OSU has four champs at Southern Oregon Open
November 22, 1998
ASHLAND, Ore. - Oregon State had four wrestlers win championships Saturday in the Southern Oregon Open. OSUs top-ranked 149-pounder, Oscar Wood, recorded four pins and a major decision among his five victories; the other titlists for the 13th-ranked Beavers were Ben Richards at 133 pounds, Clint Wilson at 174 and Shane Zajac at 197.
No team scores were kept in the event. OSU opens the regular season on Nov. 29, when the Beavers will host Stanford at 2 p.m.
Other OSU wrestlers placing were Nathan Navarro, third at 125 pounds; Eric Jorgensen, third at 157 pounds; Nathan Coy, fourth at 165 pounds; Mat Orndorff, second at heavyweight; and Jason Cooley, third at heavyweight.
"The kids wrestled really well," OSU head coach Joe Wells said. "We scored a lot of bonus points (for major decisions, technical falls and pins) and we were putting people on their back.
"I was excited about the way we competed. We didnt win all the matches, but we were fighting hard. We had some guys who went five or six rounds who had probably never gone two rounds in a tournament before."
Wood, who placed third in the nation last season, pinned Sonny Marchette of Lassen Community College in 27 seconds in the final at 149 pounds.
"And hes probably the top junior college kid in the country this season," Wells said of Marchette.
Zajac, who is ranked 10th nationally by Amateur Wrestling News and 11th by InterMat, beat Oregons Chael Sonnen 3-1 in overtime in the final at 197. Sonnen is ranked fourth in the nation in both listings.
"He wrestled a pretty clinical match," Wells said of Zajac. "They both had an escape in regulation, but Shane took Sonnen down in overtime right away to end it."
Wilson took a 5-0 win over Lewis Taylor of Lassen CC in the 174-pound final.
"Clint wrestled the best Ive seen him in a couple of years," Wells said. "He was conservative at times, but solid and basic and a lot more patient than Ive seen him."
Richards won by injury default over David Molinari of Boise State in the final at 133.
"Ben wrestled really well," Wells said. "The kid he faced in the semifinals (Jose Sanchez of Lassen) was really tough, and he pointed out some things to Ben. Ben got caught a couple times but he competed really well and prevailed."
Orndorff, ranked sixth by AWN and fourth by InterMat, was upset by Rusty Cook of Boise State 6-4 iin the heavyweight final. Cook was a national contender at 190 pounds two years ago before redshirting last season.
"That kid is pretty good," Wells said. "Mat made a couple mistakes early, but he almost caught him at the end."
Overall, Wells was pleased with the Beavers first outside competition of the season.
"The way we competed was the most important thing," Wells said. "Even the matches we lost, we had guys trying to score but some of them ran out of time or made some mistakes ... weve got something to build on; this was a good beginning for us."
