Oregon State
Cliff Keen Las Vegas Classic
Jorgensen's Title Helps OSU To Seventh Place
December 04, 1999 | Wrestling
Dec. 4, 1999
STATELINE, Nev. - Oregon State's Eric Jorgensen won the 157-pound championship and the Beavers finished seventh in the team race as the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Classic wrestling tournament concluded Saturday evening. OSU had five wrestlers place in the tournament, as Jason Cooley was third at heavyweight, Ben Richards was sixth at 133 pounds, Nathan Navarro was seventh at 125 pounds and Nathan Coy was seventh at 174 pounds.
Oklahoma State won the 46-team tournament with 170 points, while Illinois was second with 142, Minnesota was third with 123 and Cal State-Bakersfield was fourth with 101.5, the Beavers will meet defending Pacific-10 champ CSUB on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Gill Coliseum. Oregon State had 76 points, just one-half point behind sixth-place West Virginia and 12.5 points ahead of eighth-place Pittsburgh.
"We're pleased," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "In an early-season tournament like this, you want to know how your conditioning is and how you'll respond, if you can be as aggressive as you'd like to be. We're pleased with that part of it. We're going out and attacking people."
Jorgensen, ranked eighth nationally by Amateur Wrestling News, handed 10th-ranked Cory Wallman of Wisconsin a 13-3 major decision in the championship final. Jorgensen finished the tournament with a 5-0 record, with three major decisions and a technical fall among his victories.
"And that was against good kids," Wells said of Jorgensen's run through the tournament. "Eric is the example we can look at and say, 'This kid is excited about coming to practice every day and doing the right things. He's made adjustments and he's adapted.' And that's made him twice as tough."
Jorgensen is now 11-1 this season with two pins.
Cooley, ranked 18th nationally, wrapped up his third-place finish by knocking off 15th-ranked Matt Brink of Michigan 3-2. Brink had knocked Cooley out of the championship bracket Friday night by pinning him in the quarterfinals.
"Jason wrestled well the whole tournament," Wells said. "He had a little momentary letdown (in the quarterfinals) and it cost him. But he epitomizes the things we point out, the little details, the minor adjustments to make - make them, and then we're going to be a lot more successful even than we were here."
Cooley improved to 9-2 this season with the win over Brink.
Richards, Navarro and Coy had also reached Friday's quarterfinals before being knocked into the wrestlebacks.
After winning a pair of matches on Saturday, Richards ran into a pair of ranked wrestlers in his final two matches. He fell to 10th-ranked Charles Walker of Oklahoma State 8-2 and then was beaten by 16th-ranked Brett Lawrence of Minnesota 2-1 in the fifth-place final, Richards had beaten Lawrence earlier in the tournament. Richards is now 9-5 this season.
Navarro was bumped into the seventh-place final by a 4-3 loss to 18th-ranked Angelo Zegarelli of West Virginia. Navarro then received a forfeit victory over 13th-ranked K.C. Rock of Boise State. Navarro is 7-4 this season.
Coy also received a forfeit win on Saturday, over fifth-ranked Kole Clauson of Wisconsin. He was then beaten by 14th-ranked Andy Varner of Cal State-Bakersfield 4-1 before bouncing back to beat Matt Cobb of Missouri 3-2 in the seventh-place final. Coy is 8-4 this season.
In addition to the five placers, the Beavers had three other wrestlers win at least a pair of matches at the tournament, as 184-pounder Isaac Weber had four victories and 141-pounder Shane Cunanan and 149-pounder Andy Frey both won twice.
OREGON STATE AT CLIFF KEEN LAS VEGAS CLASSIC - FINAL RESULTS
TOP 20 TEAM SCORES - 1. Oklahoma State 170, 2. Illinois 142, 3. Minnesota 123, 4. Cal State-Bakersfield 101.5, 5. Michigan 96, 6. West Virginia 76.5, 7. Oregon State 76, 8. Pittsburgh 63.5, 9. Arizona State 60, 10. Wisconsin 58, 11. Boise State 52.5, 12. Clarion 50.5, 13. Harvard 48.5, 14. (tie) Oregon and Fresno State, 44, 16. Northern Montana State 36, 17. Missouri Valley 36.5, 18. Ohio State 34.5, 19. Virginia 34, 20. Cal Poly 32.5.
OREGON STATE RESULTS (Amateur Wrestling News national rankings in parentheses)
NATHAN NAVARRO, 125 (7TH PLACE) - major dec. over Rasul Semenov, Colorado Mines, 20-7 in first round, dec.over James Thornton, Pittsburgh, 8-6 in second round, dec. by Ryan Escobar, Illinois, 4-3 in quarterfinals, dec. over Cisco Gonzales, Wyoming, 3-0 in wrestlebacks, dec. by (18) Angelo Zegarelli, West Virginia, 4-3 in wrestlebacks, forfeit over (13) K.C. Rock, Boise State, in seventh-place final.
BEN RICHARDS, 133 (6TH PLACE) - tech. fall over Andy Peters, Air Force, 6:52 (19-2) in first round, dec. over (16) Brett Lawrence, Minnesota, 3-2 in second round, dec. by (4) Joe Warren, Michigan, 7-3 in quarterfinals, dec. over Charlie Griggs, Boise State, 3-2 in wrestlebacks, dec. over Andy Peters, Air Force, 11-4 in wrestlebacks, dec. by (10) Charles Walker, Oklahoma State, 8-2 in wrestlebacks, dec. by (16) Brett Lawrence, Minnesota, 2-1 in fifth-place final.
SHANE CUNANAN, 141 - dec. by (17) Jonathan Archuleta, Cal State-Bakersfield, 7-5 in first round, dec. over P.J. Bory, Virginia, 6-3 in wrestlebacks, dec. over Ryan Montanez, Air Force, 7-4 in wrestlebacks, dec. by Donnie Defilippis, George Mason, 6-1 in wrestlebacks.
ANDY FREY, 149 - tech. fall by (3) Reggie Wright, Oklahoma State, 5:00 (22-5) in first round, dec. over Jason Grant, George Mason, 8-7 in wrestlebacks, dec. over Matt Keinonen, Portland State, 6-0 in wrestlebacks, dec. by Patrick Brady-Lee, Air Force, 12-8 in wrestlebacks.
(8) ERIC JORGENSEN, 157 (CHAMPION) - major dec. over Troy Hall, Pacific (Ore.), 16-4 in first round, tech. fall over Jody Marple, Central Oklahoma, 2:13 (16-0) in second round, dec. over (15) Tim Cornish, Fresno State, 5-4 in quarterfinals, major dec. over Nathan Vasquez, Cal State-Bakersfield, 12-2 in semifinals, major dec. over (10) Cory Wallman, Wisconsin, 13-3 in championship final.
JAKE HUFFMAN, 165 - dec. by Gary Cooper, Buffalo, 16-11 in first round, dec. by Alex Pelbath, Air Force, 11-4 in wrestlebacks.
NATHAN COY, 174 (7TH PLACE) - major dec. over Ryan Schumann, Southern Oregon, 12-4 in pigtails, tech. fall over Charles Schaben, Northern Colorado, 6:03 (22-7) in first round, dec. over Ben King, Illinois, 5-4 in second round, dec. by (1) Otto Olson, Michigan, 8-3 in quarterfinals, forfeit over (5) Kole Clauson, Wisconsin, in wrestlebacks, dec. by (14) Andy Varner, Cal State-Bakersfield, 4-1 in wrestlebacks, dec. over Matt Cobb, Missouri, 3-2 in seventh-place final.
ISAAC WEBER, 184 - dec. over Reggie Lee, Harvard, 3-0 in pigtails, dec. by Donovan True, Ohio State, 12-2 in first round, dec. over Karl Rittger, Brown, 3-2 in wrestlebacks, pin over Fabian Scuillo, Pittsburgh, 0:58 in wrestlebacks, dec. over Ryan McGrath, Virginia, 8-4 in wrestlebacks, dec. by Ry Stone, North Idaho JC, 5-4 in wrestlebacks.
SHANE ZAJAC, 197 - dec. by David Sandberg, North Idaho JC, 7-6 in first round, dec. by Joe Downey, Buffalo, 6-4 in wrestlebacks.
(18) JASON COOLEY, HWT - pin over Chris Vincent, Lassen CC, 2:58 in first round, dec. over Philip Johnston, Air Force, 5-1 in second round, pinned by (15) Matt Brink, Michigan, 2:20 in quarterfinals, dec. over Eric Webb, Oregon, 12-5 in wrestlebacks, forfeit over (9) Sean Hage, West Virginia, in wrestlebacks, dec. over Boe Rushton, Boise State, 7-3 in wrestlebacks, dec. over (15) Matt Brink, Michigan, 3-2 in third-place final.
