Beavers host No. 11 Michigan in home opener

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 24^th-ranked Oregon State wrestling team hosts No. 11 Michigan on Sunday in its 2016-17 home opener. It is the second annual Joe Wells Classic, honoring the former Michigan assistant (1979-92) and OSU head coach (1992-2006), who died on April 16, 2015, of cancer.

Match time is noon at Gill Coliseum. It will be televised by Pac-12 Networks. Michigan won 27-9 in Ann Arbor in 2015-16 and leads the all-time series 7-1.

"It's a good test for us, that is what it's all about, a chance to see where we are," OSU coach Jim Zalesky said. "You have to get tested to see exactly how you stand.
"Right now we're trying to find out our best lineup, and go from there."

The Beavers (1-1) will field a revamped lineup against the Wolverines (1-0), who first face No. 19 Oklahoma in Norman on Friday night in the opener of a two-match road trip.

Freshman Bob Coleman will make his dual-meet debut at 184 after going 2-2 at 174 pounds at the Mike Clock Open on Nov. 3. He was the Oregon 5A state champion at 182 pounds in 2016 as a senior at Hermiston High School.

Redshirt sophomore Corey Griego (1-1), an NCAA qualifier last season at 184, will move up to 197. Two-year holdover 197-pounder Cody Crawford may get his first start at heavyweight as OSU continues to search for a successor to injured All-American Amarveer Dhesi, sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury suffered in practice earlier this month.

Redshirt junior David Henry, a former Oakland High School standout who is in his first season of college wrestling after playing football in 2014 and 2015, was 0-2 at the Nov. 12 Mountaineer Duals. Henry was a three-time 2A/1A state champion at 215 (2011) and 220 (2012-13) pounds.

OSU defeated Duke 22-20 but lost 25-15 to Appalachian State at the Mountaineer Duals. It forfeited at 197 pounds in both matches.

"We didn't have our lineup adjusted," Zalesky said. "We had to forfeit a weight," giving away six points, "and we got caught in a couple weights where we should have won but didn't.
"That's the way it goes. You have to move on from there."

Six Wolverines are ranked in the top 20 by InterMat: 125-pounder Austin Assad (18); 133-pounder Stevan Micic (10); 157-pounder Brian Murphy (5) and 165-pounder Logan Massa (7). However, No. 8-ranked Dominic Abounader (197), No. 5-ranked Alec Pantaleo (145) and NCAA-qualifier Garrett Sutton (165) are redshirting, as is All-American heavyweight Adam Coon, who had an off-season injury.

"Michigan is in the same situation as we are, they probably don't have the lineup they expected to have," because of injuries, Zalesky said. "Koon got hurt, just like Dhesi did, and they are redshirting [Pantaleo].

"Some of their better guys aren't in the lineup this year, like us. They've got some new guys, we've got some new guys so it will be a battle of team that both have new guys in their lineups."

The Beavers will take a short break for the Thanksgiving holiday and then return to prepare for the Dec. 2-3 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Their next home match is Jan. 30, 2017, against Stanford in their Pacific-12 Conference opener.

For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/Beaverwrestling, or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateWrestling.

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Players Mentioned

Bob Coleman

Cody Crawford

Amar Dhesi

Corey Griego

David Henry