Oregon State
Wyoming
Beavers Edged By Wyoming, 17-16
January 31, 2004 | Wrestling
Jan. 31, 2004
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State 165-pounder Matt Ellis and 174-pounder Jed Pennell both extended their winning streaks to nine matches but the Beavers were edged by Wyoming 17-16 in non-league wrestling Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. OSU 184-pounder Dan Pitsch bumped his winning streak to eight matches as the Beavers lost for just the second time in their last nine dual meets.
It was the first time this season that Oregon State (8-5 overall, 4-1 Pacific-10) had been beaten by an unranked team. OSU goes on the road next weekend to wrestle Pac-10 duals at Cal Poly on Friday night, at Stanford on Saturday afternoon and at California-Davis on Saturday night.
Against Wyoming (4-3), the Beavers were the aggressors throughout the afternoon as the Cowboys were content to work the edges of the mat and counter OSU's attacks. The difference in the meet was Wyoming scoring two major decisions to Oregon State's one major decision.
"We were being aggressive, but we weren't being demonstrative enough with our attacks to get the calls," OSU head coach Joe Wells. "We were more aggressive and we were in better shape and we should have won. But it looked like to me, every guy was leaving it up to somebody else to solve the problems, and that's what it comes down to.
"But if we take care of business ... we didn't come out and get three takedowns in the first period like we want to, and we didn't separate ourselves. They clung on with whatever, and we didn't deal with that very well, so that's a problem.
OSU went into the final two matches trailing 17-10 and needing a pair of major decisions to win the meet; a tie score sending the outcome to criteria likely would have made the Cowboys the winner. Oregon State's hopes were buoyed by having Ellis and Pennell in the final two matches, while Wyoming bumped its final two wrestlers up a weight.
Ellis, ranked 14th nationally by Amateur Wrestling News, took a 10-4 decision over Gary Dack. Pennell, ranked 15th nationally by AWN, then hung on for a 10-3 win over Trevor Murray; Pennell had managed a three-point near-fall late in the second period but couldn't turn it into a dual-winning pin.
Ellis' ninth straight win gives him a 20-6 record this season; he's won 15 of his last 18 matches. Pennell is now 18-6 this season and has won 10 of his last 11 matches. Both are ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10.
Pitsch started the meet with his eighth straight victory, a 9-1 major decision over Sam Wendland. It was the fourth straight match in which Pitsch has scored team bonus points; he has a 13-7 record this season.
The Beavers then lost the next three matches, and two of those were by one point - heavyweight Jamie Rakevich's 3-2 loss to 18th-ranked Dusty Hoffschneider and 125-pounder Eric Stevenson's 3-2 loss to Bryce Leonhardt.
"It wasn't a very exciting meet," Wells said. "It was close, but I didn't see a lot of exciting wrestling and that's disappointing. But that's our fault - we can make it exciting. We've got to get more takedowns and more back points."
OSU badly needed a win at 133 pounds, and Tim Norman rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to beat Tyson Shatto 7-6. Tony Hook had the Beavers other victory, going overtime to beat Patrick Shuler 6-4 at 149 pounds; it was Hook's second overtime win in his last three matches.
WYOMING 17, OREGON STATE 16
(Current Amateur Wrestling News national rankings in parentheses)
184-Dan Pitsch, OSU, major dec. Sam Wendland, UW, 9-1. 197-Kevin Kessner, UW, major dec. Curt Willener, OSU, 8-0. HWT-(18) Dusty Hoffschneider, UW, dec. Jamie Rakevich, OSU, 4-3. 125-Bryce Leonhardt, UW, dec. Eric Stevenson, OSU, 3-2. 133-Tim Norman, OSU, dec. Tyson Shatto, UW, 7-6. 141-Blake Gunter, UW, major dec. Kyle Larson, OSU, 11-2. 149-Tony Hook, OSU, dec. Patrick Shuler, UW, 6-4. 157-Andrew Shuler, UW, dec. Orlando Perez, OSU, 10-7. 165-(14) Matt Ellis, OSU, dec. Gary Dack, UW, 10-4. 174-(15) Jed Pennell, OSU, dec. Trevor Murray, UW, 10-3.
