The Portland State wrestling team left its California road trip with a 1-1 split. With a win over San Francisco State, the Viks improve to 9-12 overall, 3-5 in the Pac-10. The ninth win marks the best PSU wrestling record since the 1989 squad had a 9-8-1 finish.
First up for the Vikings was the San Francisco State Gators. The Viks took command early and kept it throughout the meet, winning 25-16.
Shawn Keinonen put the Viks up 3-0 in his decision win at 165 pounds. At 174 pounds, teammate Quinn Collett followed up with a pin over Gator Brian Ysias.
At 184 pounds, Gator Mauricio Wright, who is ranked first in the Division II nationals, took the decision over Viking Jeremy Wilson. Wilson, who has been wrestling with a back injury for two weeks, has only lost two dual matches this season.
Randy Davidson helped PSU bounce back with a 20-7 major decision at 197 pounds; followed by a forfeit at 285 pounds. Casey Kotter at 125 pounds capped off the Viks’ three straight wins. Kotter gave the Vikings three more points.
Portland State pulled out one more win in its final four matches, with Stuart Eggertson’s decision at 141 pounds.
Later that afternoon the Vikings faced off against the Stanford Cardinals. Portland State got ahead early with a 9-3 lead, but the Cardinals manufactured a big comeback to win 28-9.
“We just didn’t match up well,” head coach Marlin Grahn said. “We also didn’t come through with the ‘big match.'”
The big match is what PSU needed. The Viks dropped their first match at 165 pounds, falling behind 0-3. The Viks rallied to take the next three matches at 174, 184 and 197 pounds.
Collett got the ball rolling with a 10-4 decision over Cardinal Imad Kharbush at 174 pounds. The win was Collett’s sixth straight, improving to 22 wins this season.
At 184 pounds, Wilson got back on track with a 6-1 win followed by Davidson’s decision at 197 pounds.
Davidson’s win would be the last for Portland State. The Vikings dropped their next seven straight to give Stanford a commanding win.
“It was a good tough day all the way around for the guys, but the guys wrestled tough all weekend,” Grahn said.
Portland State will head to the University of Oregon tomorrow before hosting Boise State on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Stott Center.