Ducks wrestle
in first Civil War
match of season
The Ducks kick off a busy
winter break with the first
of two Civil War matches
and a tournament in Reno
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
The Civil War is on its way.
Oregon hosts its half of this sea
son’s wrestling Civil War matches
Friday to lead into winter break.
The Ducks will have a busy
three weeks, as they also host No.
8 Nebraska, travel to No. 6 Michi
gan, and participate in a challeng
ing tournament.
“Our student athletes are excited
to get started, to get wrestling,”
head coach Chuck Kearney said. “I
wouldn’t say they’re tired of
wrestling each other, but the com
petition is what it’s all about.
They’re really excited about it.”
Oregon and Oregon State split
the two dual meets last year, each
squad winning at home. Oregon
State won a close match that was
tied at 16 by virtue of a criteria-g
tiebreaker. The Ducks won the
second competition 18-14.
Oregon finished second in the
Pac-10 Conference last year, behind
Boise State. Arizona State finished
third, and the Beavers were a dis
tant fourth.
Oregon State has lost two of its top
wrestlers — Casey Horn at the 141
weight class and Micah Houston at
157 — for the season. Horn is still re
covering from injuries he suffered last
season, while Houston decided not to
return for his junior year.
On Dec. 14, Oregon hosts Ne
braska for another dual meet. Last
year, the Ducks traveled to Lin
coln, Neb., and won another tie
match. Oregon earned the victory
by a criteria-b tiebreaker when the
match stood at 24.
Oregon has already seen Nebras
ka this season. Both teams partici
pated in the Nov. 30 Mat-Town USA
Classic. Oregon sophomore Shane
Webster won his match with No. 2
Travis Pascoe from Nebraska.
The Ducks will travel to Reno,
IINev., for the Dec. 19 Reno Tourna
ment of Champions, their third
tournament of the season.
Reno hosts a yearly weekend of
college and high school wrestling
competition. The Tournament of
Champions college competition fea
tures 23 teams this year, with four
of the teams ranked in the top-25
by The Wrestling Mall.
No. 10 Arizona State and No. 22
Boise State lead the Pac-10 into the
competition. Those teams will join
Oregon, California Polytechnic, Cal
ifornia-State Fullerton, Califomia
Davis, California-State Bakersfield
and Portland State as the Pac-10 en
ters eight teams in the meet. Only
Oregon State and Stanford are miss
ing the meet.
Reno also features No. 1 Oklahoma
State and No. 21 Edinboro, whom the
Ducks competed against in the Nov.
23 Body Bar Invitational.
After Reno, Oregon will have two
weeks off before traveling to Ann
Arbor, Mich., on Jan. 4 to battle the
No. 6 Wolverines.
The Ducks want to make up for
the 30-9 loss to Michigan last year
at McArthur Court. Brian Watson
and Eugene Harris, who both grad
uated in 2002, and redshirt senior
Eric Webb were the only Ducks to
score points in last year’s match.
Oregon’s squad this season fea
tures three wrestlers ranked nation
ally by The Wrestling Mall in their
weight class. Redshirt junior Jason
Harless is ranked 18th in the 125
class, while Webb is ranked 10th in
the heavyweight class. Redshirt sen
ior Tony Overstake, who dropped
from 157 to 149 this season, is
ranked 16th at 149.
All three of last year’s seniors
were big point scorers for the Ducks
and made appearances in the NCAA
Championship meet.
“We’ve got people able to step in,”
Kearney said.
While Oregon lost three
wrestlers with national experi
ence, five with NCAA exposure re
turn to the squad among the 18 re
turning team members.
Oregon will return to Eugene in
time for winter term, and will partici
pate in one last tournament before
fully entering the dual meet season.
The Ducks have 12 dual meets in a
row before the Pac-10 tournament
begins March 2. On their schedule,
the Ducks batde the Pac-10 and trav
el to the Midwest to take on No. 4 Ok
lahoma and Oklahoma State.
For now, the Ducks will focus on
Oregon State and Nebraska and
hope to kick off their dual meets
with a pair of wins at home.
Mindi Rice is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
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