Corvallis Gazette-Times

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Oregon State heavyweight Ty Watterson placed fourth in the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Saturday, leading the Beavers to a 26th-place finish, their best in six seasons.

Watterson lost his semifinal-round bout 2-1 to top-seeded Kole Konrad on Friday night but bounced back on Saturday to defeat Wade Sauer of Cal State Fullerton, 4-0, and advance to the third-place final. There he lost 3-1 to Dustin Fox of Northwestern, who he had defeated by the same score in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Watterson became OSU’s first All-American since 174-pounder Nathan Coy, who placed fourth in 2002. He was the first Beaver to reach the championship semifinals since Les Gutches in 1996 en route to the second of his back-to-back title in 1996.

Watterson and Fox were scoreless through the first period on Saturday. Watterson chose the down position to start the second period and scored a quick escape to go up 1-0. Fox managed to slip behind Watterson for a takedown and 2-1 lead before the end of the period, though, and then escaped to start the third period for the final 3-1 margin.

Against the 12th-seeded Sauer, Watterson chose the down position to start the second period and escaped for a 1-0 lead. He added a takedown to make it 3-0 heading into the final period. Sauer selected the down position to start the third period and Watterson rode him out to pick up a point for riding time for the final 4-0 score.

Watterson went 4-2 in the tournament and finished the season with a 32-6 record with eight pins.

The Beavers scored 22 team points for their highest placing since taking 18th in 2001. OSU, which won the Pacific-10 Conference championship, took seven wrestlers to NCAAs and four won at least one match.

Senior 174-pounder Jeremy Larson also reached the championship quarterfinals before dropping two straight matches to finish one win from All-America honors, which go to the top eight finishers at each weight class. Larson went 2-2 at the tournament to finish 31-8 with five pins.

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