Beavers Top Cowboys 26-12

Corvallis, Ore. – The No 22/24 Oregon State wrestling team topped No. 36 Wyoming 26-12 in front of Beaver Nation on Friday night.

The Beavers claimed victories in seven of the 10 bouts, including major decisions from Joey Delgadoand Scott Sakaguchi.

The Cowboys jumped out to an early start as Wyoming’s Tyler Cox recorded a technical fall over Oregon State’s Pat Rollins (125), giving them a five point lead.

Oregon State then responded with four straight wins. Drew Van Anrooy (133) claimed six points for the Beavers after Wyoming’s Drew Templeman forfeited the match. At 141, Delgado tallied a 10-2 major decision over Cole Mendenhall, extending the Beaver’s lead to five.

Sakaguchi (149) kept the momentum going and recorded an 11-1 major decision over Wyoming’s Brandon Richardson, bringing the score to 14-5. At 157, RJ Pena tallied another three points for the Beavs, defeating Andy McCulley by a 4-3 decision.

The Cowboys bounced back at 165 when Dakota Friesth narrowly topped Oregon State’s Alex Elder by a 6-5 decision. Oregon State then retaliated with a win at 174 as Joe Latham claimed a 3-1 sudden victory decision over Brent Havlik.

Wyoming’s Benjamin Stroh collected another four points for the Cowboys after defeating Oregon State’s Brian Engdahl by a 15-3 major decision, bringing the score to 20-12 heading into the final two bouts.

The Beavers finished the match strong and collected the final two wins to clutch a 26-12 victory. Oregon State’s Taylor Meeks (197) tallied a 6-0 decision over Wyoming’s Shane Woods, followed byAmarveer Dhesi (HWT) who topped Leland Pfeifer 9-4 for his first win in front of Beaver Nation.

With this victory, Oregon State moves to 4-3 on the season. The Beavers head to Nevada on Sunday to compete in the Reno Tournament of Champions. Follow tournament updates and check results atwww.trackwrestling.com or http://rtoc.net/.

Scott Sakaguchi on the preparation for the win…

“It’s the time now where we concentrate just on wrestling. We had a real good week at training, I felt, up and down the lineup. I feel like it helped a lot and it showed, really, today.”

On recording the win tonight…

“That’s all it takes, just turning one thing around and it starts a snowball effect; it starts rolling. Hopefully this is what it takes. We got the win tonight and we’ll keep rolling with it from here.”

Head Coach Jim Zalesky on the win…

“I think our guys looked a little sluggish but they pushed through it… It was a better win and they wrestled hard and they did what they had to do to win.”

On Scott Sakaguchi’s performance…

“I talked to him and said hey you’ve got to get that first take down. A lot of times it’s been taking him a while to get the first take down, but it seems like when he gets his first take down then he opens up a lot more… He did that today and things opened up for him.”

On Amarveer Dhesi’s first win in front of Beaver Nation…

“Sometimes, when you haven’t won, you start thinking about the wrong things; it’s a mental thing. Sometimes getting over that hump, getting that first win at home is all it takes.”

Results:
125: Tyler Cox tech fall Pat Rollins, 15-0 (OSU 0, UW 5)
133: Drew Van Anrooy forfeit Drew Templeman (OSU 6, UW 5)
141: Joey Delgado major decision Cole Mendenhall, 10-2 (OSU 10, UW 5)
149: Scott Sakaguchi major decision, Brandon Richardson, 11-1 (OSU 14, UW 5)
157: RJ Pena decision Andy McCulley, 4-3, (OSU 17, UW 5)
165: Dakota Friesth decision Alex Elder, 6-5, (OSU 17, UW 8)
174: Joe Latham decision Brent Havlik, 3-1 OT (OSU 20, UW 8)
184: Benjamin Stroh major decision Brian Engdahl, 15-3 (OSU 20, UW 12)
197: Taylor Meeks decision Shane Woods, 6-0 (OSU 23, UW 12)
HWT: Amarveer Dhesi decision Leland Pfeifer, 9-4 (OSU 26, UW 12)