Beavers Tie Stanford, 18-18
Watterson wrestles to ninth straight win
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State heavyweight Ty Watterson won his ninth straight match but Beaver 165-pounder Matt Ellis was beaten for the first time this season as OSU tied Stanford 18-18 in Pacific-10 wrestling Friday afternoon at Gill Coliseum. Oregon State (9-4-1 overall, 4-0-1 Pac-10) will host Cal State-Fullerton on Friday at 7 p.m., then wrap up its weekend against No. 16 Arizona State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.
Against Stanford (4-4-1, 0-2-1), OSU 197-pounder Travis Gardner won the finale 7-3 over Ian Bork to leave the dual in a deadlock. For the past several seasons, a list of tiebreaking criteria would have been used to determine a winning team; this season the rule reverted to calling it a draw if a dual meet ends in a tie and is not part of a dual meet tournament.
Gardner nearly won it for the Beavers in the first period, scoring a two-point near-fall but not quite turning Bork completely. By then, Bork had come within a few seconds of injury defaulting the match due to an ankle problem but he was able to return to the mat and finish the match.
Watterson, ranked 15th nationally by Amateur Wrestling News and 11th by InterMat, took an 11-5 decision over Shawn Ritzenthaler of the Cardinal. Watterson, who improved to 16-1 this season, missed earning a major decision when Ritzenthaler managed a reversal with 15 seconds left in the match.
Ellis, ranked 14th by both AWN and IM, was pinned by Stanford’s Scott Loescher in 1:52 when a scramble ended with Ellis on his back; Loescher earned the fall without being awarded a takedown in what was a scoreless match at that point. Ellis, who had nearly taken Loescher down in the first minute, is now 6-1 this season.
OSU 157-pounder Tony Hook was beaten by top-ranked Matt Gentry, the defending national champion, in a 7-3 decision. Gentry led 5-1 after escaping to start the third period, but Hook scored a takedown to get within 5-3 with 1:20 left. Gentry, now 20-0 this season, escaped but Hook earned another point when Gentry was called for a technical violation to make it 6-4 with 53 seconds remaining; Gentry added the final point for riding time.
STANFORD 18, OREGON STATE 18
(Current Amateur Wrestling News national rankings in parentheses)
HWT-(15) Ty Watterson, OSU, dec. Shawn Ritzenthaler, SU, 11-5. 125-Nathan Peterson, SU, dec. Eric Stevenson, OSU, 4-1. 133-Bobby Pfennigs, OSU, by forfeit. 141-Tim Norman, OSU, dec. Chris Hayworth, SU, 7-0. 149-Josh Zupancic, SU, dec. Orlando Perez, OSU, 5-2. 157-(1) Matt Gentry, SU, dec. Tony Hook, OSU, 7-4. 165-Scott Loescher, fr., pinned (14) Matt Ellis, OSU, 1:52. 174-Imad Kharbush, SU, dec. Jeremy Larson, OSU, 9-6. 184-Dan Pitsch, OSU, dec. Ryan Hagen, SU, 5-3. 197-Travis Gardner, OSU, dec. Ian Bork, SU, 7-3.
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