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50 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, November 25, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 19, 2004 SOU opens season with hard-fought win over Menlo By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Thursday night’s season-opening dual with Menlo College wasn’t a thing of beauty for the Southern Oregon wrestling team, but the seventh-ranked Raiders certainly will take it. SOU swept the final five matches to erase a 12-3 deficit and score a 20-11 victory over the eighth-ranked Oaks in the Compton Arena at the Jackson County Expo. Proceeds from the dual went to the Gleaning Network, which helps provide nourishment to low-income families or individuals throughout the Rogue Valley. The two teams will be in action again Saturday in the Best of the West Open, along with some of the top youth, prep and collegiate wrestlers on the West Coast in the second annual event. Wrestling starts at 9 a.m. for college-level athletes and 10 a.m. for others at the Expo. Thursday’s season opener could have been even more lopsided for the Raiders, but they struggled to finish off matches against the defending NAIA West Region champions. Advertisement "A win’s a win," summed up SOU junior Jimmy Grochowsky, who started the late rally with a 3-1 decision at 165 pounds. "It was good to pick one up tonight to try to keep the consecutive win streak going (of 34 straight seasons), but we’re going to progress a lot more as the season gets going." Grochowsky, ranked No. 4 in the nation, scored a takedown seconds before the buzzer in the second period of his match with seventh-ranked Kyle Bickford and then staved off any thoughts of a Menlo comeback to snap a four-match drought for the Raiders. Junior teammate Rick Story built on that victory at 174 with an 18-2 technical fall over Sean Van Der Wende in a match halted early in the third period. Top-ranked 184-pounder David O’Brien then opened a 6-2 lead in his match but lost out on a major decision when Menlo’s Chris Rueckert scored a takedown inside the final 30 seconds. "I definitely wasn’t wrestling the way I wanted to wrestle," said the junior, who was a runner-up at nationals last year. "I felt like I could’ve done better, I just wasn’t wrestling my match." Still, O’Brien’s 14-7 win with riding time was enough to put all the momentum on SOU’s side and the dominoes fell from there as the Raiders beat the Oaks for the sixth time in seven duals since 2001. "Rick and Dave really dominated their guys and I think that got the team going from there," said Grochowsky. SOU’s Grant Thompson followed with an 8-4 decision at 197 in a match that also included a bench misconduct violation on Menlo that cost the Oaks one team point. Thompson scored a three-point near fall on Michael Jeffrey halfway through the second period of their match, but the clock wasn’t started and that brought forth an outcry for resolution by both coaches and a violation for profanity by a wrestler on Menlo’s bench. Making his collegiate debut, former Crater High standout Taylor Wilkerson sealed the victory for SOU with a 2-1, double-overtime win over seventh-ranked Dan Kunkes. Both wrestlers earned an escape in regulation, wrestled to a stalemate in a one-minute overtime and then faced two 30-second sessions in which each wrestler had a chance to be in the bottom position. The freshman Wilkerson scored an escape from the bottom position in the first 30 seconds, and then controlled the junior Kunkes from the top in the second 30-second session to score the victory. "I thought he wrestled a great match for a freshman," said SOU head coach Mike Ritchey, whose team placed fourth in last year’s NAIA national championships. Carl Green scored the only other victory over Menlo with a 17-10 decision at 125 that opened Thursday’s action. The Oaks then used four third-period surges — including two in the final 20 seconds — to overcome SOU in the matches leading up to Grochowsky’s win. "They wrestled smart and tough," Ritchey said of the Oaks. "They’re always that way and you’ve got to win those close matches against those guys. We didn’t tonight but those things will come with time. We’ve got some adjustments to make there but I think the positives outweigh the negatives by far." O’Brien echoed those sentiments. "There’s things we need to work on but it’s early," said the junior from Alaska. "The first dual is always like that. There’s always room for improvement." The Raiders will be relying on that improvement, as well as runs toward national titles from the likes of O’Brien and Grochowsky, in order to attain yet another NAIA trophy. "Those guys really have to put a strong season together," Ritchey said of the All-Americans. "If they do that, then they’re going to carry everybody else along with them. Hopefully we can jump on their backs and go for a ride." Despite a relatively young cast in Ashland, Grochowsky has no doubt the Raiders will be able to make some noise this season. "I don’t think there’s a limit with this team," he said. "We’re pretty young, but I think when everybody gets healthy and tuned in, I think we’re going to be tough to beat." Southern Oregon 20, Menlo 11 125 — Carl Green, SOU, dec. Ben Cansibog, 17-10; 133 — Sergio Lopez, M, dec. Nick Ripsom, 6-3; 141 — Tony Martinez, M, dec. Dan Herb, 6-5; 149 — Juan Roman, M, dec. Matt Holt, 6-3; 157 — Artem Krylov, M, dec. Rich Vigorito, 9-7. 165 — Jimmy Grochowsky, SOU, dec. Kyle Bickford, 3-1; 174 — Rick Story, SOU, tech. fall Sean Van Der Wende, 18-2; 184 — David O’Brien, SOU, dec. Chris Rueckert, 14-7; 197 — Grant Thompson, SOU, dec. Michael Jeffrey, 8-4; 285 — Taylor Wilkerson, SOU, dec. Dan Kunkes, 2-1 (2OT). Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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