The song remains the same for Oregon wrestling after two meets Friday at McArthur Court: Signs of improvement from the individual wrestlers bode well for the Ducks come Pacific-10 Championship meet time, but Oregon (9-11, 0-8 Pac-10) was no closer to securing its first conference dual meet victory of the season. The Ducks lost to UC Davis 24-17 in the afternoon meet and 24-15 to Stanford in the nightcap. The Aggies are now 4-5 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-10; the Cardinal moves to 11-2 and 4-1 in conference meets.
“I wanted them to relax and have fun and let’s not worry about winning or losing, let’s worry about doing things and making stuff happen,” head coach Chuck Kearney said of the team’s mental approach to the two meets. “I said to the group, ‘Do you remember why you started wrestling?’ and that’s what we want to focus on.”
Kearney was full of praise for a pair of individuals who won their matches Friday and have continually improved their chances for the Pac-10 Championships. Kearney focused on sophomore Zack Frazier and redshirt junior Ryan Dunn, who combined to win three matches against the Aggies and Cardinal. The 165-pound Frazier defeated Stanford’s Peter Miller 8-7 by scoring a decisive takedown with three seconds left in the third period. Frazier’s high-energy victory earned high marks from his coach.
“Zack wrestles the way I want our team to wrestle,” Kearney said. “He’s high-energy, he never quits, he makes things happen, he’s cool under fire, and tonight’s performance is how I want Oregon wrestling to be looked at.”
Kearney said that the changes lie in Frazier’s mentality shifting from awe at being involved with a Division-I program, to a sense of ownership of his position on the team – which comes with raising his own personal expectations to win.
“By the time he’s done he’s going to be a good college wrestler,” Kearney said.
Dunn defeated Stanford’s Porfiro Madrigal 9-8 and UC Davis’ Francisco Manriquez 6-4 to move his season record to 18-6. The redshirt junior – who Kearney characterized as “the Energizer Bunny” of the team – has worked on lessening mistakes early in matches that hurt his style, which focuses on wearing down opponents, Kearney said.
“The key for Ryan is he needs to make sure he doesn’t let there get to be too big a gap in the first round,” Kearney said. “He gets stronger as the match goes on.
“He’s one of our energy leaders and we need him to wrestle with high energy.”
Heavyweight redshirt freshman Charlie Alexander continued on his winning ways, moving his season record to 21-5 after two wins Friday, including a six-overtime thriller against UC Davis’ Ricky Alcala. Kearney still thinks Alexander has room to improve before becoming a legitimate All-America candidate, but is still pleased with his heavyweight’s performance.
“Those are Charlie-type matches,” Kearney said. “He’s going to force his opponent to make mistakes and capitalize. We need him to open up a little more.”
Despite suffering two losses Friday, Kearney isn’t worried about Ron Lee’s current form because the redshirt sophomore has proven his ability in his two years at Oregon.
“I’m not worried about Ronnie, because I know what he’s made of,” Kearney said. “He’s a character kid, (but) he’s struggling a little bit right now. Tonight, even though he lost the match, he wrestled with good intensity.” Kearney did show worry over Lee’s technique, though, saying that unless they improve the 174-pounder’s ability to wrestle from the bottom position, “he can’t go down.”
The Ducks host their final regular-season meet at McArthur Court next Friday, when Oklahoma State will face Oregon in a non-conference dual meet. Oregon will have its hands full, as the Cowboys are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation and are 34-time national champions.
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