OSU Unveils Ambitious 20-Event 2014-15 Wrestling Slate
It’s the first of a 20-event slate that concludes with the NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 19-21.
(CORVALLIS, Ore. ) — The Oregon State wrestling team will open an ambitious 2014-15 schedule on Nov. 9 at the annual Mike Clock Open at Pacific University in Forest Grove.
It’s the first of a 20-event slate that concludes with the NCAA Championships in St. Louis on March 19-21. Eight of those competitions will be at Gill Coliseum, including the Pacific-12 Conference championships.
“I’m happy with it,” OSU coach Jim Zalesky said. “We go to some tournaments that will challenge us individually, and there are some good duals.
“We have a lot (five) of Pac-12 duals here this year and the Pac-12 Championships are here at Gill Coliseum, which is big for us.”
Zalesky begins his ninth season with the Beavers on the cusp of major personal and program milestones. OSU’s next dual victory will be Zalesky’s 100th at OSU. It will also be the 1,000th for the Beavers, the third-winningest program in NCAA history, behind Oklahoma State (1,043) and Iowa State (1,026).
The annual intrasquad meet is Nov. 6 at Gill Coliseum. The Beavers also host conference foes Boise State, Stanford, CSU-Bakersfield, Cal Poly and Arizona State; their only road Pac-12 dual is at Boise State.
The home-and-home Border War showdowns with Boise State, a Nov. 24 home dual with ASU and a Feb. 1 matchup at Oklahoma highlight OSU’s dual season. OSU will also face outstanding opponents on its annual trip to Las Vegas for the Dec. 5-6 Cliff Keen Invitational, and tangle with the Sooners, Minnesota and American at the Aloha Open in Honolulu on Dec. 30.
“There is some good competition in Hawaii, with Oklahoma and Minnesota and American are there,” Zalesky said. “You always see a lot of top teams in Las Vegas. We’ll see some great competition this year.”
The Beavers are the three-time defending Pac-12 champions and have captured five conference titles in Zalesky’s previous eight years as coach.
OSU returns five NCAA qualifiers from 2014: Junior Joey Palmer (133); redshirt sophomore Joey Delgado (141); senior Joe Latham (174); senior Taylor Meeks (197), and sophomore Amarveer Dhesi (heavyweight).
Some dates may be changed to accommodate television. The Pac-12 Network has not yet finalized its slate of televised duals.
For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at Twitter.com/OSU_Wrestling or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateWrestling.
The tentative 2014-15 schedule:
NOVEMBER: 6, Intrasquad. 9, @ Mike Clock Open, Forest Grove. 13, Southern Oregon. 16, @ Roadrunner Open, Fresno. 24, Arizona State.
DECEMBER: 5-6, @ Cliff Keen Invitational, Las Vegas. 13, @ Boise State. 22, @ Tournament of Champions Open, Reno. 30, @ Aloha Open, Honolulu.
JANUARY: 10, Stanford. 16, Cal State-Bakersfield. 23, @ Northern Colorado. 25, @ South Dakota State. 30, @ Utah Valley State.
FEBRUARY: 1, @ Oklahoma. 7, Cal Poly. 8, Boise State. 13, @ Wyoming. 15, @ Air Force.
MARCH: 1, Pacific-12 Conference Championships, Corvallis. 19-21, @ NCAA Championships, St. Louis.
Source: Oregon State Athletics
