PORTLAND — The Oregon wrestling squad dominated Portland State Wednesday night, earning the Ducks their first shutout victory this season in a 42-0 win.
“What we talked about was looking at this as a (Pacific-10 Conference) tournament first-round matchup,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said.
Senior Casey Hunt opened the dual at 141, dominating Viking Eddie Dahlen with two near falls. Dahlen earned his only points on escapes, with Hunt earning the four-point major decision, 17-5. It was Hunt’s third major decision of the season and of his collegiate career.
At 149, redshirt freshman Bob Pool wrestled in his first match of the season, getting a pin for the victory 25 seconds into the match. Pool started quickly with a takedown before pinning his opponent.
Junior Branson Phillips and his opponent held each other scoreless through two periods. After starting the third period down, Phillips earned two points for a reversal and one point for riding time to win the 157 match, 3-0.
Redshirt sophomore Luke Larwin faced Portland State’s top wrestler, Eric Arbogast, in the 165 match. Larwin and Arbogast fought a close match through all three periods, with Larwin coming away with the 4-3 victory.
“It was a big win for Luke,” Kearney said. “(Arbogast) is ranked third in the conference. This is the kind of guy Luke’s going to have to beat to make it to nationals and to win the Pac-10 tournament.”
No. 11 Shane Webster began with a takedown in the first five seconds of the 174 match, and didn’t let up the pace. With five takedowns in the first period and three each during the second and third periods, Webster controlled the flow of the match. The sophomore earned a point for riding time and held his opponent to 10 escapes, winning a four-point major decision, 23-11.
Webster’s win put Oregon ahead of the Vikings, 20-0.
“It was a good win for Shane,” Kearney said.
Freshman Tony Rolen at 184 and sophomore Elias Soto at 197 both earned victories by forfeit from their Portland State opponents.
Neil Phillips, wrestling the heavyweight match, earned his first collegiate four-point major decision. Phillips scored a takedown in the first period, and a reversal and four more takedowns in the third period on his way to the 13-5 victory.
“That’s his thing,” Kearney said. “He took some risks.”
The dual rolled back around to 125 with the Ducks leading 36-0 and sophomore Martin Mitchell on the mat. Mitchell scored two takedowns, a reversal and a near fall for a 9-4 victory.
To wrap up the meet for the Ducks, redshirt freshman Jacob Boyles fought for a 5-3 decision. The win was Boyles’ second in the Pac-10 in three attempts.
“We did some things real good tonight,” Kearney said.
Oregon finished the dual season with an 8-11 overall record, going 6-4 in the Pac-10.
The Ducks now have 10 days to prepare for the Pac-10 tournament, hosted by Boise State. The tournament begins March 2.