OSU Heads to NCAAs With High Hopes
Only two of Oregon State’s seven entrants competed at last year’s NCAA Championships, when the Beavers stumbled to an unexpected 28th-place finish.
Still, all of the Beavers are eager to erase the institutional memory of that poor performance at this year’s tournament, which begins Thursday morning at the Scotttrade center in St. Louis.
“We’ve got five new guys in there,” coach Jim Zalesky said, acknowledging that most of this year’s entrants couldn’t be faulted for last year’s misstep. “But it’s all about going back there and wrestling our best, doing the little things, the basics of wrestling you have to do to win at this level.
“You have to think, ‘Hey, it’s a tournament, it’s another match,’ but it’s a bigger stage. It’s the biggest stage you can be on.
“You just have to wrestle your best, and not worry about what your opponent does. We have to worry about what we do best.”
Redshirt freshman 197-pounder Cody Crawford said it’s a new year, with new expectations, new faces, and hopefully new results.
“We’re all just going hard, and our young guys going at it are going to step it up,” Crawford said. “We can definitely do better than we did last year.
“Coach Z preaches going out there, getting after the guy and keep attacking, break him and win. Be aggressive, go out there seven minutes hard, and get the pin.”
Added Zalesky:
“You can be defensive but if you are, your odds of winning aren’t very good. I will tell them today, concentrate on what we do and not what our opponent does.”
OSU’s seven entrants, and their first-round matchups, are:
· 125: (10) Ronnie Bresser (32-5) vs. Nick Herrmann (15-7) of Virginia.
· 133: Redshirt freshman Jack Hathaway (28-10) vs. fifth-seeded Zane Richards (23-6) of Illinois.
· 157: Senior Alex Elder (31-10) vs. 11th-seeded Brian Murphy (26-10) of Michigan.
· 165: Junior Seth Thomas (25-15) vs. 15th-seeded Ethan Ramos (28-8) of North Carolina.
· 174: Senior Joe Latham (21-16) vs. fourth-seeded John Eblen (26-5) of Missouri.
· 184: (5) Taylor Meeks (35-4) vs. Thomas Sleigh (30-16) of Bucknell.
· 197: Redshirt freshman Cody Crawford (31-8) vs. 12th-seeded Timothy McCall (21-11) of Wisconsin.
Ramos defeated Thomas by major decision at the Roadrunner Open on Nov. 16. Otherwise, no Beaver faced his first-round opponent in the regular season.
It’s the fourth consecutive NCAA appearance for Meeks, a semifinalist at 197 pounds his sophomore year.
“Two years ago he was an all-American and last year he lost a couple close matches,” Zalesky said. “He’s more prepared this year, more focused. I like the way he’s been competing.”
Latham won two matches at NCAAs in 2014 before being eliminated.
Bresser, Hathaway, Crawford, Elder and Thomas are all first-time entrants. The first four won Pacific-12 Conference championships on March 1; Thomas took a medical forfeit in his title match to avoid further injury to a knee he tweaked in the semifinals. He’s now healed and ready to go.
Crawford described himself as “very excited.”
“I’ve wanted to do this my whole life,” he said. “I’ve watched on TV and I’m going there to win it.
“[His teammates and coaches] have told us not to let the big fan base and the crowd get to you. You just have to wrestle your match and do what you want to do.”
Added Zalesky, speaking of Crawford, who is 18-4 since he did not place at the prestigious Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas on Dec. 5:
“He has to be offensive, force his attack. He’s been wrestling well, his preparation is good, he just needs to go out and wrestle the way he’s capable.”
Here are short season recaps on OSU’s entrants:
· RONNIE BRESSER (125): True freshman, seeded 10th in his weight class … Pac-12 champion … Ranked No. 9 by The Open Mat and No. 13 by InterMat … Took first place at Mike Clock Open and at Roadrunner Open … Is 12-1 in last 13 bouts and was 12-1 in duals, with team-best 51 team points … Has nine pins, six major decisions and two technical falls.
· JACK HATHAWAY (133): Redshirt freshman … Pac-12 champion … Took second at Aloha Open and at Mike Clock Open … Is 10-2 in his last 12 bouts, with six wins in a row … leads team with 12 pins and was 11-2 in duals.
· ALEX ELDER (157): Senior … Pac-12 champion … Ranked No. 19 by The Open Mat and No. 20 by InterMat … took second at Mike Clock Open and third at Roadrunner Open … is 12-1 in his last 13 bouts and was 11-1 in regular-season duals … five of his last 10 wins were by major decision and two others were by technical fall.
· SETH THOMAS (165): Junior … Pac-12 runner-up … Second on the team with 11 pins … took first at Mike Clock Open and fourth at Aloha Open … four of last his last six wins via pins.
· JOE LATHAM (174): Senior … Pac-12 champion, making a return trip to NCAAs … Has seven major decisions, tied with Alex Elder for third-most on the team … Took first at Mike Clock Open, third at Aloha Open and fourth at Reno Tournament of Champions … Took second at 2014 Pac-12 championships and won two matches at NCAAs.
· TAYLOR MEEKS (184): Senior, seeded fifth in his weight class … Pac-12 runner-up … NCAA qualifier for fourth year in a row … Ranked No. 6 by InterMat and The Open Mat … has won 15 of his last 16 matches and was 12-1 by in duals … Took first place at the Mike Clock Open, the Roadrunner Open and the Aloha Open and second at the Cliff Keen Invitational and Reno Tournament of Champions … Is 9-0 in major decisions, 6-0 in pins and 4-0 in technical falls … Scored 50 team points, second to Ronnie Bresser (51).
· CODY CRAWFORD (197): Redshirt freshman … Pac-12 champion .., Ranked No. 18 by The Open Mat and No. 20 by InterMat … Has seven pins, five major decisions and is 10-3 in duals … Took first at Mike Clock Open and second at Roadrunner Open, Reno Tournament of Champions and Aloha Open … Is 10-2 in last 12 matches, with three pins and a major.
The championship matches are set for Saturday night and will be televised by ESPN. The tournament is double-elimination, but wrestlers with a loss can finish no higher than third place.
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.
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