Last year, last look
2001-02 IN REVIEW: Oregon State had high expectations heading into the wrestling postseason, but injuries helped limit the Beavers to fourth in the Pacific-10 Championships and 31st at the NCAA Championships. OSU had gone 12-8 in dual meets against some of the nation's toughest competition, and the Beavers were 7-2 in Pacific-10 duals.
The Beavers did have an All-American in 174-pounder Nathan Coy, who placed fourth in the nation. And OSU had three Pac-10 champions - Coy, 184-pounder Isaac Weber and heavyweight Jason Cooley.
"There were some times it looked like things were coming together for us," said Joe Wells, who wrapped up his 10th season as OSU's head coach. "We wrestled tough against some great teams, and we were really looking forward to seeing what we were capable of in the big meets. But we had some people get hurt at the wrong times, and some others didn't wrestle up to the level we'd hoped for consistently, and the result was that we didn't finish as highly at either meet as we expect to."
The injury bug bit hardest as Oregon State hosted the Pacific-10 Championships at Gill Coliseum.
Casey Horn, who had become one of the conference's top pinners before suffering a knee injury in late January, returned for the Pac-10 meet but suffered a dislocated elbow in the quarterfinals and was done for the tournament.
"That really cost us," Wells said. "Casey was seeded third in a very tough weight class, but he had the chance to place and also score us some bonus points with pins."
The Beavers also lost 149-pounder Jordan Barich to an arm injury. Barich was unseeded, but won his preliminary-round match before being hurt; he managed to stay on the mat for the completion of his quarterfinal loss and then was unable to compete in the wrestlebacks.
"Jordan could have picked us up a few more points, especially if he'd been able to go in the wrestlebacks," Wells said.
The Beavers did qualify five wrestlers for the NCAA Championships, as 125-pounder Michael Delaney and 197-pounder Jason Lovell joined the three conference champs. But Lovell aggravated a neck injury in practice the week before the NCAA meet and was not able to compete.
"Jason had been wrestling better as the season went on," Wells said. "He looked ready to reach the next level, but with the injury he had there was no way he could safely wrestle. He would have scored us some points at the NCAAs, though, if he'd been healthy."
Despite the disappointment in the postseason, the Beavers took positive steps during the year.
Twice, Beavers knocked off wrestlers who were ranked second nationally. Horn defeated Minnesota 141-pounder Chad Erickson 6-5 in a dual meet in Minneapolis, and Weber upset Michigan 184-pounder Andy Hrovat in a 7-7 tiebreaker during a dual meet at Gill Coliseum.
Coy, Weber and Cooley all reeled off 11-match winning streaks that propelled them to Pac-10 titles. Cooley, having struggled against Arizona State's Kellan Fluckiger and Oregon's Eric Webb in 2001, defeated both en route to another conference heavyweight crown.
"We had four seniors in our lineup who will be hard to replace," Wells said, referring to Coy, Weber, Cooley and 133-pounder Nathan Navarro. "But the quality of the kids in our program has continued to rise, and we're seeing that pay off in the room. People are competing for places in the lineup, and they've had to get better to step on the mat on the weekends (in meets). We were able to redshirt some people this year who should be able to step in next season and be competitive right away."
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