Oregon State
Pacific-10 Championships
Ellis Wins Pac-10 Wrestling Title
March 01, 2004 | Wrestling
March 1, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Oregon State's Matt Ellis won the Pacific-10 title at 165 pounds but 174-pounder Jed Pennell and heavyweight Jamie Rakevich were beaten in overtime in the championship finals Monday evening as the Pacific-10 Wrestling Championships concluded at Wells Fargo Arena. OSU 149-pounder Tony Hook placed third and 184-pounder Dan Pitsch placed fourth.
The Beavers were seventh in the team standings. Boise State won the team title, edging Cal Poly.
Ellis, Pennell, Rakevich and Hook all earn automatic berths to the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 18-20 in St. Louis. Pitsch earned one of the conference's wild-card berths to the national tournament.
Ellis, seeded first, earned the conference championship with a major decision over second-seeded Christian Arellano of Cal State-Bakersfield, 14-3. It was Ellis' 18th win in a row, and it improved his record this season to 29-6. The junior earned a pair of major decisions in his four victories at the Pac-10 meet.
Ellis became the first Beaver to win a conference title at a weight in the 160s since Chad Renner took the 167-pound championship in 1994.
Pennell, seeded first, was beaten by third-seeded Imad Kharbush of Stanford 6-4 in overtime. The loss ended a streak of 15 straight wins at 174 pounds by the OSU senior and puts his record at 24-8 with six pins this season.
Rakevich, seeded second, was beaten by top-seeded Jacob McGinnis of Boise State 3-1 in overtime. The freshman is now 15-9 with four pins this season.
Hook, seeded second, reached the third-place final with a 5-2 win over fifth-seeded Luis Vendrell of Stanford, then beat sixth-seeded Anthony Baza of Cal State-Bakersfield 7-6 to earn the automatic berth to nationals. Hook is 18-8 with two pins this season.
Pitsch, seeded first, beat sixth-seeded Ian Murphy of Cal State-Fullerton 10-4 in the wrestleback semifinals to reach the third-place final, then was pinned by second-seeded Brandon Bear of California-Davis in 6:00. Pitsch is 19-10 with two pins this season.
OREGON STATE AT PACIFIC-10 CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM SCORES: 1. Boise State 94.5; 2. Cal Poly 91; 3. Cal State-Fullerton 89.5; 4. Cal State-Bakersfield 87; 5. (tie) Arizona State and Stanford 85; 7. Oregon State 69.5; 8. California-Davis 60; 9. Oregon 52.5; 10. Portland State 11.5.
125, ERIC STEVENSON-Dec. by No. 2 Efren Ceballos, CSUB, 9-4 in quarterfinals; dec. by Joey Lucas, UO, 5-3 in wrestleback preliminary round.
133, TIM NORMAN-Dec. by No. 1 Darrell Vasquez, CPU, 11-5 in quarterfinals; dec. over Lucas Hambleton, PSU, 7-4 in wrestleback preliminaries; tech. fall by No. 4 Jason Harless, UO, 5:31 (22-4) in wrestleback quarterfinals.
141, Kyle Larson, NO. 6 SEED-Major dec. by No. 3 Juan Mora, CSUF, 13-3 in quarterfinals; major dec. by Jeremy Mendoza, ASU, 13-3 in wrestleback quarterfinals.
149, Tony Hook, PLACED THIRD, NO. 2 SEED-Dec. over Nick Budeski, BSU, 3-2 (OT) in quarterfinals; dec. by No. 3 Matt Cox, CPU, 6-4 in semifinals; dec. over No. 5 Luis Vendrell, SU, 5-2 in wrestleback semifinals; dec. over No. 6 Anthony Baza, CSUB, 7-6 in third-place final.
157, ORLANDO PEREZ-Major dec. by No. 2 Ben Cherrington, Boise State, 13-4 in quarterfinals; med. fft. To No. 6 Dustin Vance, CSUF, in wrestleback quarterfinals.
165, Matt Ellis, PLACED FIRST, NO. 1 SEED-Dec. over Risto Martinen, CSUF, 3-1 in preliminaries; major dec. over Devin Mair, PSU, 13-4 in quarterfinals; dec. over No. 4 Brian Perry, SU, 6-2 in semifinals; major dec. over No. 2 Christian Arellano, CSUB, 14-3 in championship final.
174, Jed Pennell, PLACED SECOND, NO. 1 SEED-Pinned Josh Gustafson, PSU, 2:06 in quarterfinals; dec. over No. 4 Leonel Sanchez, CSUF, 5-2 in semifinals; dec. by No. 3 Imad Kharbush, SU, 6-4 (OT) in championship final.
184, Dan Pitsch, PLACED FOURTH, NO. 1 SEED-Major dec. over Dustin Fisher, UO, 13-4 in quarterfinals; pinned by No. 4 Ryan Halsey, CPU, 2:04 in semifinals; dec. over No. 6 Ian Murphy, CSUF, 10-4 in wrestleback semifinals; pinned by No. 2 Brandon Bear, UCD, 6:00 in third-place final.
197, JED LOWE-Major dec. by No. 1 Ryan Bader, ASU, 11-0 in quarterfinals; dec. by No. 4 Ralph Garcia, CPU, 2-0 in wrestleback quarterfinals.
HWT, Jamie Rakevich, PLACED SECOND, NO. 2 SEED-Pinned Dan Schon, UCD, 4:08 in quarterfinals; dec. over No. 3 Clifford Starks, ASU, 2-1 in semifinals; dec. by No. 1 Jacob McGinnis, BSU, 3-1 (OT) in championship final.
