Thursday, March 15
Cleveland, Ohio
Oregon State
vs
NCAA Wrestling Championships
Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics
Bresser, Willits, Griego, and Dhesi Head to NCAA Championships
March 13, 2018 | Wrestling
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Four student-athletes will represent the Oregon State University wrestling team this week at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships beginning this Thursday, March 15 and concluding on Saturday, March 17 in Cleveland, Ohio at the Quicken Loans Arena.
ESPN will continue its coverage of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships this season. It will stream every mat and every match via the ESPN app, in addition to television programing; a link to each meet is available on OSUBeavers.com once it has been generated. Also, follow wrestling on Twitter.com/BeaverWrestling for updates as each meet progresses.
The Beavers are sending four to this year's iteration of wrestling's pinnacle event; 125-pounder Ronnie Bresser, 157-pounder Hunter Willits, 197-pounder Corey Griego, and heavyweight Amar Dhesi.
Bresser enters the championship event riding a seven-match win streak and as the 2018 Pac-12 Conference Champion at 125 pounds. He holds a 21-4 record on the season with 13 of those coming as bonus-point wins. Bresser has been here two-times before as a freshman in 2015, and again in 2017.
The No. 9 seed, Bresser will face Elijah Oliver (18-13) of Indiana in his first round matchup. The two didn't square off during the regular season, but Bresser does have experience with some of the tournament field.
He has wins against No. 3-seed Spencer Lee of Iowa, No. 14-seed Luke Welch of Purdue, and No.15-seed Ryan Millhof of Arizona State. Bresser lost a 2-1 decision to the No. 4-seed Nick Suriano of Rutgers in the championship bout at the Midlands Championships.
Willits became just the second true freshman to make the NCAA tournament in head coach Jim Zalesky's career at Oregon State. A four-time Colorado state champion in high school, he earned an automatic berth in his first championship with a second place finish at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships.
Willits is 18-14 on the year and remained competitive in his losses with just two of those being bonus point losses. Has one win over a ranked opponent this season; No. 16 Coleman Hammond. Willits squares off against the No. 9-seeded Archie Colgan (32-7). The two met in Gill Coliseum earlier this year with Colgan getting the better of Willits by decision, 3-1.
Griego won his second-straight Pac-12 Championship at 197 pounds a couple weeks ago and rides a 10-match win streak into Cleveland. His wins include seven major decisions, one technical fall and six falls.
This marks the third straight year for Griego at the championships, he went 1-2 in both of his previous outings at the NCAAs. As the No. 11-seed he will square up against a familiar opponent in Nate Traxler (17-10) of Stanford. The two didn't square off this season.
Dhesi enters the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships as the only member to have All-American honors under his belt. He placed fifth in 2016 earning his first and only All-American honor, and was forced to sit out last season with an injury.
Dhesi is 20-3 on the season with an 11-match win streak that includes a 2018 Pac-12 Championship and Most Outstanding Wrestler award. He has ranked wins over then ranked No. 20 Jake Gunning (Buffalo), No. 4 Tanner Hall (Arizona State) and No. 5 Nathan Butler (Stanford) twice.
Dhesi's first round matchup is against Andrew Dunn of Virginia Tech. Dunn holds a 21-13 overall record this season.
WHERE TO WATCH
Thursday First Round 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | ESPNU & http://es.pn/2Fcwq71
Thursday Second Round 4–7:30 p.m. | ESPN & http://es.pn/2HVAlna
Friday Third Round (Quarterfinals) 8–11 a.m. | ESPNU & http://es.pn/2ox0vEX
Friday Fourth Round (Semifinals) 5-8 p.m. | ESPN & http://es.pn/2CSdFR7
Saturday Fifth Session (Medal Round) 8-11 a.m. | ESPNU & http://es.pn/2F4h0CF
Saturday Sixth Session (Championship Finals) 5-8 p.m. | ESPN2 & http://es.pn/2F4KWi6
*All Times Pacific
Â
Follow Us on Social
For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the team's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverWrestling, on Facebook at Facebook.com/BeaverWrestling, or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverWrestling.
Â
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
Â
ESPN will continue its coverage of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships this season. It will stream every mat and every match via the ESPN app, in addition to television programing; a link to each meet is available on OSUBeavers.com once it has been generated. Also, follow wrestling on Twitter.com/BeaverWrestling for updates as each meet progresses.
The Beavers are sending four to this year's iteration of wrestling's pinnacle event; 125-pounder Ronnie Bresser, 157-pounder Hunter Willits, 197-pounder Corey Griego, and heavyweight Amar Dhesi.
Bresser enters the championship event riding a seven-match win streak and as the 2018 Pac-12 Conference Champion at 125 pounds. He holds a 21-4 record on the season with 13 of those coming as bonus-point wins. Bresser has been here two-times before as a freshman in 2015, and again in 2017.
The No. 9 seed, Bresser will face Elijah Oliver (18-13) of Indiana in his first round matchup. The two didn't square off during the regular season, but Bresser does have experience with some of the tournament field.
He has wins against No. 3-seed Spencer Lee of Iowa, No. 14-seed Luke Welch of Purdue, and No.15-seed Ryan Millhof of Arizona State. Bresser lost a 2-1 decision to the No. 4-seed Nick Suriano of Rutgers in the championship bout at the Midlands Championships.
Willits became just the second true freshman to make the NCAA tournament in head coach Jim Zalesky's career at Oregon State. A four-time Colorado state champion in high school, he earned an automatic berth in his first championship with a second place finish at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships.
Willits is 18-14 on the year and remained competitive in his losses with just two of those being bonus point losses. Has one win over a ranked opponent this season; No. 16 Coleman Hammond. Willits squares off against the No. 9-seeded Archie Colgan (32-7). The two met in Gill Coliseum earlier this year with Colgan getting the better of Willits by decision, 3-1.
Griego won his second-straight Pac-12 Championship at 197 pounds a couple weeks ago and rides a 10-match win streak into Cleveland. His wins include seven major decisions, one technical fall and six falls.
This marks the third straight year for Griego at the championships, he went 1-2 in both of his previous outings at the NCAAs. As the No. 11-seed he will square up against a familiar opponent in Nate Traxler (17-10) of Stanford. The two didn't square off this season.
Dhesi enters the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championships as the only member to have All-American honors under his belt. He placed fifth in 2016 earning his first and only All-American honor, and was forced to sit out last season with an injury.
Dhesi is 20-3 on the season with an 11-match win streak that includes a 2018 Pac-12 Championship and Most Outstanding Wrestler award. He has ranked wins over then ranked No. 20 Jake Gunning (Buffalo), No. 4 Tanner Hall (Arizona State) and No. 5 Nathan Butler (Stanford) twice.
Dhesi's first round matchup is against Andrew Dunn of Virginia Tech. Dunn holds a 21-13 overall record this season.
WHERE TO WATCH
Thursday First Round 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | ESPNU & http://es.pn/2Fcwq71
Thursday Second Round 4–7:30 p.m. | ESPN & http://es.pn/2HVAlna
Friday Third Round (Quarterfinals) 8–11 a.m. | ESPNU & http://es.pn/2ox0vEX
Friday Fourth Round (Semifinals) 5-8 p.m. | ESPN & http://es.pn/2CSdFR7
Saturday Fifth Session (Medal Round) 8-11 a.m. | ESPNU & http://es.pn/2F4h0CF
Saturday Sixth Session (Championship Finals) 5-8 p.m. | ESPN2 & http://es.pn/2F4KWi6
*All Times Pacific
Â
Follow Us on Social
For more information on the Oregon State wrestling team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the team's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverWrestling, on Facebook at Facebook.com/BeaverWrestling, or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverWrestling.
Â
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).
Â
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