Nittany Lions roar, but it’s still a win for the Beavers
Munoz exults after his victory over Penn State’s Truax (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU sports communications)
CORVALLIS — Goliath was simply too much. David fought hard and got in some shots, but a sling and stones weren’t enough to slay the giant.
Penn State is the monolith of college wrestling, and the Nittany Lions put it on full display Friday night in what was as much an event as a meet.
The top-ranked Lions, two-time defending NCAA champions and national kingpins 10 of the past 12 years, laid the wood to 16th-ranked Oregon State 36-3 before a standing-room-only crowd of 8,503 at Gill Coliseum.
OSU was calling it a record crowd. There are unconfirmed reports of at least one attendance figure of more than 10,000 for wrestling at Gill in the 1960s or early ‘70s, so let’s call this one a “modern record.” The place was packed to the — pun intended — gills.
A standing-room-only throng of 8,503 was on hand for Oregon State’s showdown with top-ranked Penn State (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU sports communications)
“The crowd was awesome,” said junior Trey Munoz, the Beavers’ sole winner against the Lions. “I had to take a second to look around and see all those people packed to the top of the arena — it was cool to see. It meant a lot for all those people to come out and support us.”
Oregon State coach Chris Pendleton told me a week ago that he hoped to have a crowd of 9,500 on hand. I told him after Friday’s match I don’t think they could have gotten another 1,000 people in the building.
“We will get another 1,000 in here,” he said with a smile. “We’ll figure out a way one day. We need to keep putting out a good product. I’m sorry for the fans for the final score tonight, but we fought tooth and nail. We showed that we can compete. The score was lopsided, but we competed. (The Lions) did not run us out of our own gym.”
It was an important moment for Pendleton in his fourth season at the OSU helm. A year ago, the Beavers fell 20-12 to 12th-ranked Oklahoma State before a crowd of more than 6,700 at Gill. Pendleton is trying to build a national championship-contending program, and part of climbing that ladder means bringing the best to Corvallis for a dual meet.
“We knew that was a great team,” Pendleton said of the Lions. “We knew the odds were stacked heavily against us. We do not shy away from competition. I could have made (an easier) schedule that was more advantageous to us, but we need to find out where we’re at against the nation’s best. Penn State is the nation’s best. That is the litmus test.
“We crave wrestling the best, win or lose. I’ll wrestle them tomorrow; I’ll wrestle them on Monday; I’ll wrestle them on Tuesday. I want to continue to wrestle the best and have our team continue to get better.”
Penn State brought four wrestlers ranked No. 1 in their weight class in the country, two ranked No. 2 and another ranked No. 4. Before the season, Flowrestling rated five of the Lions among the top 16 in the country in any weight class. Their No. 1 ranked wrestlers at 197 and heavyweight — senior Aaron Brooks and junior Greg Kerkvliet — are constructed like Greek gods.
No Beavers got pinned Friday night. Three lost by technical fall. The other seven matches were competitive — three in particular.
OSU senior Isaiah Crosby threw a scare at Levi Haines, Penn State’s 157-pound sophomore who was national runner-up as a freshman and is ranked first nationally this season. Crosby took Haines down twice early and — a takedown is now worth three points in college wrestling instead of two — led 6-1. Crosby was still in front 8-6 when Haines scored a takedown with 40 seconds remaining en route to a 10-8 victory. It was an encouraging performance by Crosby, who missed much of the early season due to injury.
“Isaiah chose not to go home over the Christmas break,” Pendleton said. “He and I got in a couple of individual runs and workouts. He is at about 75 or 80 percent, but he battled the No. 1 kid in the country down to the wire.”
OSU senior Cleveland Belton gave Beau Bartlett — Penn State’s No. 2-ranked wrestler at 141 — all he could handle. Belton scored a takedown to go ahead 5-4 with just more than a minute to go, but an escape by Bartlett sent the match into overtime. Bartlett’s takedown with eight seconds left in the first extra session gave him an 8-5 sudden-death victory.
“I was happy with the way Cleveland competed,” Pendleton said. “He is going to have some good results the rest of the season if he continues to compete like that.”
Then there was Munoz, the junior from Mission Viejo, Calif., who was Oregon State’s best wrestler a year ago. On Friday night, Munoz matched up with Penn State’s Bernie Truax, ranked No. 2 nationally. Trailing 2-1, Munoz took down Truax in the third period and scored a 5-2 victory, earning a standing ovation from the throng at Gill.
Junior Trey Munoz on his way to a 5-2 win over Nittany Lion Bernie Truax at 184 pounds (courtesy Karl Maasdam/OSU sports communications)
“It meant a lot to me,” said Munoz, 12-2 this season. “That guy is my biggest college rival. He beat me the first four times we met. I got the last two. This goes to show I’m taking the right steps to get better. I like the way it’s trending. It’s an indication of where I’m at and where I’m going.”
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. Pendleton thinks he was wrestling “a little tight and timid” earlier in the season. Munoz’s two losses this season came at the Cliff Keen Invitational at Las Vegas on Dec. 2.
“That was a beautiful shot, a beautiful finish to win the match,” Pendleton said. “But Trey is still not in full stride. He is getting better. I know how good he is when he gets the ball rolling. I know what he’s capable of. He’s starting to believe. It’s good to get a win against the No. 2 guy in the country and get back on track, but he still has a lot more.”
Does Munoz think he is capable of becoming Oregon State’s first national champion since Les Gutches in 1995 and ’96?
“You gotta believe it,” Munoz said. “You gotta be a little crazy. I like to think I’m a little crazy. I’m taking those upward steps. I’ve taken a couple of losses, but even so, this is an indicator of my growth. The second part of my season, I’ve got to put the foot on the gas and keep going.”
When Munoz took to the mat Friday night, Oregon State trailed 26-0. With two No. 1-ranked wrestlers left for the Beavers to face, it appeared Munoz was their last chance to avoid a shutout. Did he feel a little extra pressure from that?
“Every match is important, but no match is special,” he said with a shrug. “I go out there wrestling hard every single match, try to score as many points as possible. It’s just wrestling.
“It’s such a blessing I get to be here with my brothers in Corvallis doing what I love every single day. This is a privilege for me. Not a lot of people get to do this.”
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