArthur Court, the largest crowd on hand this season, the Oregon wrestlers came up with an important Civil War victory.
The 18-14 win improved the Ducks’ record to 8-7 overall and 4-4 in the Pacific-10 Conference, while Oregon State dipped to 11-8 and 6-2 in conference duals.
The Ducks lost the first three matches to go down 11-0, but stormed back winning the next six weight classes.
Junior Jason Harless came up with the key upset win that helped to turn the tide in Oregon’s favor. Oregon State’s senior captain and 133-pounder, Nathan Navarro, is ranked No. 19 in the country, but looked almost helpless against his in-state rival.
Harless came out with a bang, taking Navarro down 11 seconds into the match and maintaining top control for 1:22. In the second period, Harless threw Navarro down for a take down, earning two points, and then picked up another three near fall points for keeping Navarro on his back.
Prior to Harless’ win, 125-pound Shaun Williams scored the first team points for Oregon in his return to the mat after missing four meets because he failed to make weight. After the first period ended with at 2-1 score in his favor, Williams opened the match up against Oregon State’s Michael Delaney with a take down and a three-point near fall. The match ended with a score of 12-7.
Williams, ranked No. 12 in the country in his weight class, said that he knew that he could maintain the level that he has been wrestling at all season.
“I know I’m in shape — good enough shape to wrestle Pac-10s and nationals,” he said.
The 11-0 deficit was not a factor in Williams’ mind either.
“I didn’t let (the score) bother me at all,” he said. “I just went out there and wrestled my match.”
Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney was pleased with the way Williams wrestled in his return to dual meet action.
“Michael Delaney has beaten him in the past, not regularly but has done it before, and for Shaun to step out and dominate the action the way he did, that’s a real good sign,” Kearney said.
After Williams and Harless, Brian Watson, Casey Hunt, Tony Overstake and Eugene Harri all defeated their opponents.
Hunt, a junior, won the 149-pound match that put the Ducks on top of the scoreboard for good beating Jord
an Barich, 5-4. With one minute left
in the match, Hunt was leading 5-2, but Barich closed the gap with an escape and a locking arm penalty called on Hunt.
“Casey let up a little bit and didn’t put it away like we hoped he would, but against Oregon State, a win is a win,” Kearney said.
The Oregon head coach said that his team was over-excited heading into the match, partly due to motivation coming from the memories of the first Civil War dual meet of the season that the Beavers won in a 16-16 criteria decision.
“As a team, we looked like we really wanted to win this one, and we were a little bit too up,” Kearney said. “We needed to settle down a little bit.”
The Ducks did settle down and came up with a key victory with one dual meet remaining before the Pac-10 Championships.