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Lee leads wounded UO wrestling at Pac-10s
I
HAKUNA
MATATA
JEFF SMITH
Early Monday morning, shortly after Doug Lee rose
out of bed, he had a vision.
The Oregon senior wrestler pictured himself
standing atop the podium later that night at
McArthur Court and accepting the award for the Pacific
10 Conference championship.
But he knew there was plenty of work to be done before
any such celebration could occur.
Portland State junior Jeremy Wilson, ranked third in the
league in the 184-pound class, stood in the way of Lee cap
turing his third consecutive conference title.
So Lee remained focused throughout the day and into
the night. He eagerly awaited his match, and had a look of
pure determination while he kept loose on the proverbial
on-deck circle.
As Oregon State’s Nathan Coy stirred up the decent
sized crowd with his pin against Cal Poly’s Steve Strange
in the 174-pound duel, Lee kept shaking out his legs and
rolling his head around in circles.
And then, when it was finally Lee’s turn, he did what
any No. 1 ranked wrestler in the league is expected to do:
He won.
But he didn’t do so in the overpowering kind of match
that garnered the repeated replays from the Fox Sports Net
crew on hand. Instead, Lee won the title by using a me
thodical and somewhat conservative approach that
seemed fitting given his modest and quiet demeanor.
In his previous victories at the Pac-10 Championships
this weekend at Mac Court, Lee showed off his strength in
slamming his opponents hard to the ground. This time, he
simply scored an escape point and two two-point take
downs en route to an early 5-1 lead.
Wilson attempted to make it close, but Lee held on for the
6-4 victory and the ensuing adoration from his home crowd.
“Three is nice,” said Lee, when asked about his third
straight Pac-10 title. “I've worked all my career to do
something like that, and I love it. I think the greatest thing
is doing it at home.”
Lee became only the fourth Oregon wrestler to ever ac
complish the feat of winning three straight Pac-10 cham
pionships and provided a bright spot for the injury-rid
dled Ducks, who finished fourth overall at the
tournament.
“Doug Lee... I’m saddened by the thought that we’re go
ing to have a match here next year and he’s not going to be
here,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said. “He’s been
Turn to Lee, page 8
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon senior Doug Lee, who will make his fourth NCAA appearance,
raises his arms in triumph after winning his third straight Pac-10 title.
Adam Amato Emerald
Boise State’s Rusty Cook (left) came from behind to defeat Oregon’s
Chael Sonnen, 12-6, in the 197-pound Pac-10 final Monday.
■The injury-plagued Oregon wrestling team
survives two tough days at the Pac-10
Championships to place fourth
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Some days you can’t go wrong, and others, nothing goes
right.
The Oregon wrestling team was somewhere in be
tween Monday as it survived horribly bad luck off the
mat and responded with inspired wrestling on it, to fin
ish in fourth place at the Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onships at McArthur Court.
“Considering the adversity the guys went through
from an hour before the match until tonight, we wrestled
pretty well,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said.
“The guys stepped it up.”
After losing their top wrestler before
the match and suffering numerous in
juries throughout the match, the Ducks
kept themselves in the four-team battle
for first place.
Sophomore Eric Webb withdrew'
from the tournament after sustaining
his third concussion of the season. Junior Eugene Harris
and sophomore Brian Watson both sat out their final
matches of the tournament because of severe knee in
juries. Sophomore Tony Overstake wrestled through the
entire tournament despite yet another knee injury.
“When we lost Webb before the match, we all just fig
ured ‘We gotta step it up and wrestle even harder to pick
up the slack,”’ Overstake said. “Considering what we
went through, we did pretty well. Webb would have
picked up a couple more points and possibly even have
won it for us.”
After three rounds of play, Oregon found itself 11
points behind eventual winner Arizona State, five be
hind second-place Boise State and only one behind
third-place Oregon State. With the Sun Devils running
away with the competition, the Ducks knew they still
had a legitimate shot at second coming into the champi
onship finals.
Watson’s injury default, coupled with four Boise State
and Oregon State finals victories, put the Ducks out of
the hunt. Oregon finished fourth in the end, 20 behind
Arizona State.
There is a silver lining to the story. The Ducks quali
fied seven wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament, the most
since the 1980-81 season. Their fourth-place finish in the
conference is the highest since 1998.
Senior Doug Lee won his third straight Pac-10 title at
184 pounds and makes his fourth trip to the NCAA Tour
Turn to Wrestling, page 8
WRESTLING
Laura Smit Emerald
Sean Lampley (21) torched the Washington schools this past weekend en route to becoming Cal’s all-time leading scorer.
March Madness awaits
California basketball
■ Life is sweet in California as the
state’s four Pac-10 men’s hoops
teams roll their way toward the
NCAA Tournament
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
It must feel good to live in California
this week.
Sean Lampley lives in California, and
he just became the California Golden
Bears’ all-time leading scorer this week
end. Oh, and his team is virtually a lock
to play in the NCAA Tournament in a
*few weeks.
Mike Montgomery lives in California,
and he has his Stanford Cardinal just
four wins from a one-loss season. Bar
ring a major mishap, the top-ranked Car
dinal will be a No. 1 seed in March Mad
ness for the second year in a row.
David Bluthenthal lives in California,
and he scored 29 points to lead his
Southern California team to a crucial
road win over Oregon Saturday night.
The victory moved the Trojans one step
closer to being the Pacific-10 Confer
ence’s fifth represen
tative in the NCAA
Tournament.
Steve Lavin lives in
California, and de
spite some recent con
troversy, he has
coached his UCLA
team from a poor pre
season record to the 12th spot in the lat
est Associated Press poll. The Bruins
are the only team to beat Stanford this
season and will get another crack at the
Cardinal this week at Pauley Pavilion.
Oh, and it’s probably 80 degrees in
Turn to Pac-10, page 8