Oregon looked like two different squads in the weekend’s two meets, but both ended in Pacific-10 Conference losses.
Friday, Oregon (5-8 overall, 4-2 Pac-10) came out looking dead against No. 12 Boise State (6-3, 3-1). Ben VomBaur, the No. 4 wrestler at 125 from the Broncos, earned a 2-1 lead over sophomore Jacob Boyles and never let go. A five-point technical fall with near fall was awarded to VomBaur after he outscored Boyles 23-8.
Redshirt junior Jason Harless followed with the 133 weight class, fighting to earn a 3-2 decision. Bronco Jesse Brock, the defending Pac-10 champion, earned his only points on two escapes.
“I was very pleased with Jason,” head coach Chuck Kearney said Friday.
Oregon’s two bright spots left in the meet came at 157 and 174. Junior Branson Phillips earned a 7-0 decision over his Boise State opponent at 157. Sophomore Shane Webster, ranked No. 7 by Intermat, earned the decision at 174 by taking out his Bronco opponent 8-3.
“It’s a battle of toughness, and the guys have to get tougher,” Kearney said Friday.
Oregon’s 27-9 loss to the Broncos was its first Pac-10 loss of the season. The other Pac-10 team that started Friday undefeated — No. 6 Arizona State — also earned its first conference loss Friday, in an 18-16 loss to Oregon State.
Sunday, the Ducks battled the Sun Devils (10-6, 3-1). Oregon started the meet on the right footing — up 10-0 after two matches.
Sophomore Martin Mitchell pinned his opponent at the 1:11 mark of the 125 match for his sixth pin of the season.
“It’s always good when you’re the first match to fire up the team,” Mitchell said. “I knew this was an opponent I could step up against.”
Harless, the only Oregon wrestler to win both his matches this weekend, controlled No. 11 Mike Simpson. Harless earned a 13-2 four-point major decision.
“Just going out there with confidence is what won the match for me,” Harless said.
Oregon’s 10-point lead came down in the next five matches, as Arizona State fought for four decisions and a pin to put the score 18-10 in the Sun Devils’ favor.
Freshman Tony Rolen built a 5-0 lead over Sun Devil Ron Renzi in the first 30 seconds of the 184 match. Rolen almost pinned Renzi twice —
once in the first period and once in the third — but couldn’t hold on for the fall.
“Tony’s gonna be a real good college wrestler,” Kearney said. “He has continually gotten better.”
Rolen earned the four-point major decision over Renzi with a 13-2 final score.
The Sun Devils forfeited the heavyweight match, but still won the dual meet 21-20.
“We competed a lot better tonight,” Kearney said. “Our kids wrestled hard.”
The Ducks travel to California on Wednesday for two dual conference meets.