Oregon State dominates Wyoming Saturday afternoon

In 2015, Oregon State lost to Wyoming 21-17 in what would be the Beavers only loss of the season. A year later, the result couldn’t be more different as the No. 23 Oregon State Beavers (5-4) dominated Wyoming (1-5) 32-7 at Gill Coliseum.

Head Coach Jim Zalesky was pleased with his team’s performance.

“That’s maybe the best we’ve wrestled overall,” Zalesky said. “This win was big for us. (Cody) Crawford and (Amar) Dhesi set the tone for us early, followed by (Ronnie) Bresser and (Joey) Palmer. Then the rest of the guys fed off their energy.”

The dual meet started at 197 pounds, where redshirt sophomore Cody Crawford pinned junior Brandon Tribble with an official time of 4:10. After a scoreless first round, Crawford would begin the second round in the top position used a combination of a half nelson and a leg ride to pin Tribble a 1:10 into the second round.

No. 10 redshirt sophomore heavyweight Amarveer Dhesi would keep the momentum going by defeating No. 18 senior Tanner Harms 13-6, to put the Beavers up 9-0.

In the second ranked matchup of the day, No. 6 sophomore 125-pounder Ronnie Bresser beat No. 15 junior Drew Templeman by major decision, 12-4.

No. 20 redshirt junior 133-pounder Joey Palmer won his match over freshman Drake Foster by the score of 19-5, falling one point shy of a technical fall. With the win, the Beavers lead would increase to 17-0.

A win by Wyoming’s No. 14 sophomore Bryce Meredith over redshirt junior Jared Reis by the score of 12-4, would cut the Beavers lead to 17-4.

At 149 pounds, redshirt junior Joey Delgado would earn a hard-fought victory over junior Cole Mendenhall 8-5, pushing the overall score to 20-4.

The 157 pound bout would prove to be the most controversial. After three rounds, the score between redshirt sophomore Abraham Rodriguez of Oregon State and sophomore Archie Colgan of Wyoming was 1-1, meaning the match would be sent into overtime. After the first and second rounds of sudden victory, the score remained tied. In the third round, Rodriguez would get an escape but Colgan would counter with a takedown with no time remaining to earn the victory 3-2—which would be the Cowboys last victory of the day.

Zalesky was proud of the way both Delgado and Rodriguez wrestled and bounced back from a week ago.

“(In the Rodriguez match) we had ten seconds left, we just had to keep the pressure on and we backed off and gave the guy an opening,” Zalesky said. “But I thought (Delgado and Rodriguez) picked it up from last weekend. I told them they needed to pick it up and I think they did that today.”

At 165 pounds, senior Seth Thomas started off slow against sophomore Chaz Polson but then would recover and earn a pin with two seconds left in the second round for an official time of 4:58. The Beavers lead would increase to 26-7.

Redshirt sophomore 174-pounder Tyler Chay would defeat senior Jace Jensen 7-2, putting the Beavers up 29-7.

Chay credits the win to his coaches for helping him in the wrestling room.

“I’ve been working on the basics with my coaches in the wrestling room,” Chay said. “That’s been helping me out a lot and a win like this definitely gives me confidence moving forward.”

In the last match of the day, redshirt freshman 184-pounder Corey Greigo would earn the victory and shut out junior Benjamin Stroh 5-0, to give his team the 32-7 victory.

Greigo was excited about the win and how he executed the game plan.

“I lost to him a year ago, and he’s a tough wrestler,” Greigo said. “I know I had to get my energy up, have a clear mind, know what I was going to do and get my attacks going.”

The Beavers are idle next week, but return to action Friday, January 29th where they’ll travel to Tempe to face the Arizona State Sun Devils.