Oregon is heading south to sunnier skies and warmer weather as the wrestling squad travels to California for two midweek matches against Pacific-10 Conference opponents.
Today, Oregon (5-8 overall, 4-2 Pac-10) battles California-State Bakersfield at noon. The Ducks then head west to face Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo at 7 p.m.
Cal-State Bakersfield (5-5, 2-2) features sophomore Efren Ceballos. Ceballos finished second at 133 in the 2002 Pac-10 Championships. This year, Ceballos has moved to the 125 class and is ranked between No. 14 and No. 19 in all four polls.
Cal Poly (8-6, 4-1) has two wrestlers earning national recognition. Senior David Schenk, the defending Pac-10 champion at 197, is ranked in the top 20 in all four polls. Schenk’s record this season is an impressive 22-6. Sophomore Vic Moreno, ranked No. 8 by Intermat, has an 18-6 record on the season.
Oregon hosted both Cal-State Bakersfield and Cal Poly last year. The Ducks won their matchup with the Road Runners 35-9, but lost to Cal Poly in a close 19-15 match.
Sophomore Shane Webster remains the only Oregon wrestler ranked by Intermat, sitting at No. 11 in the 174 weight class. Sophomore Martin Mitchell at 125, redshirt junior Jason Harless at 133, senior Casey Hunt at 141 and senior Tony Overstake at 149 are all listed as wrestlers to watch in their respective weight classes by Intermat.
College wrestling has three recognized polls in addition to Intermat.
W.I.N. Magazine puts Webster at No. 11, Overstake at No. 19 and Mitchell at No. 20. The Amateur Wrestling News ranks Webster at No. 11, Overstake at No. 17 and Harless at No. 20. The Wrestling Mall has Webster at No. 13 and Overstake, Hunt and Harless each at No. 20 in their weight class.
The Ducks are recovering from their first Pac-10 losses of the season. Mitchell missed Friday’s 27-9 loss to No. 10 Boise State, while Overstake sat out Sunday’s 21-20 loss to No. 11 Arizona State.
Webster split his matches from the weekend. He earned an 8-3 decision over Boise State’s Pat Owens on Friday but lost a 10-4 decision to Arizona State’s Curtis Owen. Owen was ranked one spot below Webster going into the match.
Webster leads the team with a 20-4 record and is the only wrestler who has competed at 174 for Oregon this season. All four of Webster’s losses were to ranked opponents. He also has five wins against ranked opponents to his credit.
Mitchell pinned Arizona State’s Jeremy Mendoza on Sunday for his sixth pin of the season. Of Mitchell’s five dual meet matches, he has pinned three opponents. He upset No. 9 Skyler Holman of Oklahoma State 8-6 on Jan. 26.
Even with the Ducks sitting in the top half of the Pac-10, head coach Chuck Kearney still emphasizes the things Oregon needs to work on in order to win matches, or at least to finish them well.
“We’ve got to do the little things,” Kearney reiterated after Sunday’s loss to Arizona State.
The little things are important in wrestling. Webster’s loss to Owen came because of a 5-0 first period. It got the ball rolling in Owen’s favor, and Webster couldn’t come back.
“(Owen)’s the kind of guy you can’t afford to give up a five-point cushion to,” Kearney said.
Freshman Tony Rolen has won four of his last six matches, including a major decision over Arizona State’s Ron Renzi. Rolen had Renzi pinned twice but couldn’t hold him for the count.
The Ducks will stay in California after facing Cal-State Bakersfield and Cal Poly to battle Menlo College and Fresno State on Friday.