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Oregon State returns home to greet nationally-ranked
Pacific-10 foes Arizona State and Boise State
The full release as a pdf document.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
No. 9 Arizona State at Gill Coliseum; 7:30 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1
No. 19 Boise State at Gill Coliseum; 2 p.m.
With the Pacific-10 Championships just over a month away, Oregon State gets down to some conference business this weekend against a pair of nationally-ranked opponents. The Beavers (7-7 overall, 5-1 Pacific-10) will greet No. 9 Arizona State (10-5, 3-0) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and No. 19 Boise State (4-3, 1-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
This weekend is the start of a four-meet homestand against Pac-10 foes to close out the regular season, and all four meets will figure heavily in seeding for the Pac-10 Championships to be held March 2-3 at Boise State.
"It's not a be-all or end-all situation," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "But it's a good opportunity to improve your position for the Pac-10 Championships and to demonstrate what you can do, to send a message to those two teams and the guys you're going to be competing against: 'We'll see each other in a month or so, and I'm going to get after you now and I'm going to get after you the next time we wrestle'."
Andy Bowlby will be involved in the matches that are - both figuratively and literally - the biggest ones of the weekend. The Beaver heavyweight is ranked 11th in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News; Arizona State's Kellan Fluckiger is ranked fourth and Boise State's Boe Rushton is ranked sixth. In the InterMat national rankings, Fluckiger is fourth, Bowlby ninth and Rushton 10th.
Whoever emerges from that pack as the No. 1 seed will have a big advantage at the Pacific-10 meet, being lined up to meet the No. 4 seed in the semifinals. And with Oregon's Eric Webb retiring from wrestling earlier this season due to a series of concussions, the drop from No. 3 to No. 4 in the conference figures to be significant.
A couple of wins this weekend would be huge for Bowlby; in the Pac-10 rankings, he trails both Fluckiger and Rushton. Bowlby defeated Fluckiger by injury default at last season's Midlands Open, but he hasn't wrestled Rushton since dropping an 8-4 decision to the Bronco during the Southern Oregon Open in the 2000 season.
"Andy has to just go out and wrestle," Wells said. "It's not that he has to do anything specific to be successful; he just has to go out and demonstrate what he can do, and he's done that pretty much all season. He can't think about it, he just has to go out and wrestle and make them react to him, put the pressure on them and score a lot of points. If he does that, he'll be fine."
Bowlby has won 11 straight matches, including five pins. He's also won 17 of last 19 matches, including 10 pins, and eight of his 10 pins this season have come in first period.
A number of other Beavers have also picked up their pace as OSU has built momentum over the past month.
Senior 174-pounder Jake Huffman has won eight of his last nine matches, scoring team bonus points five times; he's won 12 of his last 15 matches, scoring team bonus points seven times.
Sophomore 165-pounder Matt Ellis has won eight of his last nine, as well, scoring team bonus points three times. Included in that stretch was a win over ninth-ranked Kevin Carr of Central Michigan.
Freshman 149-pounder Tony Hook has won eight of his last 10 matches, knocking off two nationally-ranked wrestlers in that time.
OSU may regain the services of freshman 157-pounder Jeremy Larson this weekend. An injury has kept Larson out of the lineup since Jan. 4.
At 184 pounds, Jed Pennell will likely wrestle in place of the injured Dan Pitsch for the second straight week. Pennell, moving up two weights from his accustomed spot to fill in for Pitsch last weekend, recorded a pin and an upset of ninth-ranked Jake Rosholt of Okahoma State.
ASU wrestled once last weekend, beating Cal Poly 32-9 in Tempe. The Sun Devils have seven nationally-ranked wrestlers. In addition to Fluckiger, 133-pounder Mike Simpson is ranked 10th by AWN and 11th by InterMat; 141-pounder Dana Holland is ranked sixth by AWN and ninth by IM; 149-pounder Eric Larkin, unbeaten this season, is ranked first by both AWN and IM; 157-pounder Rocky Smart is ranked 13th by both AWN and IM; 165-pounder Nick Frost is ranked 14th by AWN and 16th by IM; and 174-pounder Curtis Owen is ranked 13th by AWN and 10th by IM.
BSU is coming off a 32-3 win over Cal State-Fullerton in Boise last weekend, and the Broncos wrestle at Oregon on Friday night before visiting OSU. The Broncos have five nationally-ranked wrestlers. In addition to Rushton, 125-pounder Ben Vombaur is ranked third by AWN and fourth by IM; 133-pounder Jesse Brock is ranked 19th by AWN; 141-pounder Gabe Vigil is ranked 13th by AWN and 10th by IM; 149-pounder Collin Roberton is ranked sixth by AWN and eighth by IM; and 197-pounder K.C. Walsh is ranked 19th by AWN.
Oregon State tentative lineup
National rankings: Amateur Wrestling News, InterMat of Jan. 29
- 125 - Michael Delaney, sr. (Tracy, Calif./Brethren Christian HS); 6-10 with 0 pins;
in Pac-10, ranked 5th
- 133 - Tim Norman, so. (Newberg, Ore./Newberg HS); 10-12 with 1 pin
- 141 - Mike Unger, fr. (Turner, Ore./Cascade HS); 7-11 with 0 pins
- 149 - Tony Hook, fr. (Sandpoint, Idaho/Sandpoint HS); 13-7 with 3 pins
- 157 - Jeremy Larson, fr. (Hermiston, Ore./Hermiston HS); 4-6 record with 0 pins
or - Brian Duhrkoop, jr. (Milwaukie, Ore./Milwaukie HS); 3-7 with 0 pins
- 165 - Matt Ellis, so. (Prosser, Wash./Prosser HS, Oklahoma St. U.); 12-7 with 0 pins
- 174 - Jake Huffman, sr. (Scio, Ore./Scio HS); 18-8 with 2 pins;
in Pac-10, ranked 5th
- 184 - Dan Pitsch, fr. (Tacoma, Wash./Spanaway Lake HS); 15-7 record with 1 pin;
in Pac-10, ranked 5th
or - Jed Pennell, jr. (Cave Junction, Ore./Illinois Valley HS); 5-5 record with 1 pin;
in Pac-10, ranked 4th at 165
- 197 - Jason Lovell, sr. (Turner, Ore./Cascade HS); 11-9 with 1 pin;
in Pac-10, ranked 2nd
- HWT - Andy Bowlby, sr. (Newberg, Ore./Newberg HS); 21-4 with 10 pins;
in nation, ranked 11th AWN, 9th IM; in Pac-10, ranked 4th
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