NCAA's - II

133 - Joey Palmer

Oregon State took 8 out of their 10 starters to the NCAA's.

149 Scott Sakaguchi

141 - Joey Delgado

149 - Sakguchi working on an opponent

 In the lower weights, NCAA qualifiers were sophomore Joey Palmer at 133, freshman Joey Delgado at 141, senior Scott Sakaguchi at 149 and  senior RJ Pena at 157.

157 - RJ Pena

Thanks to Michael Denison for providing these great action shots!

NCAA's - I

  Time for a look back at the 2014 NCAA's before we close out the wrestling season. I was on a trip out of the country, so I didn't have a chance to do any posts while the action was still happening.

This year the Div I Wrestling Championships took place in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the Chesapeake Energy arena, just down the road from the Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

As a result of their performance during the season and/or the results of the Pac-12's - which the Beavers won, Yes!! - Oregon State took eight wrestlers to the final tournament of the season.

Jim Zalesky, Troy Steiner & Mitch Swee (behind Troy)

Quite a few of Beaver Nation were there, decked out in their matching t-shirts, ready to cheer the Beav's on to victory.

Orange t-shirt day at the NCAA's!

White t-shirt day for the Oregon State section

Photos courtesy of Michael Denison, thank you!

High-five for a Beaver moment!

Following the Action at the NCAA's

These are links that will help you either follow the action at the NCAA's or find out the results:

Oregon State Wrestling News:
http://www.osubeavers.com/SportArchives.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=30800&SPID=127140

Megan will have updates at least once a day, maybe twice as she will be there following the action. Megan said Twitter.com/OSU_Wrestling is where the most timely updates will be.

Pure Orange Wrestling Forum:
http://www.pure-orange.net/bscwrestling/index.html

These guys do a great job of finding information and following the action. For example, in the last few posts, they have put up a  link to the official NCAA site, and the site where the brackets will be released on Wednesday. They also have a link to a really good story about RJ Pena at the Barometer:
http://www.dailybarometer.com/sports/pena-s-oregon-state-legacy-not-yet-complete/article_b1a02250-a8d5-11e3-b8a7-001a4bcf6878.html

The NCAA official site:
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d1#!championship_br_home

For everything you need/want to know about the NCAA's, especially if you are going, or want to watch live-streaming.

NCAA Schedule:
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d1/schedule-of-events 

Don't forget, if you get ESPN, they have more coverage this year:
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2014/02/espn-expand-tv-digital-coverage-ncaa-division-wrestling-championships/

If you like following on TrackWrestling:
http://s502.trackwrestling.com/tw/TWHome.jsp?loadBalanced=true

My best wishes to our NCAA qualifiers, Joey Palmer, Joey Delgado, Scott Sakaguchi, RJ Pena, Joe Latham, Austin Morehead, Taylor Meeks and Amar Dhesi. May you all wrestle your best and come back home winners with no regrets!

Go Beavs!

Pac-12's - The Wrestlers IV

184 - Austin Morehead

  By now, we're into the upper weights. Senior Austin Morehead is Oregon State's 184. Seeded #3, Austin started the tournament with a BYE in the quarters. In the semi's, Austin met the eventual champion, Jake Swartz of Boise. Swartz prevailed 6-2. In the consolation rounds, Austin dispatched Kent Beecham of Cal Poly by major 8-0, then repeated his score in the third place match with Zach Nevills of Stanford, winning 8-0.

Since there were 2 spaces allotted for the NCAA's at 184, Austin then got to challenge for True Second with the #1 seed, Blake Stauffer of ASU. Stauffer had lost to Swartz in the finals. Austin punched his ticket to the NCAA's by winning 6-2! Austin Morehead, Pac-12 Third Place & True Second!

197 - Meeks vs Franklin

  Oregon State's Taylor Meeks was the #1 seed at 197. Taylor started the day with a major decision of ASU's Josh DaSilveira  16-2. In the semi's, Taylor took out Reuben Franklin of CSUB 5-1.  the finals between Taylor and Dan Scherer (#2 seed from Stanford) went into overtime. Scherer 4, Meeks 2. Taylor Meeks Pac-12 Second Place, wasn't what Taylor wanted, but it was good enough to take him to the NCAA's!

Hwt - Dhesi shoots on Eskam

  That brings us to the heavyweights, or 285. True freshman Amarveer Dhesi (Amar) came into the tournament seeded #2. In the quarters, Amar decisioned Chace Eskam of ASU 6-3. Amar won a major in the semi's with Spencer Empey of Cal Poly, 15-6, but then lost to #1 seed JT Felix of BSU in the finals 7-1. Amar's wrestling wasn't over yet. In order to see who would get to go to the NCAA's, Amar had to defend his second place status against third place Josh Marchok of Stanford. No problem, Amar won by major 11-3. Amarveer Dhesi Pac-12 Second Place! 

Dhesi vs Empey

Beavers win the Pac-12 team title for 2014! That makes it three for three in 2012, 2013 and 2014!

Congratulations to the team and Head Coach Jim Zalesky and his coaching staff!

Thanks to Michael Denison for providing all the great wrestling photographs!

Go Beavers!!

Go Beavs!

Pac-12's - the Wrestlers III

157 - Pena takes down Hernandez

  At 157, Oregon State had another #1 seed, senior RJ Pena. RJ had a BYE in the quarters, then wiped out Steven Hernandez of BSU by major in the semi's 10-1. RJ capped off his day by winning another major over ASU's Joel Smith in the finals by a shut out of 8-0. Champion RJ Pena!!

In the 165 bracket, Oregon State's Toney Chay was seeded #4. Toney had a BYE in the quarters, then faced #1 seed Jim Wilson of Stanford. His loss to Wilson dropped Toney into the consolations where he defeated Holden Packard of BSU. His win over Packard put him into the third-fourth place match with #3 seed, David Meza of CSUB. Toney sealed the deal with a first period fall over Meza! Toney Chay - Pac-12 Third place!

165 - Toney Chay

174 - Latham vs Waters

Next up, Oregon State's  174, Joe Latham. Seeded #3, Joe took out ASU's Ray Waters by major 14-5 in the quarters, then upset #2 seed Dominic Kastl of Cal Poly in the semi's 11-8. Joe's run came to an end in the finals, where he was pinned by #1 seed Bryce Hammond of CSUB in 3:43. Still good enough for Pac-12 Second place, Joe Latham!

Latham vs Waters

Latham faces Kastl

All photos by ace sports photographer, Michael Denison!

Pac-12's - The Wrestlers II

141 Delgado vs Kraus

  Beginning with 141, Oregon State started its run of champions.

 Joey Delgado was seeded third at 141. Joey decisioned Matt Garelli of Stanford 7-2 in the quarters, knocked off the #2 seed Matt Kraus of ASU by 5-1 score in the semi's. His final upset was in the finals, defeating Ian Nickell of CSUB, the #1 seed, 10-5. Champion Joey Delgado!!

Semi's - Kraus vs Delgado

Takedown, Sakaguchi!

  Next was 149,  senior Scott Sakaguchi's turn. Scott was seeded #1. Sakaguchi rolled through the competition, defeating Preston McCalmon of ASU in the quarters 8-2, and Donovan Halpin of Stanford by major decision in the semi's 10-1. In the finals, Scott faced Chris Castillo of Boise, winning 6-5. Champion Scott Sakaguchi!!

149 - Scott Sakaguchi working for back points!

Beaver Cheering section - love those back points!

All photos courtesy of Michael Denison.

Pac-12's - The Wrestlers I

Head Coach Jim Zalesky & Asst. Coach Kevin Roberts

  Oregon State won the Pac-12's for the 3rd year in a row with their 2014 victory! They had six make it to the finals, three of those were champions, Joey Delgado (141), Scott Sakaguchi (149) and RJ Pena (157). Congratulations, champs! Everyone else placed in the top three.

125- Pat Rollins

 At 125, Pat Rollins lost a close match to Evan Silver of Stanford in the quarters, then came back to take third place by MD over Ares Carpio of ASU.

133-Palmer vs DeMuelle (Boise)

Joey Palmer, 133, opened the tournament with a fall, pinning Boise's Ben DeMuelle in 5:38. Joey nearly knocked off Stanford's Ryan Mango in the semi's, losing 6-5. Joey ended up in third, by defeating Jose Mendoza of CSU Bakersfield in the consolation third place medal match. To reach that match, Joey had to go through Kalin Goodsite of ASU, whom he pinned in 2:05.

 Palmer vs  Mango

Joey Palmer & Spencer Mango in semi's

Photos courtesy of Michael Denison of "The FALL" Board. Thanks, Michael!