Three Beaver Wrestlers Seeded as NCAA Championships Start Thursday
March 18, 1998
Oregon State had three wrestlers earn seedings Wednesday for this year's NCAA Championships. OSU senior 126-pounder Jason Buce is seeded ninth; junior 142-pounder Oscar Wood is ninth; and junior heavyweight Mat Orndorff is 10th. The tournament begins Thursday morning and continues through Saturday evening at the Cleveland State Convocation Centre. The opening day features the preliminary and first-round matches in the morning, followed by the wrestleback preliminary and first rounds in the evening.
There are approximately 32 wrestlers in each weight class, with 12 in each weight class being seeded. The top eight finishers in each weight class earn All-America honors.
OSU has eight wrestlers competing in the tournament, its highest number of NCAA competitors in more than a decade. The Beavers are one of just 10 teams in the country with eight or more qualifiers. OSU's unseeded wrestlers are freshman 118-pounder Ben Richards, freshman 150-pounder Eric Jorgensen, sophomore 158-pounder Isaac Wood, senior 177-pounder Sanders Freed and freshman 190-pounder Shane Zajac.
OSU tied for 54th place in the NCAA Championships last year, interrupting a run of three straight top-10 finishes. The Beavers' highest finishes have been second place in 1973 and 1995; third place in 1969 and 1970; fourth place in 1961, 1971, 1979 and 1994; and fifth place in 1997.
OREGON STATE SEEDINGS, FIRST-ROUND PAIRINGS AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
BEN RICHARDS, 118 POUNDS (Unseeded) - vs. No. 2 Stephen Abas, Fresno State; would advance to meet Steve Doerrer, Illinois, or Chris Mansueto, George Mason.
JASON BUCE, 118 POUNDS (Seeded No. 9) - vs. Jason Betz, Penn State, or Nate Rupp, Cornell; would advance to meet No. 8 Joe Warren, Michigan, or C.C. Fisher, North Carolina. OSCAR WOOD, 142 POUNDS (Seeded No. 9) - vs. Chris Elliott, Slippery Rock; would advance to meet either No. 8 Mike Harp, Missouri, or Arkee Allen, Columbia.
ERIC JORGENSEN, 150 POUNDS (Unseeded) - vs. No. 1 Eric Siebert, Illinois, in pigtail match; would advance to meet Mike Kallai, Air Force.
ISAAC WOOD, 158 POUNDS (Unseeded) - vs. Vince DeAugustine, Buffalo, in pigtail match; would advance to meet No. 1 Hardell Moore, Oklahoma State.
SANDERS FREED, 177 POUNDS (Unseeded) - vs. Dave Murray, Lock Haven; would advance to meet No. 1 Mitch Clark, Ohio State, or Doug Lee, Oregon.
SHANE ZAJAC, 190 POUNDS (Unseeded) - vs. No. 4 Ryan Tobin, Nebraska; would advance to meet Chris Vike, Central Michigan, or Jonathan DyReyes, Cal State-Fullerton.
MAT ORNDORFF, HEAVYWEIGHT (Seeded No. 10) - vs. No. 7 Karl Roesler, Illinois, or Gan McGee, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.
GUTCHES EARNS "MAN OF THE YEAR" AWARD FROM AMATEUR WRESTLING NEWS
CLEVELAND - Oregon State assistant wrestling coach Les Gutches added to his long list of honors Wednesday night, being named the sport's "Man of the Year" by Amateur Wrestling News. The award was announced at the National Wrestling Coaches Association banquet that precedes the NCAA Championships.
Gutches was en route from Corvallis to Cleveland at the time and was not on hand to accept the award in person. A two-time NCAA champion at 177 pounds while wrestling for OSU, Gutches won the 1997 World Freestyle Championship at 187.25 pounds last summer.
