OSU wrestlers win close one
February 7, 1999
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oscar Woods pin at 149 pounds proved to be the winning points as No. 16 Oregon State edged Boise State 18-17 in a Pacific-10 wrestling dual meet Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. The win gave the Beavers (13-7 overall, 5-1 Pacific-10) a sweep of their weekend meets; OSU had beaten 10th-ranked Arizona State 23-19 on Saturday night.
Wood, ranked third in the nation, pinned Boise States David Levitt in 1:21 to put the Beavers up 18-14 going into the final match. In the days finale at 157 pounds, OSUs 17th-ranked Eric Jorgensen dropped a 3-1 decision to fourth-ranked Larry Quisel, and that was good enough to secure the dual win for OSU.
"It looked like we let down a little as far as our effort," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "Boise State has a good team, theyre well-balanced from top to bottom. We didnt score as many points as we did against some guys wed handled before (in a 23-13 win over BSU earlier this season), which was a sign we werent wrestling as aggressively as we could have."
The loss was the first of the season for Boise State (8-7, 4-1) in a conference dual, and Wells was pleased with the weekend sweep of Pacific-10 foes.
"To win these meets back-to-back is good for us," Wells said. "Coming off our trip to Oklahoma (and losses to fourth-ranked Oklahoma and top-ranked Oklahoma State), winning both of these is something we can use as a springboard for next week and then the Pacific-10 Championships."
OSU will wrestle at Oregon on Friday at 7:30 p.m., then close out the regular season at home against Brigham Young on Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Wood, who had lost three times to highly-ranked wrestlers last week, finished his weekends work with a pair of first-round pins to improve to 24-4 this season. After wrestling what he considered an ugly, out-of-control match to beat ASUs 17th-ranked Quinn Foster on Saturday night, Wood was happier with Sundays performance.
"It was a little better today," said Wood, now has a team-high 14 pins this season and 48 for his career. He took Levitt down once, cut him loose for an escape, then took him down again and went after the much-needed team points.
"I wanted to try to do a little more wrestling, but I really wanted the pin for the dual meet," Wood said. "I just wanted to pin him and get the six team points."
Beaver heavyweight Mat Orndorff, ranked sixth nationally, also improved to 24-4 this season by beating 12th-ranked Rusty Cook 10-4. Orndorff nearly added to his 12 pins this season when he had Cook on his back midway through the second period, but Cook fought him off.
OSU also got a crucial performance in a losing effort from 141-pounder Earl Hall. With Boise States Cory Caywood trying to put the meet out of reach, Hall kept wrestling despite injuring his knee in the second period. Hall forced Caywood to settle for a major decision rather than giving up a forfeit that would have swung the final score Boise States way.
NO. 16 OREGON STATE 18, BOISE STATE 17
(Amateur Wrestling News national rankings in parentheses)
165-(1) Kirk White, BSU, major dec. Nathan Coy, OSU, 14-4. 174-Kyle Klonizos, BSU, dec. Clint Wilson, OSU, 8-3. 184-Isaac Weber, OSU, dec. Dax McMillan, BSU, 3-1. 197-Cash Edwards, BSU, dec. (17) Shane Zajac, OSU, 5-3. HWT-(6) Mat Orndorff, OSU, dec. (12) Rusty Cook, BSU, 10-4. 125-(20) Nathan Navarro, OSU dec. K.C. Rock, BSU, 3-2. 133-Ben Richards, OSU, dec. Charlie Griggs, BSU, 8-2. 141-Cory Caywood, BSU, major dec. Earl Hall, OSU, 19-7. 149-(3) Oscar Wood, OSU, pinned David Levitt, BSU, 1:21. 157-(4) Larry Quisel, BSU, dec. (17) Eric Jorgensen, OSU, 3-1.
