As the first wrestler Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney recruited, Tony Overstake was the beginning of Oregon’s bright wrestling future.
Kearney knew Overstake was the kind of wrestler he wanted in the program, and Overstake knew Oregon had a lot to offer.
“He’s been the heart and soul of what we’ve been trying to do here,” Kearney said.
Overstake, now a redshirt senior, leads the Ducks into the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, which begins Sunday.
“He’s a success story,” Kearney said. “Each year he has worked real hard and made big gains.”
Overstake began his final collegiate dual meet season with the dual resting on his match. The meet against Oregon State was tied at 15, after the Ducks came back from a 12-point deficit to tie the Beavers.
“I was pretty confident he could pull out the win,” Kearney said that night.
Overstake’s match went like the meet — he was down early, came back, and finally dominated. Overstake won the 149 match 9-3, giving the Ducks the 18-15 victory in front of a home crowd of 939.
“It was exciting (being the deciding match),” Overstake said that night. “The pressure’s on me to get the job done.”
As one of three seniors at the beginning of the season, Overstake is one of the leaders for the Oregon squad.
“If he sees something that needs to be done, he does it,” Kearney said. “Tony sincerely cares about the people in the program.”
“This has taught me a lot about leadership,” Overstake said. “The team is an awesome group of guys who go hard every day.”
 
Born in Medford, Overstake says his father got him started in wrestling when he was young.
Overstake attended nearby Crater High School in Central Point, which has become an Oregon wrestling powerhouse under head coach Greg Haga. Since 1993, when Crater won its first state title, Haga has led his team to five state 4A championships, including one during Overstake’s senior year.
“It was a good night,” Overstake said. He helped Crater take the state title in 1998 by earning the championship at 125 that day. He went 41-3 during his senior season as a Comet.

Overstake improved steadily over his high school years — finishing fifth in state as a sophomore and third as a junior before taking the title as a senior. He won the district title all three years and chose to attend Oregon upon graduation.
“I knew I wanted to go Division I,” Overstake said, “Oregon was the best D-I (school).”
Overstake joined former Crater teammate Doug Lee, who was one year ahead of him in school, to start the pattern from Central Point to Eugene.
These days, Overstake leads Crater graduates turning Duck. Sophomore Shane Webster and redshirt freshman Bob Pool have continued the Comets trend.
 
As Overstake has grappled during the past four years, he has changed as a force on the team and against opponents. But one thing has not changed — his determination.
“When I first got here it was kind of a struggle,” Overstake said. “It’s a sport that teaches you how to work hard.”
He spent his first year as a redshirt, scrimmaging with the squad and increasing his size. After competing at 125 in high school, Overstake wrestled at 149 in his first appearance during his freshman year.
“When he first got here, you knew he could be successful because he wanted to be,” Kearney said.
In the Southern Oregon Open on Nov. 20, 1999, Overstake finished second at 149. Teammate Derek Smith beat Overstake 4-2 for the 149 title.
The redshirt freshman became Oregon’s starter at 149 during the next month, going 22-11 during the season before finishing fifth in the Pac-10 tournament.
Overstake earned 32 team points during the season, with six of his 22 wins coming by major decision, three by pinning his opponent and two by technical fall.
During his second year of competition, Overstake earned his first trip to the NCAA Championships with a fourth-place Pac-10 finish. He won the Southern Oregon Open, and finished the season 18-16. A late-season knee injury caught up with him at the national tournament, where he went 0-2.
Overstake jumped to 157 for his junior year, and the extra eight pounds didn’t slow him down. He made a return trip to the NCAA Championships after winning the Pac-10 Championship at 157. Overstake went 1-2 at the national tournament, finishing the season with a 27-9 record — second-best on the team.
After shoulder surgery over the summer, Overstake made the decision to move back to 149. He attributed the move to three things: his surgery, helping the team and the opportunity to compete better at the conference and national tournaments.
This season, Overstake is 18-8. He has been ranked on and off in the top 20 by Intermat, The Wrestling Mall, Amateur Wrestling News and W.I.N. Magazine.
“He’s had a good year,” Kearney said. “His training and preparation have been geared to Pac-10’s and nationals.”
 
“I love the sport,” Overstake said, mentioning the possibility of coaching after graduation. “I’m not ready to be done with it.”
Overstake has two tournaments left in his collegiate career — the Pac-10 Championships and the NCAA Championships that begin March 20.
“He’s leaving the program better than when he got here,” Kearney said. “That’s a goal.”