’Gas Tank’ Traub revving up for big finish in lone season with Beaver grapplers
Grad senior Gary Traub is riding a 16-match win streak (courtesy Oregon State sports communications)
CORVALLIS — At times Friday night at Gill Coliseum, it seemed as though “Gas Tank Gary” Traub was running on empty.
But in the end, the Oregon State grad senior heavyweight did what he has done every time out since November 14 — win a wrestling match.
The 6-2, 240-pound Traub scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds to secure a 4-1 victory over Samuel Aguilar to help the 24th-ranked Beavers to a 21-10 win over Cal Poly.
It was Senior Night, a bittersweet occasion for Traub on his final home match in a Beaver singlet.
“Being here for the last time kinda sucks,” said Traub, who owns Oregon State’s highest national ranking at No. 9 in the heavyweight class. “I was messing with Coach (Chris) Pendleton earlier in the year saying, ‘Damn, we have only three home matches?’ That’s not enough.
“But it was nice to get one last chance to wrestle here. The crowd was loud. That’s the environment we’re going to be in at Pac-12s and nationals. Getting that feel here in Corvallis, it’s awesome.”
Traub (17-4) ran his personal win streak to 16 matches, though it was anything but easy against Aguilar, whom Traub had beaten 5-3 for the heavyweight title in the Reno Tournament of Champions in December.
“That one was a one-takedown match in overtime,” Traub says. “(Aguilar) is really good. I knew in his head he thought he could beat me tonight. I didn’t do all I wanted to, but I’m getting there.
“I know down the line there are tough (opponents) waiting. They’re not going to care if I’m on a big win streak. (Aguilar) gave me his best. And at Pac-12s, he’s going to give me his best, too.”
Pendleton smiled when asked about the final home performance of Traub, who transferred to Oregon State from Ohio State for his final collegiate season.
“Gary wrestled hard,” the second-year Oregon State coach said. “I’ve been very critical of him at times this season, but not about how he wrestled tonight. He was trying to be active and score points, and they were just not there against a tough kid. I’m happy with the way he performed — but we still want to push him to not live on the edge so much.”
Traub was a bit of a legend at Ohio State, where he earned one of college wrestling’s best nicknames for his late-match charges, often to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.
“It’s been with me for awhile, so it’s grown on me,” Traub said. “I was a little skeptical at first, but people at Ohio State got behind it. They started calling me ‘Gas Tank,’ and now I embrace it.”
As a junior in 2020, he was 23-9 for the Buckeyes and qualified for the NCAA Championships before it was cancelled due to the onset of COVID-19.
“That was really tough,” Traub said. “It was my first year as a regular, and I’d had this good year, and then there was no nationals. It felt like it was all for nothing.
Traub, ranked No. 9 nationally, is hoping for a top-eight finish and All-American status at the NCAA Championships (courtesy Oregon State sports communications)
“Then I took a step back, thinking about how the guys ranked ahead of me felt — guys finally getting their chance to win a championship or make All-American taken away. It brought me back to reality. I thought, ‘I have two more years left. It’s not the end of the world. There is still work to do.’ ”
But the 2020-21 season was a bust for Traub, who wrestled only three matches. A sprained ankle slowed him early in the season and he lost two wrestle-offs to heavyweight competitor Tate Orndorff — ironically, the son of Dave Orndorff, a former heavyweight NCAA runner-up at Oregon State.
“Tate is a super nice guy,” Traub said. “We were buddies. There was no bad blood — just two guys going after the same thing. I took my medicine and thought, ‘What next?’ ”
Traub got offers from Big Ten rivals Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois, and at one time thought he was transferring to Pittsburgh. Instead, he came West to join Pendleton, now in his second season running the program at Oregon State.
“I connected well with the coaching staff,” said Traub, 23. “I like what they’re doing out here. Coach Pendleton told me I’d be one of the older guys in the program. He said, ‘We need you to come in and be a leader.’ The schedule they put together this year was tough. I knew that would be important come Pac-12 and nationals. I bought into what they were saying. I haven’t regretted it all.”
Traub began the season 1-4, falling to three returning All-Americans — Penn State’s Greg Kerkvliet (currently ranked No. 5 nationally), Central Michigan’s Matt Stencel (No. 8) and twice to Lehigh’s Jordan Wood (No. 7).
“That was pretty tough,” Traub said. “But going into the season, I knew that would get me to where I need to be (at the end of the season). I’ve tried to take lessons from losing those four matches. I know I’m going to see them down the line in the nationals.”
The greatest heavyweight in Oregon State history — Jess Lewis — watched from the stands Friday night. A former two-time NCAA champion who went 76-1 through his college career, Lewis won 50 of his matches via the pin. Traub has only one fall all season, but it’s not his style.
“Ideally, you pin (the opponent) and get off the mat,” Traub said. “I’m not the best pinner, though, so a lot of times what I’m trying to do is wear on the guy’s head and win on a major (decision).”
Pendleton said Traub has enjoyed “a fantastic season.”
“We call him the king of Nevada, because he won titles at the Reno Tournament of Champions and the Las Vegas Invitational, beating top-10 ranked opponents,” Pendleton said. “He didn’t have the strongest start (to the season). He was down on himself. Then he got a big chip on his shoulder. Once he got that, the ‘Gas Tank Gary’ that we know and love emerged.
“Gary has a unique knack to get things done on the mat. As coaches, we’re not thrilled with guys giving us heart attacks. But when he gets a little bit of an attitude, he is really a dangerous guy.”
Traub’s best assets as a wrestler?
“He has a very high wrestling IQ,” Pendleton said. “A feel for the big moments. And he likes competition.
“Gary is a big, fun-loving guy who supports his teammates, loves and cares about the program and everybody involved deeply. It’s inspiring to see a guy who is all in like him.”
The move to Corvallis has been an adventure for the Cincinnati native.
“When I first got here, I was pretty nervous,” Traub said. “I’d lived in Ohio my whole life. I wasn’t familiar with the people on the team. I came in thinking, ‘I’m going to have to make friends all over again.’
“But I live right next door to (teammates) Hunter and Grant Willits. They have made sure that whenever they do something, I’m invited. The whole team was really good at making me feel at home real quickly. I’ve been here six months, but it feels like I’ve been here 10 years.”
An outdoor enthusiast, Traub caught the first salmon of his life a couple of months ago fishing the Alsea River.
“That was pretty cool,” he said. “I like it here. I got here in the summer when the weather was really nice and thought, ‘All these guys keep talking about the rain. What are they talking about?’ Once the rain started, I got it.”
The Beavers have two more duals before the Pac-12 Championships March 6 at Tempe, Ariz. Traub will likely go in as the No. 2 seed at heavyweight behind Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz, a redshirt freshman who is defending Pac-12 champion and placed sixth at the NCAA Championships a year ago. Schultz, ranked No. 2 nationally, was also the 2021 Greco-Roman-style national champion.
“It’s going to go down to Gary and (Schultz),” Pendleton said. “It’s going to be a really good battle between two stud heavyweights.”
“I’ve never wrestled him before,” Traub said. “He’s really good, especially upper body. I have some things in mind to counter that.”
Traub hopes to make the NCAA Championships, if for nothing else to get another shot at the three wrestlers ranked just ahead of him who have beaten him this season.
“Especially Kerkvliet, who was with me at Ohio State before transferring (to Penn State),” Traub said. “I’m really excited to run it back and prove that I have a little bit more than I showed in those matches.”
Traub wants to be Pendleton’s first All-American at Oregon State, which would require him finishing at least eighth in the NCAA Championships March 17-19 at Detroit. Before he left Columbus, Traub had a conversation with Ohio State assistant Tervel Diagnev, a former NCAA champion, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and now an assistant at Nebraska.
“Tervel told me, ‘You can go out there and be (Pendleton’s) first All-American,’ ” Traub said. “That got me really pumped up.”
“Gary has all the tools to do everything necessary to make a deep run into the tournament,” Pendleton said. “A lot will be based on the next six weeks of preparation, both mentally and physically.”
Armed with a degree from Ohio State in human development and family science, Traub said he is not through with his sport after this year.
“As long as I can stay around wrestling, whether by doing it or coaching, that’s what I’m doing,” he said.
Pendleton only wishes he had acquired the young man’s talents earlier.
“I’d kill,” the Beaver coach said, “ to get another year out of the ‘Gas Tank.’ ”
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