Palmer cracks Top-20 rankings
November 25, 2015 | Wrestling
Corvallis, Ore. – Oregon State 133-pounder Joey Palmer has moved into the Top 20 in the weekly rankings released on Tuesday by InterMat and The Open Mat.
A redshirt junior from Tahoma High School in Covington, Wash., Palmer cracked the elite by defeating 18th-ranked Jade Rauser of Utah Valley 6-2 this past Saturday to improve to 7-3 on the season.
The Beavers (2-3) dropped five spots to No. 23 in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll by losing to Rutgers and Utah Valley in their home opener. They are No. 22 in InterMat's tournament and team rankings.
Redshirt sophomore heavyweight Amarveer Dhesi leads the other Beavers in the polls, as he ranked is No. 5 by InterMat and The Open Mat. Dhesi (10-0) won twice this past weekend; one was a victory by disqualification over No. 10-ranked Billy Smith of Rutgers.
Sophomore 125-pounder Ronnie Bresser (6-3) is ranked No. 9 by The Open Mat and by InterMat. Senior 165-pounder Seth Thomas (7-2) remained No. 12 by InterMat and dropped two spots to No. 18 by The Open Mat after going 1-1.
Redshirt sophomore 197-pounder Cody Crawford (5-4) is ranked No. 20 by The Open Mat, but fell out of InterMat's rankings after losing twice this past weekend.
The Beavers are the only Pac-12 team in the USA Today/NWCA Division I Top 25. Stanford also received votes. Penn State moved up to No. 1, followed by Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and Nebraska.
The Beavers are idle until the Dec. 4-5 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. They will compete there without Dhesi, who instead will attend the Canadian Wrestling Team Trials in Sherwood Park, Alberta. A native of Surrey, British Columbia, he is vying for a spot on the 2016 Canadian Olympic team that will compete in Rio de Janeiro.
For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/OSU_Wrestling or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateWrestling.
