Despite COVID-19, it has been a ‘Fantastic Year’ for new Beaver wrestling coach Chris Pendleton

It wasn’t what Chris Pendleton had in mind when he dreamed about his first year as Oregon State’s wrestling coach.

To begin with, the season was abbreviated due to COVID-19. From January 14 to February 14, five meets were canceled. At one time, the Beavers had seven wrestlers — including a pair of starters — in 14-day quarantine due to contact tracing.

“We had kids stuck at home,” Pendleton says. “We had assistant coaches delivering wrestling mats to their apartments to try get their workouts. That made it tough.