Neil Phillips knew he would have to fill the spot left at heavyweight by senior Eric Webb, he just didn’t know how soon.
“It puts a little pressure on me,” Phillips said. “It makes me step it up a little more. It makes me work harder.”
When Webb ended his time competing with the Oregon wrestling squad earlier this week — citing his fourth concussion in less than two years — Phillips, a redshirt freshman, and his Oregon teammates realized there was suddenly a hole in points and in leadership. While seniors Tony Overstake and Casey Hunt will have larger leadership roles, Phillips has to step in and score points.
“I’ve got some pretty big shoes to fill,” Phillips said. “Eric was a great guy and it’s sad to see that he had to end his career like that.”
Phillips has been wrestling at heavyweight for Webb since the concussion occurred in November. Over that time, Phillips has earned a 4-9 record, including a 1-3 record in dual meets, pending late results from Friday’s Oregon Classic.
“It gives me more experience than I would have had, for sure,” Phillips said. “The experience will help me tremendously down the road.”
Head coach Chuck Kearney was counting on Webb to score points for the Ducks, and Webb was considered to be a contender for the national championship at heavyweight. Now, Phillips must fill those shoes.
“Neil is coming off a redshirt year, where he made some really good gains,” Kearney said at the beginning of the season. “We’re going to do our best to get him a lot of matches this season.”
Neither Kearney, Phillips nor Webb realized just how soon that experience would come.
What’s a ‘weight class’?
For the safety of the wrestlers, and to add a bit of fairness in the matchups, wrestling has weight classes.
Each wrestler must weigh-in the morning of the match to make sure they are at the right weight. If the wrestler does not make weight, they will forfeit their matchup, awarding the opposing team six points.
There are 10 weight classes — 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184, 197 and heavyweight.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer for the Emerald.