The meet began well for the Ducks as junior Brian Watson won his 141 weight class battle, but the No. 4 Michigan squad was too talented for the limping Oregon wrestlers.
In front of 878 fans at McArthur Court on Friday night, Oregon dropped its record to 3-4, while Michigan improved to 5-0 in the 30-9 nonconference dual meet.
Watson won the first match over No. 12 Clark Forward in a hard-fought double-overtime decision. After three periods, Forward and Watson each had exchanged takedowns and surrendered two escapes to each other. During the first one minute overtime, neither wrestler could gain an advantage. In the second overtime, Watson chose to start on the bottom, and 18 seconds later had escaped from Forward’s grasp to earn one point and the win.
“I thought I could win that match,” Watson said. “I knew if I wrestled smart I could.
“It wasn’t a peak performance — I know I can wrestle better. Hopefully there are bigger upsets to come.”
Michigan followed with wins in the next two weight classes — No. 8 Mike Kulcyzcki’s decision over Casey Hunt (149 pounds) and No. 5 Ryan Bertin’s technical fall over Michael Badicke, 26-10, at 157 pounds.
Oregon senior Eugene Harris, ranked No. 6 in the country, followed with a win at the 165-pound class over No. 13 Charles Martelli. After regulation time, the score was tied 1-1, but Harris was able to score a takedown with 18 seconds left in the first overtime period.
Throughout the match, Martelli kept skirting away from Harris’s attempts at takedowns. A few times during the match, Harris had Martelli’s legs wrapped and was close to earning takedown points when the wrestlers were whistled out-of-bounds.
“I just had to stay with my game plan, keep motion up and it eventually started to go my way,” Harris said.
After Harris’s win, the score of the meet was 7-6 in favor of the Wolverines, but the next two matchups put the meet away for Michigan.
At 174 pounds, No. 2 Otto Olson pinned Oregon redshirt freshman Dustin Fisher in the second period. Freshman Elias Soto was then pinned in the 184-pound weight class by No. 3 Andy Hrovat at 2:53 of the match.
Head coach Chuck Kearney said he knew the match would be difficult and was pleased with the way his wrestlers fought against them.
“Otto Olson is as good as they come,” Kearney said. “Hrovat is another guy who’s got an outside shot at winning a national title. When you are wrestling a replacement wrestler and a true freshman against that caliber of people, those are the kind of results that you are going to get. I was pleased with (Fisher and Soto) and Badicke at 157, wrestling against the No. 5 kid in the country. They went out there and they fought.”
Heavyweight Eric Webb came up with the only other win for Oregon in a 4-1 decision over Steve Heleniack. During the match, Webb showed obvious signs of discomfort when putting weight on his right leg. After the meet, Webb put on a protective boot because of an injury to the soft tissue between the bones in his big toe, Kearney said.
Senior No. 9 Shaun Williams, who has been sidelined since the Dec. 20 Reno Tournament of Champions due to an ankle injury, returned to a loss to No. 12 A.J. Grant. Williams was also limping during Friday night’s meet.
Despite the loss to Michigan, Kearney was pleased with particular aspects of the meet.
“We knew they were tough,” he said. “They don’t have any weak spots in their lineup.
“We need to meet people of this caliber, because this is what we are aspiring to do to other people.”
The Ducks next compete Jan. 25 against Pacific and Central Washington at Mac Court.