The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Cory Reed Senior Heinrich Barnes wrestles Jason Chamberlain of Boise State in Barnes' last dual meet of his collegiate career. Barnes finished second in the Pac-10 Championship meet and eighth in the NCAA Championship meet.

With the wrestling season concluding late last month, a look back at the Beavers' (10-8, Pac-10 6-3) successful year brings forth much accomplishment and growth both as a team and for many individuals.

Finishing the Pac-10 season in second place, only behind the Boise State Broncos, Oregon State was able to preserve its place among the top programs in the conference. Of the three conference losses, two were to the Broncos and the other loss came at the hands of UC Davis, as the Beavers fell short of a one-day, three-meet sweep against Princeton, Stanford and UC Davis.

While finishing second in the Pac-10 is a notable accomplishment because Boise State ranks among the top 10 programs in the country, a No. 2 finish was not good enough for many of the Oregon State wrestlers.

"I think we have higher expectations," Kelly Kubec said. "There were some highlights, but there were also disappointing performances. We wanted a better performance as a team overall."

With all but one of the Beavers' eight losses coming at the hands of ranked opponents, it was the struggle against the best programs in the country that proved to hold the team down. The few wrestlers who proved to be consistently competitive with these top-ranked programs were 133-pound redshirt freshman Kubec, heavyweight redshirt freshman Clayton Jack, 174-pound senior Kyle Bressler, and 149-pound senior Heinrich Barnes.

"I had a pretty bad dual against [No. 6] Nebraska," said Keegan Davis, a 165-pound junior. "That was the point in the season where I decided I had to get to work and turn things around."

Davis did just that. After the trip to the Midwest, he was able to turn around and place in the Midlands Championships along with Barnes, and he capped his season off with a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

In his first and last appearance in the national tournament, Barnes was able to place No. 8. The South African Olympian was able to cap off his final season with a 39-8 record, taking All-American honors and placing in the tournament. The loss of Barnes will be notable for the team, but he will be returning to help with coaching next season.

Continued...

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