Senior heavyweight Chris Dearmon brought some excitement to Oregon’s disappointing 28-10 loss to Cal State Fullerton Friday night with an impressive 6-3 victory over Wade Sauer.
Sauer is among the elite heavyweights of the Pacific-10 Conference and the country. He came into the dual meet ranked 14th nationally with an overall record of 17-7.
One of those wins was over Dearmon, 8-0, at last month’s Reno Tournament of Champions.
But revenge wasn’t on the senior heavyweight’s mind when he stepped on the mat against Sauer Friday night.
“I didn’t really think about the loss too much because I always want to start fresh, have a clear mind, and just go out there and wrestle,” he said.
In recent matches, including his championship at the previous weekend’s Portland State Invitational, Dearmon has opted for this calmer, less emotion-driven mindset.
“I’ve been taking a different approach in all my matches” Dearmon said. “Coach (Rick) Stewart said he thinks I kind of get myself amped up, and that takes away from my wrestling a little bit.”
Oregon coach Chuck Kearney said he expects this kind of performance from Dearmon, despite the senior’s early-season struggles this year.
“Chris obviously wrestled extremely well tonight and we’re real pleased with the way he’s competing,” Kearney said. “He got off to a rocky start and has been battling through that, but last weekend at the Portland State tournament he kind of turned a corner.”
The Pac-10 heavyweight division is among the most competitive in the country, featuring four nationally ranked wrestlers and quality wrestlers from top to bottom. Upsets like his are common, Dearmon said.
“All of the heavyweights know that our division is really competitive,” he said. “I don’t think this win will really shock anyone.”
Other winners for the Ducks were sophomore Ryan Dunn in a 25-11 major decision over Jaime Hernandez at 125 pounds, and sophomore Kyle Bounds in a 10-7 decision over Paul Tice at 157 pounds.
Despite the wide margin of defeat for the Ducks, the meet was much more competitive than the 28-10 final score would indicate.
Six of the dual meet’s 10 matches were decided by three points or less, including sophomore Jeremy McLaughlin’s 8-5 loss to 11th-ranked Morgan Atkinson at 149 pounds and sophomore Brysen French’s narrow 4-2 loss to 18th-ranked Ian Murphy, the conference’s top wrestler at 184 pounds.
“We competed hard, and there are a lot of little things we did well that we can take from the loss,” Kearney said. “Cal State Fullerton is a tough team and if we can turn around a couple of those close matches we’re right there with them.”
Of serious concern for the Ducks is the knee injury that 133-pound starter Justin Pearch suffered in his match. Pearch had to forfeit the match due to the injury and his status going forward is uncertain. Kearney said they would re-evaluate the injury over the weekend and Pearch could be out anywhere from seven days to six weeks.
Oregon travels to Oklahoma this weekend for dual meets against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Jan. 20. The results of Oregon’s most recent meet at the Oregon Classic Open were not available at the time of press.