Beaver grapplers poised to mix it up with top-ranked Penn State

Senior heavyweight Boone McDermott, a transfer from Rutgers, is 14-3 and ranked 13th nationally for the Beavers (courtesy Allie Grant/Oregon State athletics)

Much like Barnum and Bailey, Taylor Swift and the folks running Mardi Gras, Chris Pendleton loves to put on a big show.

That’s what is in the offing at Gill Coliseum on Jan. 5, when Penn State visits for a dual meet with Pendleton’s Oregon State squad.

Penn State is the crown jewel of collegiate wrestling. Coach Cael Sanderson’s Nittany Lions have won the last two NCAA Championships and have reigned supreme 10 times over the last 12 national tournaments.

“We’re excited for the challenge,” says Pendleton, in his fourth year at the OSU helm. “We have not shied away from bringing in the best competition there is. You can’t get any better than the 11-time national champions (Penn State also won in 1953). But we’re ready to compete with anybody.”

A year ago, the Beavers lost 20-12 to 12th-ranked Oklahoma State before a raucous Gill crowd of 6,784. Pendleton is shooting for a much bigger scene this time — a capacity throng of 9,500.

In his fourth season at the OSU helm, Chris Pendleton has a team capable of challenging for a top-10 spot at the NCAA Championships (courtesy Allie Grant/Oregon State athletics)

“Ticket sales are looking fantastic,” he says. “We’re already over halfway there. I’m telling my friends, ‘Don’t procrastinate. Get your tickets now.’ ”

Two years ago, Penn State beat Oregon State 32-7 in a dual at College Station. Last year, they met at the same site, the Nittany Lions cruising 31-3. This season, Penn State is ranked No. 1 in the country, boasting two returning national champions (Carter Starocci, a junior at 174, and Aaron Brooks, a senior at 197) and two runners-up (Levi Haines, a sophomore at 157, and Greg Kerkvliet, a junior heavyweight). Seven Nittany Lions are currently ranked among the top four in their weight class: Haines, Starocci, Kerkvliet and Brooks at No. 1, junior Beau Bartlett second at 141, senior Bernie Truax second at 184 and sophomore Aaron Nagao fourth at 133.

Oregon State should not be easy prey for the Nittany Lions, however. The Beavers are ranked 12th — their best team ranking in the Pendleton era — and eight of 10 starters are ranked nationally. Six of them are ranked among the top 13 in their weight class — junior Trey Munoz, sixth at 184; junior Matt Olguin, eighth at 165; senior Travis Wittlake, 11th at 174; sophomore Nash Singleton, 11th at 149; senior Brandon Kaylor, 13th at 125, and senior Boone McDermott, 13th at heavyweight. All of the above have All-America potential; Munoz, Olguin and Wittlake have aspirations to become Pendleton’s first national champions at OSU.

Coos Bay native Travis Wittlake, a transfer from Oklahoma State, is 11-2 and ranked 11th nationally at 174 pounds (courtesy Allie Grant/Oregon State athletics)

The Beavers opened their season by winning three duals at the North Carolina Quad, topping Queens University of Charlotte 58-0, Greensboro 55-0 and North Carolina 24-13. The Tar Heels, 12th at the NCAAs a year ago, are ranked 21st this season.

Oregon State had four individual champions at the 20-team Southeast Open in Roanoke, Va. — Munoz at 184, redshirt freshman Gabe Whisenhunt at 133 and Wittlake and junior Mason Reiniche, who shared the 174 crown.

Next was a dual with defending national runner-up Iowa on Nov. 19, a team boasting six All-Americans. The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes prevailed 25-11 before a crowd of 16,000, with Kaylor, Munoz and McDermott the only Beavers to win matches. “Some good, some bad that day,” Pendleton says. “We had a few regulars out. Wish we’d had a full lineup. That’s a tough place to wrestle.”

Oregon State then placed an impressive fifth in the 35-team Las Vegas Invitational. The teams finishing ahead of OSU were Iowa State (ranked No. 6), Nebraska (8), Ohio State (10) and North Carolina State (2). The five immediately behind the Beavers in the standings were Cornell (5), Stanford (19), Michigan (7), Oklahoma State (9) and South Dakota State (14).

“That showed where we are in the pecking order,” Pendleton says. “We’re right there with the best teams in the country.”

In their last competition before the Christmas break, the Beavers shut out Pac-12 opponent Cal State Bakersfield 48-0.

“It’s been a really good season so far,” Pendleton says. “I’m having fun watching this group. We have a lot of new faces, but guys who are battle-tested now. Our early competition has been the stiffest since I’ve been at Oregon State.”

A weight-by-weight look at the Beavers:

125: Kaylor is the most grizzled of veterans on the OSU squad, now 85-33 in his career and 11-4 this season. The defending Pac-12 champ was tested at Las Vegas, losing 2-1 to No. 6 Brett Unger of Cornell 2-1 and 4-1 to No. 9 Caleb Smith of Nebraska, but beating No. 11 Jore Volk of Wyoming 4-2 and No. 16 Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State 12-4.

Before the Beavers’ meet at Iowa, Pendleton had former UFC champion Randy Couture — once an assistant wrestling coach at Oregon State — speak to his athletes.

“Randy talked about reframing your outlook and making stressful situations fun,” Pendleton says. “I’m noticing that before Brandon’s match, he is smiling, laughing, watching dumb Tik Tok videos. I’m thinking, ‘If this doesn’t work, nothing will.’ And then Brandon goes out and beats the kid (No. 11 Drake Ayala 7-6).

“Brandon is starting to round into All-American form. He still has a lot of upside and needs improvement to get to where he needs to be, but I’ve seen growth and development.”

133: Whisenhunt, a four-time state prep champion at Crescent Valley High, is 7-4 in his first season of full-time varsity competition. He upset No. 4 Sam Latona of Virginia Tech 10-9 on his way to the Southeast Open title and was tough at Las Vegas, beating No. 25 Caden McCrary of North Carolina 4-2 while losing to No. 4 Kai Orine of NC State 6-4. Whisenhunt is ranked 18th nationally.

“Gabe has solidified himself as a starter,” Pendleton says. “As he continues to develop, he is showing that he can be a mainstay in our lineup, and maybe a podium threat (top eight at nationals).”

141: Senior Cleveland Belton, the defending Pac-12 champion at 133, is 9-5 and ranked 25th nationally in the move up in weight class this season. At Las Vegas, Belton lost to No. 9 Vince Cormella of Cornell and No. 19 Anthony Echemendia of Iowa State but beat No. 21 Abraham Hinrichsen of Cal Poly 10-2.

“Cleveland’s record is not indicative of the way he has wrestled this season,” Pendleton says. “He has gone against truly big competition and hasn’t backed down from it. He’s starting to blossom, gaining some confidence as he gets into his senior year.”

149: Regular Noah Tolentino, a promising redshirt freshman, suffered a season-ending ACL knee injury against North Carolina and is lost for the season. In his stead is Singleton, a sophomore from Roseburg who is 13-4 and has been the surprise of the squad so far. At Las Vegas, he went 5-3 and placed sixth, knocking off No. 9 Quinn Kinner of Rider 8-6.

“We tell our kids to keep training and be prepared for opportunity,” Pendleton says. “Nate got his opportunity, and now he’s off to the races.”

157: Senior Isaiah Crosby (2-2), third at the Pac-12 meet a year ago, has rehabbed from a knee injury but missed a good portion of the early season.

165: Junior Matthew Olguin, a two-time defending Pac-12 champion and the meet’s outstanding wrestler a year ago, missed the early competition with an injury. He went 4-2 at Las Vegas, losing to a pair of ranked opponents, and is 10-2 this season.

“Matt is one of our most talented guys,” Pendleton says. “We have the utmost faith in him. The more matches he has, the better he will get.”

174: Wittlake is a senior transfer from Oklahoma State, where he was a two-time All-American with a career record of 95-21. He placed fourth at nationals as a sophomore and was 50-5 during his last two seasons in Stillwater. A Marshfield High grad and a four-time state champ for the Pirates, he returned to his home state for his senior campaign. Wittlake was OSU’s highest finisher in Las Vegas, going 4-1 and losing to No. 7 Cade DeVos of South Dakota State 9-7 in the finals. Wittlake is 11-2 this season.

“There is usually a learning curve with transfers,” Pendleton says. “I have to learn how to coach them, how to approach them, and (the wrestler) has to adjust to me and my style. There is a little bit of a trust-building process. Travis came to us only in September, so we are still adjusting, but he keeps getting stronger and better. We are sitting back watching and thinking, ‘Here is a kid who could be looking at winning a national title.’ ”

184: Munoz is a two-time Pac-12 champ who looked like a national title threat last season but suffered an injury at the NCAA meet, finishing sixth. He is 11-2, losing two matches at Las Vegas, to No. 9 Will Feldkamp of Iowa State and No. 20 Dylan Fishback of NC State.

“There are a lot of expectations of Trey, and I think at Vegas he was wrestling a little tight and timid, not to lose instead of to have fun and enjoy the sport,” Pendleton says. “He is going to be fine. Trey is elite — a national champion-caliber guy.”

197: This is Oregon State’s most competitive weight, with junior Mason Christiansen, senior Jackson McKinney and junior Brett Mower — a transfer from Iowa Western, where he was the national JC champion — all vying for the spot. So far, Justin Rademacher has been the story. The true freshman from West Linn High is 8-4 and ranked 28th nationally. Pendleton says it’s still possible OSU coaches will choose to redshirt him.

“Justin has just been exploding,” Pendleton says. “He has three or four wins over top-25 opponents, and has taken the ball and run with it, but he has a lot of competition. Those guys are all neck and neck.”

HEAVYWEIGHT: Boone McDermott has been the heavyweight that was missing last season. The senior transfer from Rutgers originally committed to Oregon State out of Dubuque, Iowa, but went to Rutgers when Pendleton succeeded Jim Zalesky as the Beavers coach. McDermott entered the transfer portal after last season and decided to end his career at Oregon State. The 6-3, 255-pound senior is 14-3 this season. He went 6-2 at Las Vegas, with four wins over top-25 foes.

“I love big Boone,” Pendleton says. “He’s a ball of energy, one of the most coachable wrestlers I’ve ever been around. We click as athlete and coaches. We’re excited to see what he can do the rest of the way.”

Pendleton has gotten help from other wrestlers. Junior Kekana Fouret is 7-2 at 165 and 174. Murphy Menke won three of four matches at 157. Reiniche, competing unattached, went 3-0 and shared the 174 crown at the Southeast Open with Wittlake. Junior Maximo Renteria, a transfer from Illinois, filled in against Bakersfield and came away with an 11-2 win. “Super impressive,” Pendleton says of Renteria. “He’s hungry.

“We have good depth, the best since I’ve been here. We have some freshmen you’re going to hear about in the future, too.”

One of them is Aden Attao, a Boise native who is redshirting this season. The 6-foot, 260-pound heavyweight was bronze medalist at the 2023 U20 World Championships in Greco-Roman. Attao, who placed third at the U.S. Open in Fort Worth, Texas., earlier this month, is making a bid for the U.S. Greco-Roman team in the Olympic Games next year.

“Aden is going to add some quality depth to the room at heavyweight,” Pendleton says.

Oregon State will get the chance to defend its conference title when it hosts the 2023-24 Pac-12 Championships March 10 at Gill.

“One of our goals,” Pendleton says, “is to be the last men standing in that one.”

In 2022, after placing second in the Pac-12 meet, the Beavers finished 12th at the NCAA meet. Last season, they dipped to 29th at nationals. This year’s team would seem to have top-10 capabilities in the ’24 nationals at Kansas City, Mo., from March 21-23.

But that’s getting ahead of things.

“We have a big one coming on up Jan. 5,” Pendleton says. “That’s all we’re focused on right now.”

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