While the Duck football players were battling the Buffs and enjoying their Fiesta, the Oregon wrestlers had concerns of their own.
Since the end of fall term, head coach Chuck Kearney’s squad has wrestled in five different competitions — dual meets against Oregon State, competitions against Oklahoma State and Nebraska and a match Saturday against Northern Iowa. The Ducks ( 3-3 overall, 2-1 Pacific-10 Conference) also competed at the Tournament of Champions in Reno, Nev.
The team’s schedule during their vacation from classes began on Dec. 12 in Corvallis against Pac-10 foe Oregon State. The Ducks, peculiarly, came out with a 16-16 loss. After six criteria had failed to determine a winner of the dual meet, criteria “g,” which says that a winner is determined by the number of near falls, gave the Beavers the win because of their 2-0 advantage.
In the meet, freshman Martin Mitchell filled in at the 133-pound weight class for sophomore Jason Harless, who had suffered an ankle injury, and picked up his first Pac-10 win. Mitchell has started every meet since then.
The Ducks then hosted Oklahoma State four days later at McArthur Court and were handed a 30-3 spanking from the No. 2 team in the country.
Oregon’s Brian Watson (141 pounds) picked up the lone win, but Kearney was also pleased with the way Mitchell and Shane Webster wrestled. The two freshmen lost their matches by a single point.
“The younger guys just came out really aggressive,” Kearney said. “I’m pleased with the way they wrestled. It really bodes well for our future.”
On Dec. 20th, the Ducks traveled to Reno for the Tournament of Champions where they finished seventh out of 15 teams. Senior Eugene Harris, who was ranked 10th at the time, won an individual title at the 165-pound weight class.
“If (Eugene) continues to improve, he’ll have a chance to be very successful in the postseason,” Kearney said.
The new year started well for the Ducks as they upset then-No.16 Nebraska on Jan. 3. As had happened against Oregon State, the final score was tied, this time at 24-24, but this time the Ducks won by criteria “b” — the number of falls. Harris at 165, Casey Hunt at 149 and Dustin Fisher at 174 all pinned their opponents.
The Ducks traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday to face No. 11 Northern Iowa. Individual wins by Harris, Watson and heavyweight Eric Webb , along with a forfeit win at 174 by Fisher, weren’t enough for the Ducks to pull out another upset. Oregon lost 26-16 .
The Ducks’ next meet is 7:30 p.m. Friday against Michigan at Mac Court.
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