Oregon began its 2003-04 wrestling season Saturday in the Cowboy Open in Laramie, Wyo., with eight Duck wrestlers placing in the open event.
Freshman Cyle Hartzell headlined the finishes by the Oregon wrestlers. He finished second in his 149-pound weight class.
The next-best performance on the Oregon side was by sophomore Chet McBee, who finished third in the 174-pound weight class. Sophomore Skyler Woods finished fourth in the 140-pound weight class, while his brother, redshirt freshman Scott Woods, also placed fourth in his 157-weight class.
The Ducks remained competitive on the day despite some finishes Oregon would like to see improved upon.
Sophomore Jacob Boyles took his Boise State counterpart Clint Wolfley into double overtime before losing to Wolfley, 8-5.
Boyles placed fifth in the 125-weight class.
In open tournaments, much like the one Oregon competed in Saturday, it is not uncommon for teammates to go head-to-head, as junior Luke Larwin and sophomore Joey Bracamonte did in the 165-pound weight class. The elder Duck, Larwin, came out on top of his teammate, 3-2, in the triple overtime match. Larwin finished the day third, while Bracamonte was fourth in the 165-pound weight class.
“Today was our first competition, and it showed,” head coach Chuck Kearney said. “There are definitely some things we need to get better on. Fortunately, we also saw some really positive things. I think if we can improve on the things we need to improve on, we’ll have a really good year.”
Oregon was without the services of one of its steadiest wrestlers, Jason Harless. He was out during Saturday’s competition because of personal reasons but should begin practicing with the squad early this week in anticipation of Oregon’s next meet Saturday in Medford.
The Ducks will participate in the SOC Best of the West Tournament in the southern Oregon city.
Oregon will then have several weeks off before the schedule picks up the rest of the year. After Saturday’s second meet in as many weeks for the Ducks, the team will wait several weeks before it heads to Corvallis in an early season Pacific-10 Conference match-up against rival Oregon State on Dec. 13.