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    Oregon State finishes second at Pac-10 Championships

    Fullerton, Calif. -- Two will pack their bags for St. Louis at the end of the month for the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships, held at the Scottrade Center from March 19-21. Senior Heinrich Barnes (Pretoria, South Africa) and redshirt freshman Kelly Kubec (Lake Stevens, Wash.) both finished second at the 2009 Pac-10 Wrestling Championships, concluding Monday evening.

    Oregon State finished second to defending champion, Boise State (172.5), with 128.0 team points. The Beavers had three second place finishes, two third placers, one fourth, three fifth and one seventh, edging out Cal State Bakersfield, who finished with 124.5 points.

    "We lost two matches today because our wrestlers didn't wrestle, and we were on the edge in those matches," head coach Jim Zalesky said. "But we got two qualifiers in, so that's good, but we have two on the bubble and that's not the situation you want to be in to let a selection committee making the decision on whether you're in."
    After securing the automatic bid on Sunday, Kubec finished second to top-seeded Andrew Hochstrasser of Boise State. A controversial opening takedown by Hochstrasser set the tone for the match. Kubec, who competed through most of the beginning of the season with a knee injury, tweaked it again on the initial takedown, but held on to keep Hochstrasser from earning bonus points.

    Barnes struggled against Jason Chamberlain of Boise State in the championship match. Barnes scored first and seemed to be in control, but Chamberlain battled his way back, forcing the bout into overtime. Unable to score in the sudden death minute, Barnes was unable to escape with Chamberlain making his way out to take the 6-5 decision.

    Wrestling for true second, Barnes returned to true form, pinning Barrett Abel of UC Davis in 2:27 to totally secure the second automatic bid for St. Louis and the 2009 NCAA Championships.

    Sophomore Jon Brascetta (Aurora, Colo.) finished according to his seeding in fourth, unable to score against No. 3 Lucas Espericueta of Stanford in a 5-0 final. And junior Keegan Davis (Salem, Ore.) took the third place matchup over No. 5 Joseph Granata of Cal State Bakersfield in an 11-6 decision.

    Senior Kyle Bressler (Federal Way, Wash.) wrestled his way to third place and a shot at an at-large NCAA bid, winning his third overtime match this season. Bressler defeated Ryan DesRoches, 6-4.

    In the heavyweight championship match of the night, redshirt freshman Clayton Jack (Vacaville, Calif.) took the early lead 2-0 before top-seeded Mitch Monteiro of Cal State Bakersfield tied things up at three points. Monteiro tallied the one-point escape in the beginning of the third period to take the heavyweight title.

    In the true second place match, Jack was unable to hold off Ricky Alcala of UC Davis, falling 11-6.

    In the Beavers' first match of the day, senior Jake Gonzales (Enumclaw, Wash.) fell in a highly controversial bout. Gonzales looked to have a takedown with just seconds remaining in the third period but was not awarded the points as time expired. Gonzales, a four seed at 125 pounds, fell to seventh-seeded Brian Owen from Boise State, despite controlling the tempo throughout most of the match.

    Brascetta advanced to the third place match on a major decision over sixth-seeded Joseph Wilson of UC Davis at 157 pounds. Brascetta racked up 10 points, allowing only a pair of escapes to Wilson.

    Davis followed closely behind Brascetta, earning his second major decision of the tournament over seventh-seeded Bryan Cantrell of Portland State. Davis racked up the points quickly with an 18-7 final.

    At 174 pounds, Bressler advanced on a 12-3 major decision. Bressler racked up the final five points he needed on a takedown and three-point near fall over No. 4 Todd Noel of Cal State Fullerton as time expired.

    After the end of the consolation semifinals, Oregon State was in second place with 117.0 total team points, edging out Cal State Bakersfield by 4.5 points.

    During placement matches, Gonzales defeated Micah Ferguson of Cal Poly in overtime with a reversal, winning 3-1. Gonzales finished the tournament fifth at 125 pounds.

    Sophomore Brice Arand (Springfield, Ore.) and redshirt freshman Chad Hanke (Dayton, Ore.) both picked up extra team points for the Beavers, finishing fifth at 184 and 197 pounds. Arand pinned Jake Meredith of Arizona State in 4:33, while Hanke earned the win on a medical forfeit.

    Wrestling will head to St. Louis, Mo., next for the 2009 NCAA Championships beginning on March 19.

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