After a handful of tough winter break meets and lots of delicious, home-cooked holiday food, the Oregon wrestling squad is at weight and ready to roll into today’s Oregon Classic meet.
Oregon travels to Redmond for the meet. Throughout the day, the Ducks will compete against No. 12 Central Michigan, No. 17 Wisconsin, Pacific and California-State Fullerton.
The Ducks are 1-2 this season in dual meets and 1-0 against Pacific-10 Conference opponents, with their one win over in-state rival Oregon State on Dec. 13.
Senior Eric Webb and redshirt junior Jake Leair are not wrestling this weekend.
Webb has been out with an injury since the opening tournament of the season. Redshirt freshman Neil Phillips has wrestled at heavyweight.
Leair, who is 1-2 in dual meet competition this season, is sitting out today’s meet. Sophomore Elias Soto will move up to the 197 weight class for the Oregon Classic.
“We need each individual to step up,” head coach Chuck Kearney said. “Everybody’s got things they’ve got to do.”
Central Michigan (3-0) is coming off a Jan. 5 win over then-No. 7 Michigan. Oregon lost to Michigan on Jan. 4, and will match up against Central Michigan at 5:45 p.m. today.
“Central Michigan is a very good team,” Kearney said. “They’re solid at every weight class.”
Wisconsin (4-0) is led by two brothers who are both ranked in the top 10 for their weight class. The only previous meeting of the Oregon and Wisconsin squads was a Duck loss in the 1994-95 season.
“They have a solid program,” Kearney said.
Kearney and the team have talked about correcting errors and learning from the mistakes they have made this season.
“We need to compete well,” Kearney said.
Leading the charge for Oregon will be sophomore Shane Webster at 174 and senior Tony Overstake at 149. Both wrestlers have made a strong impact for Oregon this season, and lead the Ducks with 2-1 records in dual-meet matchups.
Webster, ranked No. 8 at the 174 weight class, is currently the only nationally-ranked Oregon wrestler. Webster has a 12-2 record for the season, and is 5-2 against ranked opponents. He racked up wins against then-No. 2 Travis Pascoe of Nebraska and then-No. 6 Ryan Lange of Purdue during the first two tournaments of the season.
Webster won the 174 championship at the Mat-Town USA Invitational and placed third at the Reno Tournament of Champions. One of his losses was to Pascoe, in a 5-2 decision. In his 12 wins, Webster has earned two falls, two technical falls and a major decision.
Overstake is making an impact after switching weights. As last year’s Pac-10 champion at the 157 weight class, Overstake took a risk jumping down one weight class. The 149 weight class has suited him well, as he has won six of his past eight matches. His two losses were against top-10 opponents.
Overstake has spent most of the season ranked in the top-20 of the 149 weight class. He earned a second-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where he lost 5-4 to No. 5 Jerrod Sanders of Oklahoma State in the championship match.
The Ducks start off against Cal State Fullerton (4-5, 0-1), a Pac-10 opponent. Wisconsin is second, followed by Pacific (2-4). Central Michigan caps off the day for Oregon as its last and most difficult opponent.