Nov. 14, 2012

#16/17 MICHIGAN VS. #9/10 OREGON STATE Friday, Nov. 16 @ 7 p.m. - Gill Coliseum

Scott Sakaguchi is ranked #5/6 in the nation in the 149 lb. weight class and will start for the Beavers against Michigan in their 2012-13 home opener, Friday night inside Gill Coliseum.

OSU PROJECTED STARTING LINE-UP WRESTLER(S) WEIGHT  RECORD RANKING Pat Rollins/ Joey Palmer 125 lbs. (4-2) / (2-2) #16/NR Drew Van Anrooy 133 lbs. (4-0) NR Mike Mangrum/ James Roberts 141 lbs. (4-0) / (4-1) #2/3/NR Scott Sakaguchi 149 lbs. (4-0) #5/6 RJ Pena 157 lbs. (4-0) #9/10 Alex Elder 165 lbs. (4-0) NR Austin Morehead 174 lbs. (4-0) NR Ty Vinson 184 lbs. (3-0) #17/18 Taylor Meeks 197 lbs. (4-0) #11/13 Chad Hanke HWT (5-0) #7/8 OSU_vs_Michigan_Notes  PAC-12 LIVE STREAM / BEAVERTICKETS.COM    Tweet

OSU enters the meet with seven nationally ranked wrestlers ready to take the mats against the Wolverines

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The No. 9/10 ranked Oregon State wrestling team will officially open up its 2012-13 home schedule with a meet against No. 16/17 Michigan, Friday night inside Gill Coliseum. The Beavers enter the match-up fresh off a solid performance at the Mike Clock Open, where they took home nine of 10 titles in each individual weight class.

To go along with its Top 10 ranking, OSU also claims a total of seven wrestlers who have national rankings next to their names. The highest of which is Mike Mangrum, who is rated as the second and third best wrestler in the nation in the 141 pound weight class as voted upon by The Open Mat, Intermat and D1 College Wrestling.

"This is the first home dual meet, so hopefully we get a good crowd and get our fans excited and into the meet," said seventh year head coach Jim Zalesky. "We are looking for our guys to wrestle hard and kind of set the tone for the year from a dual meet point of view."

The meet is set to get underway at 7 p.m. inside Gill and the event is a GenBeavs night, which means anyone who is a GeneartionBeavs Kids Club member can receive free admission by showing their lanyard at the ticket office, the day of match to get a ticket.

For those who can't make it to the meet, there will be a live stream of all the action available on the Pac-12's official website at http://pac-12.com/live/osubeavers.aspx

Tickets to home Beaver wrestling events can be purchased online by going to beavertickets.com or by calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Oregon State ticket office inside Gill Coliseum, which is open from 9a.m. - 5p.m., Monday through Friday.

*MEET NOTES

OREGON STATE
The Beavers enter their first home meet ranked No. 9 and 10 in the nation according to NWCA, Intermat and D1 College Wrestling polls. The No. 9 ranking is the highest a Jim Zalesky OSU squad has had entering a season since he took over in 2006-07.

The Beavs' currently have a total of seven wrestlers ranked nationally and those are Chad Hanke (HWT), Mike Mangrum (141), Taylor Meeks (197), RJ Pena (157), Pat Rollins (125), Scott Sakaguchi (149) and Ty Vinson (184). That crop of seven can claim 15 different rankings in three separate polls. The highest ranked wrestler entering Week No. 1 is senior captain and returning All-American Mike Mangrum who is rated No. 2 in the 141 pound weight class by Intermat and The Open Mat and No. 3 by D1 College Wrestling.  Also ranked in the Top-10 nationally is fellow returning All-American Scott Sakaguchi (5/6/6) at 149 lbs., senior Chad Hanke (7/7/8), coming off of a redshirt year at HWT and RJ Pena (10/9/9) in the 157 lb. weight class.

MICHIGAN
The Wolverines enter their match-up with the Beavers ranked as high as 16th in the nation but as low as 24th according to the NCWA and Intermat polls. The D1 College wrestling poll puts the Maize and Blue at No. 17 in the country, while a total of eight Michigan wrestlers can boast 18 different rankings in a total of three separate polls. Those wrestlers include Sean Boyle-125 lbs. (8/17/14), Rossi Bruno-133 lbs. (19), Steve Dutton-141 lbs. (12/11), Eric Grajales-149 lbs. (11/11), Taylor Massa-165 lbs. (18/11), Dan Yates-174 lbs. (15/14/14), Max Huntley-197 lbs. (17/16/12) and Ben Apland-HWT (12/9).

So far during the 2012-13 season, the U of M has a 2-1 record, posting wins over Olivet and No. 18 Pittsburgh. The Wolverines only loss of the season came at No. 17 Central Michigan 21-16 in their second meet of the season.

CLOCK CLEANED
Oregon State is coming off a successful weekend in which it claimed nine individual titles out of the ten total weight classes during the Mike Clock Open at Pacific University. Winning titles in their respective weight classes in Forest Grove were Drew Van Anrooy (133), Mike Mangrum (141), Scott Sakaguchi (149), RJ Pena (157), Alex Elder (165), Austin Morehead (174), Ty Vinson (184), Taylor Meeks (197) and Chad Hanke (HWT). Four of those individual champions squared off against OSU teammates in their weight class finals. Mangrum defeated James Roberts 5-1 in the 141 lb. final, Sakaguchi earned a major decision (18-6) over Jordan Henrickson in the 149 lb. match, while Pena pinned Schlager (1:03) for 157 lb. supremacy. In the 165 lb. title match it was Elder getting a major decision over Joe Latham (15-5).

ORANGE & BLACK DEBUT
Making their first appearance in an OSU singlet on Friday will be junior transfer Austin Morehead, who will be starting in the 174 lb. weight class as well as redshirt freshman Drew Van Anrrooy at 133 lbs. True freshman Joey Palmer is still in consideration for the starting nod in the 125 lb. weight class.

Morehead is in his first season in Corvallis after competing for Clackamas Community College during the past two seasons. He as well as Van Anrooy won their respective weight classes during the Mike Clock Open 0ver the weekend, Van Anrooy is competing after sitting out his true freshman season as a redshirt.

HANDFUL OF CAPTAINS
This season head coach Jim Zalesky has given the title of Captain to five different members of his squad, all upperclassmen. They are as follows... Seniors Chad Hanke, Ty Vinson and Mark Mangrum as well as Juniors RJ Pena and Scott Sakaguchi make up the quintet of team-leaders.

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