Men's Wrestling Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC MEN'S WRESTLING
CLACKAMAS CC AT PACIFIC
Dual Meet No. 13/Home Dual Meet No. 6
Thurs., Jan. 31, 6 p.m., Stoller Center, Forest Grove
Live Video:
goboxers.com/webcasts
NORTH COUNTRY OPEN
Tournament No. 6
Sat., Feb. 2, 9 a.m. (CST), Sexton Arena, Collegeville, Minn.
Live Results:
TrackWrestling.com
FINAL HOME DUAL, DIVISION III COMPETITION ON DOCKET
The Pacific men's wrestling team will follow up their big dual meet win over nationally-ranked Southern Oregon and a strong performance in their own Boxer Open with two key competitions this week. The Boxers will host Clackamas CC in their final home dual meet of the season on Thursday. Pacific will then send a select group of wrestlers to Collegeville, Minn., for the North Country Open. The tourney will be the final tuneup against Division III competition prior to the NCAA West Regional in March.
BOXER BYTES
• Pacific's young lineup shocked No. 2 (NAIA) ranked Southern Oregon on Thursday, winning for the only the sixth time in the long-running series with a 27-18 victory.
Ryan Baxter,
Bruce Balcita and
Caleb Malychewski all won by major decision to lead the Boxers.
• Pacific showed well in their own Boxer Open on Sunday as three wrestlers captured fourth place finishes.
Shawn Speer placed fourth at 141 pounds,
Michael Tyner was fourth at 174 pounds and
Chris Harlin placed fourth at 197 pounds.
•
Caleb Malychewski added one win with his major decision over Ethan Hinton at 197 pounds in the Southern Oregon dual to run his record to 22-5 on the season. A total of 16 of his victories have come by major decision or greater.
• Pacific enters the week with three wrestlers with 15 wins or more. In addition to
Caleb Malychewski's 22 wins,
Eric Harder enters the week with 18 wins and
Bruce Balcita has 16.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
CLACKAMAS CC
The Cougars enter the week with a 6-4 dual meet record and enters the week ranked No. 3 in the latest NJCAA National Poll (released on Dec. 21). The Cougars went 2-1 last weekend against other community college teams at the Northwest Wyoming Apodaca Duals. On Friday the Cougars were 26-15 winners over Iowa Central and 22-18 winners over Western Wyoming. On Saturday, the Cougars took a 31-16 loss to Northwest College. Clackamas' dual on Thursday will be their last before the NJCAA Region 18 Championships on Feb. 9 in Oregon City. Freshman Mitchell Roberts leads Clackamas with a 25-3 record at heavyweight. He is the No. 3 ranked wrestler in the class in the NJCAA poll. Freshman Beau Roberts has a 22-12 record at 149 pounds and is also ranked No. 3 nationally. Other ranked Clackamas wrestlers include Steven Knoblouch (No. 9 at 125), C.J. Palmer (No. 8 at 133), Trent Noon (No. 3 at 174) and Dustin Johnson (No. 10 at 184). Josh Rhoden, a 2004 graduate of Pacific, is in his seventh year as Clackamas head coach.
NORTH COUNTRY OPEN
Pacific will travel for the second time in three seasons to the tournament hosted by St. John's (Minn.) University. The Boxers' top four wrestlers,
Caleb Malychewski,
Eric Harder,
Ryan Baxter and
Bruce Balcita, will have a last chance to tune-up against Division III competition prior to the NCAA West Regional tournament on Mar. 2. While no list of teams competing in 2013 is available, last year's competitors included host St. John's, Minnesota, St. Cloud State, St. Olaf, Augsburg and Minnesota St.-Mankato.
PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
GETTING THE BIG WIN AT THE RIGHT TIME: While Pacific's 27-18 win over Southern Oregon was keyed in part by bonus points, it was a win by
Michael Tyner (So., Aloha, Ore.) that proved to be the pivotal point in the match. Wrestling in just his fourth dual meet of the season, Tyner landed a 5-2 decision victory over T.J. Callaway at 174 pounds. The win gave the Boxers a 17-12 victory, which allowed the team to build a 27-12 edge after a forfeit at 184 pounds and a 12-1 major decision by
Caleb Malychewski (Jr., Camas, Wash.) at 197 pounds. Tyner grinded his way to victory, scoring one takedown in each of the first two periods. He followed up the dual with a 2-2 record at the Boxer Open, placing fourth in the 174-pound weight class. Tyner enters the week with an 8-12 overall record and is 5-6 when wrestling at 174 pounds.
MAKING THE MOST OF THE OPPORTUNITY: Shawn Speer's (Fr., Battle Ground, Wash.) time on the mat has been limited by the successful season of teammate
Ryan Baxter (So., Craig, Alaska) at 141 pounds. But when Speer gets a chance, he shows potential for a great career. The freshman placed fourth in the 141-pound class at the Boxer Open on Sunday, battling through with a 4-2 record. Three of his victories came by fall, which included a 16-second defeat of Chris Salerno of the Western Washington Wrestling Club to start the day. All three of those pins came in under a minute. Despite wrestling only in open tournaments, Speer has amassed an 8-12 record and has the second most pins on the team with seven.
LEADING THE WAY: Caleb Malychewski's season continues to lead the way for Pacific as the junior aims for a first trip to the NCAA Division III Championships. Malychewski earned his 22nd victory of the season while wrestling up a weight class against Southern Oregon on Thursday, scoring a 12-1 major decision over Ethan Hinton in the 197-pound bout. Malychewski enters this week's competitions with a 22-5 overall record and a 20-5 mark at his usual 184-pound class. Malychewski secured his second consecutive 20-win season at last weekend's Clackamas Open. He finished with a 23-20 record in 2011-12.
STARTING IT OFF: Thursday's win over Southern Oregon started off with another solid victory from
Ryan Baxter. The sophomore collected his 10th win of the season and his eight victory with “bonus points” with his 12-1 major decision over the Raider's Woong Kim. Baxter enters the week with a 10-6 overall record at 141 pounds and is 8-4 in dual meets. Baxter got a late start to the season thanks to his participation on the Pacific cross country team. His competition in the Jan. 20 Clackamas Open was his first outside of dual meets.
RAIDING THE RAIDERS: While Thursday's dual was the 56th all-time between Pacific and Southern Oregon, the Raiders have owned the upper hand in the all-time series. Southern Oregon just two of their starters to Forest Grove last week and the Boxers took advantage to score the 27-18 victory. Before Thursday, the last time the Boxers had won against the Raiders was during the 1999-2000 season when Pacific scored a 23-12 win in Ashland. The two teams will match-up again on Sat., Feb. 9, in Ashland
THE DRIVE TO FIVE: The month of December was as successful of a month as the Boxers have had in recent history. Pacific went 5-2 on the month and the team's five dual meet victories are the most since the Boxers' went 5-5 during the 2007-08 season. The five wins are also the most in Head Coach
Severin Walsh's tenure at Pacific, which is in his fifth year. With eight dual matches remaining, the Boxers need just three more wins to secure their first .500 season since 2007-08 and four wins to claim their first winning dual meet record since the 1999-2000 season when Pacific finished 11-4-1.
DUALS TO BE VIDEO STREAMED: For the first time, all of Pacific's home men's and women's wrestling dual meets will be streamed via live video webcast. The streaming schedule concludes on Thursday when the Clackamas CC will be made available on the web. To access the webcasts. log on to
www.goboxers.com/webcasts. The webcast will not provide an audio commentary.
