Photos From Open Practice - October 14, 2017

Oregon State Wrestling fans,

As promised, here are a few photos from the second Open Practice the wrestling team had this season, October 14.

Practice - photo by Scott Lewis

Practice  - photo by Scott Lewis

These first two are courtesy of Scott Lewis, a former Beaver wrestler and member of "The FALL" Fan Club. 

Thanks, Scott! And thanks to Jana Iwasaki for sending them in!

Practice - photo by Craig Scharer

Wrestling Room - photo by Craig Scharer

Working hard - photo by Craig Scharer

The next photos were all taken by Craig Scharer. Thanks everyone for sharing!

You can view them all in detail by clicking on any one of them, then scroll through to view.




Go Beavs!

Practice - by Craig Scharer

Thank You Note From Cindia Wells and Practice & Tailgater This Saturday!

Oregon State Wrestling fans, 

As of yesterday, October 10, the official Wrestling Season began and things are now moving full speed ahead!

Thank You!

First, before moving on to what is coming up, Cindia Wells asked me to share a note of thanks for all the help and support from the Wrestling staff, team and community in the recent years. I'm happy to say that Cindia is back with us, living in Albany, Oregon, after finishing her work in Michigan. Welcome home, Cindia! Now here is the note from Cindia:

 

Dear Wrestling Community!

Thirty some years ago I met Joe Wells and he introduced me to his world of wrestling. Our wrestling life was a rich and wonderful ride working with collegiate /world athletes and coaches. I have always felt blessed to be a part of this, the oldest and greatest sport. I want to give a special thank you to Teri Zalesky for helping me sell /buy a house, Jim Zalesky, Hunter and Grant Willets, Mateo Olmos (and others two years ago) for bringing me the muscle I needed to move out of my former home and to my new home. This has been a challenging time and my OSU wrestling brothers/sister got me through it! Thank you for your continued support.

Your partner in wrestling,

Cindia Wells

Practice & Tailgater

Now, on to this weekend! This Saturday, October 14, will be the second Open Practice, the first "official" Open Practice, at 9:30-11:00 am, followed by the Parent/Fan Tailgater. Practice is upstairs in the Sports Performance Center, the tailgater will be just outside the downstairs entrance.

Here is the plan for the Tailgater for those participating -

A-M - bring salads/fruit/veggies

N-Z - bring desserts/other side dish.

Also, please bring your own beverages. The staff will be providing sodas/water, chips/dip, meat and fries. Yum! Sounds delicious!

Don't forget to bring your camera/phone. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this time. If anyone gets any good shots or videos, please send them to me and I will post them to the blog so that all can share! Remember, there are parents and fans who cannot attend due to distance or schedule. Pictures are the next best thing to being there. Thank you in advance!

You'll still have time to head over to Reser for the 1:00 kick-off for the football game with the Beavers taking on Colorado. So stop on by, you can come in anytime during practice to watch, take a few photos, and visit with old and new friends.

Season Tickets

Season Tickets are now available!

Cost is: $35 + $10 shipping
Does not include PAC-12 Tournament
Dial: 800-462-3284

Thanks to Craig Scharer for sending me that information!

The number of season tickets sold is a measure used by the administration for the value of a sport. Buying season tickets is a great way to support wrestling! Besides, where can you get season tickets for anything for only $35?! It's a lot of fun for a small amount of money!!

Looking Ahead

Nov. 6 - Monday, 7 pm, Gill - the Intrasquad battle for starting line-up

Nov. 9, Thursday - 7 pm, Gill - home opener dual meet with Eastern Oregon, a new team!

Nov. 12, Sunday - all day, Mike Clock Open tournament, Forest Grove, Pacific University, most of the team participates

Go Beavs!

Elizabeth DeAngelis
"The FALL"
Official Fan Club of OS Wrestling
Please do not forward this communication to news agencies. 
If you have information for the press please contact Evan Hooper at evan.hooper@oregonstate.edu
Please let me know if you wish to be removed from this email list. Thank you!

Wrestling Update, Article & Schedule Out!

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

You can always tell when wrestling season is getting close - the emails start coming out more regularly!

There are several new things to pass along - first of all a new Update From the Coaching Corner. I have pasted it at the bottom of this email so that if you have not already received it, you will find it there.

Next, Oregon State has an article out on the schedule. You can read that at: http://www.osubeavers.com/news/2017/10/4/wrestling-duals-with-michigan-south-dakota-state-stanford-and-arizona-state-top-2017-18-schedule.aspx?path=wrestling

The schedule itself is also out. You can find that at: http://www.osubeavers.com/schedule.aspx?path=wrestling

In case you are wondering when we will be calling for people to sign up for/renew their membership in "The  FALL" Fan Club, The FALL Board has been meeting regularly and we are working on our program for the year. Hopefully we will have that out soon!

Last, but not least, I included an faulty link in my last email. It was supposed to go to the latest post on "The FALL's" webpage. In that blog entry you can watch a few short videos from the Open Practice on Sept 30.  The correct link is:

http://osuwrestlingfall.blogspot.com/2017/10/first-unofficial-open-practice.html

Don't forget - Sat. Oct 14 is the next Open Practice, followed by the Tailgater. Practice starts at 9:30 am, lasts about 1.5 hours. The Tailgater starts immediately after. More about that next week.

Coaches' Update follows below. Go Beavs!

Elizabeth DeAngelis
"The FALL"
Official Fan Club of OS Wrestling
Please do not forward this communication to news agencies. 
If you have information for the press please contact Evan Hooper at evan.hooper@oregonstate.edu
Please let me know if you wish to be removed from this email list. Thank you!

Update from the Coaches 10-4-2017

Greetings OSU Wrestling Family,

Fan Update: We had a great showing of fans this last weekend for our first open practice of the year. Every day our wrestlers have been giving great effort on and off the mat. We see this group of young men making great strides toward their goals. We are fortunate to have such talented and hardworking men in our room. As we move forward pre-season is coming to a close. Our OSU Beaver wrestling team has been consistently running, lifting and wrestling at open practices in preparation for their first competition on November 6th where our wrestlers will battle for a spot on the team's starting line-up. We are looking forward to official practices starting up on October 10th, and our schedule will be officially released by the end of this week.

Reminder: Don't miss the action on October 14^th.  Beaver wrestling has their first open official practice at 9:30 am. The annual tailgate will follow this practice. Come meet the athletes and staff while enjoying a nice fulfilling meal.

Fall Fan Club:  The Fall Fan Club is a group of dedicated individuals who help support our OSU wrestling team. This group plays a crucial role in the success of our program. For more information, or if you are interested in joining The Fall Fan Club, please contact Elizabeth DeAngelis at oregon.state.wrestling.boosters@gmail.com. 

Pledge for Pins: The pledge for pins is a fundraiser that helps get new faces and talent in the room. It also keeps wrestlers that have graduated and want to pursue a World and Olympic Championship.  An example is this year's Volunteer Assistant Coach, Joey Palmer. Finally, these funds are used for helping athletes travel across the country to develop and diversify their wrestling skills. Being the only Division One program in the Northwest limits our ability to reach out to other areas for training and competition. Attached is our Pledge for Pins flier that provides more information on how the program works   

Alumni Update: Former alumnus, Seth Thomas is currently in Lebanon at Western University of Health Sciences pursuing his doctoral degree in Osteopathy. Our Staff and OSU could not be prouder of his accomplishments. We wish Seth the best of luck!

Please support our wrestlers and our program. It is much appreciated.

From the OSU Coaching Staff

First Unofficial Open Practice

Oregon State Wrestling Fans, 

Practice in the Dale Thomas Wrestling Room

Fans and parents gathered yesterday, Sept. 30, to catch a glimpse of the 2017-18 wrestling team going through their paces in the Dale Thomas Wrestling Room.

Quite a few new faces were in the room. Making their unofficial debut on the Oregon State mats: Billy Bigelow, Colt Doyle, Kurt Mode, Aaron Olmos, Myles Terry, Dakota Wall and the Willits brothers - Grant and Hunter. Also present were several walk-on's and wrestlers who may be coming during winter term. They mixed in well with the returnees from last season.

Another corner of the room - a break during practce

 While the energy level wasn't what it will be Head Coach Jim Zalesky takes over, I saw wrestlers asking advice on moves from coaches which I thought reflected well on their attitude. After the unofficial practice was officially over, several wrestlers stayed on to get in more work, another sign of good things to come.

The new trainer, Toby van Amerongen was also present in the room. Winston Davenport had filled in as trainer last year when Mitch Swee left OSU. According to Coach Z, Van Amerongen has duties with football as well as wrestling, but after football is over, his attention will be entirely on wrestling.

I took a few snapshots (above) and some short videos, which are posted below. They are just short snippets of sparring during practice. Hopefully they will help you get stoked for more during the season - which is almost here!

Upcoming events:

Sat. Oct 14 - Open Practice in the Dale Thomas Wrestling Room, followed by the Parent/Fan Tailgater by the entrance downstairs, more on how to participate will be coming later.

Time - TBD by football kick-off, about 3 hours prior

Mon. Nov. 6 - Intrasquad Dual 7pm, Gill Coliseum

Thurs. Nov. 9 - Eastern Oregon, home opener, Gill Coliseum, Time - TBD

 Go Beavs!

Elizabeth DeAngelis
"The FALL"
Official Fan Club of OS Wrestling
Please do not forward this communication to news agencies. 
If you have information for the press please contact Evan Hooper at evan.hooper@oregonstate.edu
Please let me know if you wish to be removed from this email list. Thank you!

Videos from practice:

Ian Miller - Hunter Willits 

McKee, DeMatteo, Patton,Evans, etc.

 Parazoo, Crawford, Williams, Bigelow

Grant Willits - DevanTurner 

Ronnie Bresser - Joey Palmer

More Bresser - Palmer


Bresser - Palmer, Miller - Bigelow

Wrestling Open Practice This Saturday!!

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

Your first peek at the 2017-18 Oregon State Wrestling team is almost here! This Saturday, September 30, at 2:00 pm, the Dale Thomas Wrestling Room will be open to the public to watch the team run through a practice. There are bleachers in the back corner of the room where fans are welcome to sit. If they are full, you may stand/sit around the edges of the mats. Wherever you are, do be aware of the occasional flying bodies. This is wrestling practice after all.

Practice usually lasts an hour and a half, leaving you plenty of time to head across the street to Reser Stadium for the 5:00 football game where the Beavers will be taking on the UW Huskies, or do some tailgating. This wrestling practice is an "unofficial" practice as the season is still about 2 weeks away from its start date, Oct 10. That means the coaches will be there to observe, but they won't be running the practice. One or more  of the upperclassmen usually take that on.

Meanwhile, if you want to familiarize yourself with the new names, check out the team roster. The names are there. Some have the full bios, some do not. I do not believe that any of the new guys have their pictures up there yet.

If you are interested in helping OSU wrestling this year, there are several ways to help. The Wrestling Endowment Fund (WEF) has a letter out with a status update and request for funds. You can find that letter under the "Links" on the right side of this page. Another way to help out is with the Pledge For Pins drive that comes from the Coaching Office. That brochure also can be found under "Links" on the right hand of this page. Still another way to help out is to attend the wrestling meets, here and away! Bodies in the stands are a great way to support the team!

Last but not least, on behalf of the FALL Board and the entire FALL Fan Club I would like to extend our Best Wishes for long and happy married lives to those former Beavers who took the plunge in the past year: Michael Mangrum, Jake Gonzales, Abraham Rodriequez, and Ben Harris! Congratulations to all! Now that you are "off the bench", we also look forward to having you join us in the stands as fans of Oregon State Wrestling - and becoming members of "The FALL".

Go Beavs!

Elizabeth DeAngelis
"The FALL"
Official Fan Club of OS Wrestling
Please do not forward this communication to news agencies. 
If you have information for the press please contact Evan Hooper at evan.hooper@oregonstate.edu
Please let me know if you wish to be removed from this email list. Thank you!

September 5 - Wrestling Update!

Oregon State Wrestling Fans,
 
The 2017-18 school year will start soon and that means the wrestling season is not far away! Today the coaching staff sent out an update with some significant dates coming up. If you did not receive that email or missed it, it follows right here:

Dear Alumni, Fans, and Families, 

Wrestling season is right around the corner and you can feel the excitement in the air! We have had a good spring training and the guys have had a little summer break. It's now time for pre-season we will be starting up on Sept. 10th with our camping trip to camp Tadmor. Pre-season will go all the way up to Oct. 10th which is the first official day of practice. Here are a few updates that you guys need to mark down on your calendar. Our first open room workout will be on Sept. 30 the football game against Washington University the time for the practice is TBA just waiting on what time the football game is. Another big date is Oct. 14th which will be our tailgate and family weekend. We will have open practice before the game then after that come on down stairs and enjoy some food and hangout with the staff and athletes. We will let you guys know times when they come out for the football game. I would Lastly like to talk about our home meets that we have this year, we don't have time quite set but those will hopefully come out soon.

Home Dual Schedule:

Nov. 6 Intrasquad Dual 7pm
Nov. 9 Eastern Oregon
Jan. 14 Wyoming
Jan. 28 Northern Colorado
Feb. 4 Cal-Poly
Feb. 5 Fresno State
Feb. 24 or 25 Pac-12 Championships

We would like to thank you all for the support and hope to see you all at these events that we have going!

Go Beavs!

From,
Jim Zalesky, Taylor Meeks, and Ian Miller  

Those dates are worth repeating:
Sept 10 - team leaves for their annual pre-season camping trip, this year to Camp Tadmor

Sept 30 - First Open Workout/Practice, held in the Dale Thomas Wrestling Room, an unofficial practice, these Open Practices generally start 3-4 hours before kick-off of Beaver home football games, this one vs University of Washington, time of the game is still TBA

Oct 10 - Preseason ends, the first day of wrestling season - designated by NCAA regulations - official practices begin

Oct 14 - Open Practice followed by Parent/Fan Tailgater, this one is an official practice, also held in the Dale Thomas Wrestling Room - the Tailgater downstairs outside the entrance to the Wrestling Center, the football game is vs Colorado

Nov. 6 - Intrasquad Dual - for the starting positions on the teamMore information on all of these events will be forthcoming as the dates get closer.

Join the FALL Board!
"The FALL" is the official Fan Club for Oregon State Wrestling. The FALL Board is a group of energetic, dedicated OSU Wrestling fans who work to increase fan support for the team. Anyone interested in joining this group is encouraged to do so. The Board has begun their work for the year and is looking for new ideas to refresh the Club. Please contact anyone on the Board - Craig Scharer, Michael Denison, Reynold & Jennifer Gardner, Ken & Andrea Tobin, Jana Iwasaki and myself - for more information. A simple reply to this email will do the trick!

Go Beavs!

August Update - Oregon State Wrestling

 Oregon State Wrestling Fans,

Minnie in the creek - cool water!!

If you are like me and found it too hot to even turn on your computer for the past several days - you may have missed the latest update from the Coaching staff. This update contains a peek ahead to the recruits who will be on-board for this coming season, you don't want to miss that! Several other topics are included as well.

Here is the message:
  Hello everyone,

We hope your summer is going well. We wanted to update everyone on the latest happenings for Oregon State Wrestling.  Summer is flying by and it won’t be long before we are back at it with fall academics, training and pre-season workouts. We had a good summer of camps and the guys have been getting some good summer workouts in. We had almost entire roster on campus working camps and working out, preparing for upcoming season.

New Additions

We are excited to welcome a bunch of newcomers in to the program this fall and excited about their future contributions to the program. The following have joined The Oregon State Program for 2017-18. There could be a few other late additions.

Grant Willits (Pueblo, CO) 3x Colorado State Champion, NHSCA All American, projected 133-141 lbs.

AJ Rockwell (Boardman, OR) 2x Oregon State Champion, National Junior Greco-Roman Runner-Up, projected 141 lbs.

Kurt Mode (Prineville, OR) Sophomore transfer from Clackamas CC, 2x Oregon State Champion, 3^rd place NJCAA Championships, projected 149 lbs.

Dakota Wall (Boise, Idaho) Sophomore transfer from Boise State University. Starter at 149. lbs in 2016-17. Idaho State Champion, projected at 149 lbs.

Hunter Willits (Pueblo, CO) 4x Colorado State Champion, NHSCA National Champion, projected 157 lbs.

Billy Bigelow (Las Vegas, NV) Sophomore transfer from Boise State University, NV State Champion, projected 165 lbs.

Aaron “Mateo” Olmos (Imperial Beach, CA) 3^rd place California State Championships, projected 165 lbs.

Colt Doyle (San Diego, CA) Sophomore transfer from Clackamas CC, 2x California State Champion, NJCAA National Champion, projected 174 lbs.

Miles Terry (St. Helens, OR) Oregon State Champion, projected 184 lbs.


Season Tickets and Schedule for 2017-18

Season Tickets for the 2017-18 season will be going on sale very shortly! Make plans to get yours ordered! Season Ticket holders have priority when ordering NCAA Tickets through Oregon State. We should make it a goal to set more season tickets than we ever have. The 2018 NCAA Championships are going to Cleveland, Ohio. But first, Oregon State will host the 2018 Pac 12 Championships. Make plans to attend as NCAA Tournament berths will be on the line!

The schedule is almost wrapped up for the 2017-18 season. When contracts are received and Pac 12 TV times determined, it will be official.

Tournaments for this year include The Navy Classic, The Las Vegas Invitational, and The Midlands. We will more than likely take a group to The Reno TOC as well.

Golf Tournament

We had a great time seeing everyone at our annual Dale Thomas Golf Outing. We appreciate all the support from everyone and always have a blast seeing everyone. Thanks to all the golfers and sponsors who helped make the day a success. We had some fierce competition for the championship, with three teams coming in under 58.  The Golf Outing allows us to do many things with our program that otherwise would not be possible. Many Thanks!

Recruiting

It is that time of year, the coaches are busy recruiting right now. Summer evaluations and home visits have been going on, and we are busy looking for future Beavs. It definitely keeps you busy, and there are lots of fine places to visit.. like Fargo in July. It always serves as a reminder how nice we have it here in Oregon!

Ron Finley Hall of Fame

Oregon State Legend and longtime Oregon Coach Ron Finley will be inducted into the University of Oregon Hall of Fame on September 29^th. Tickets are $75 ($25 for 12 and under) and tables of 8 for $500. The ceremony will be in either The Autzen Club or Matt Knight Arena. Please contact:
Hohensee@uoregon.edu for more information or to purchase tickets. It is great recognition for the late Coach Finley and his family and a well-deserved honor.
Thanks for the news, Coach Roberts!

One other bit of interest - this was from former Beaver wrestler, Len Kauffman. Len shared a recent article mentioning the Ben & Sue Gerding family. Ben was also a former wrestler at Oregon State. I have saved that article here for you. Len's comments that he sent with the article were:
 

Thought you might be interested in attached article about Ben and Sue Gerding family.  Great story.  Some of you will remember the impressive military service of the family with all five children serving in the Army in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.  Ben (OSU '74) is a retired Army Colonel (Aviator, Airborne, Ranger).  Ben and Sue's fathers also served in the Military in WWII.  Ben's father was in Europe with the 3rd Infantry Division.  Sue's father was in the Pacific Theater and was on the USS Missouri when the surrender document was signed in Tokyo Bay.

 

You won't find many families who've served their country to this extent.  We owe this family a great deal.

Thanks for sharing, Len!

Looking forward to the next season - Go Beavs!