The Oregon State Beavers is a name shared by all sports teams at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers are part of the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10). Oregon State's mascot is Benny Beaver. Both the men's and women's teams share the name, competing in 7 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A men's sports and 10 NCAA Division I-A women's sports respectively.

The primary rival of the Beavers are the Oregon Ducks of the University of Oregon, located 45 miles (75 km) south of the Oregon State campus. The football rivalry between the Beavers and Ducks, known as the Civil War, is one of the longest-running in the country, having been contested 112 times as of the end of the 2008 season. Other regional rivals include the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars.

As of June 2007, the Beavers have won one pre-NCAA team national championship and three NCAA team national championships. The 1926 wrestling team won the Amateur Athletic Association national championship, the 1961 men's Cross-country team won the NCAA title, and most recently the baseball team won the 2006 and 2007 College World Series. Other notable performances include a second place finish in the 1973 and 1995 NCAA wrestling finals, two Final Four appearances by the men's basketball team, the football team defeating Notre Dame by a 32 point margin in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl (and finishing the season ranked #4 in the polls), and several individual NCAA championship titles in gymnastics, wrestling, and track & field.

Men's sports

Baseball

The Oregon State University baseball program was established in 1907. It has since seen dozens of players go on to play in the minor leagues and more than 20 go on to play in the majors. Most notable of these major league players is Boston Red Sox Outfielder, Jacoby Ellsbury.

The baseball team has won its conference championship 22 times and has reached the College World Series 4 times, first in 1952 and more recently three straight years, in 2005, 2006, and 2007. They won the NCAA championship in 2006 and 2007. The team is led by head coach Pat Casey and they play at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

Basketball

The men's basketball team at Oregon State has fallen on hard times in recent years. In the 2008-2009 season, though, the Beavers showed great improvement over the previous season's 0-18 Pac-10 finish with post-season play and the team championship of the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) by taking a three game championship series from the UTEP Miners. The men's basketball team has had several people players come out of the program, including 9-time NBA All-Star Gary Payton and "Iron Man" A. C. Green. The Beavers have the 13th most amount of wins of any program in the nation as of the end of the 2006 season.

Though they have an impressive program, historically, when compared to other Pac-10 teams, it has been eclipsed by other athletic endeavors to include men's football and baseball (especially after winning two national titles). They have participated in the NCAA Tournament 16 times*, making it to the Final Four twice. OSU alumni have also received a total of 10 NBA championship rings and 4 Olympic gold medals. Fans of the program can also take pride in having beaten rival Oregon more times than any team has beaten another team in a collegiate sport, with 179 victories. The team's head coach is Craig Robinson, brother-in-law of President Barack Obama.

Oregon State holds several NCAA basketball records as of the end of the 2004 season:

Individual Records

• Field Goal Percentage (Single season) - 1st - 74.6% — Steve Johnson, 1981 (235 of 315) & 4th - 71.0% — Steve Johnson, 1980 (211 of 297)
• Field Goal Percentage (Career, min. 400 made and 4 made per game) - 1st - 67.8% — Steve Johnson, 1976-81 (828 of 1,222)
• Field Goal Percentage (Single game, min. 12 field goals made) - 1st (tie) - 100% Steve Johnson vs. Hawaii-Hilo (13 of 13), Dec. 5, 1979
• Total Rebounds (Single game) - 15th (tie) - 36 - Swede Halbrook vs. Idaho, Feb. 15, 1955
• Assists (Career) - 11th - 939 - Gary Payton, 1987-1990
• Average Assists Per Game (Career, min. 550 assists) - 9th - 7.82 - Gary Payton, 1987-1990
• Steals (Career) - 18th (tie) - 321 - Gary Payton, 1987-1990

Top Season Performances by Class

• Senior - Field Goal Percentage - 1st - 74.6% — Steve Johnson, 1981 (235 of 315)
• Junior - Field Goal Percentage - 1st - 71.0% — Steve Johnson, 1980 (211 of 297)

Team Records

• Free-Throw Percentage (Single game, min. 30 free throws made) - 12th (tie) - 30-31 vs. Memphis, Dec. 19, 1990
• Steals (Single game) - 19th (tie) - 27 vs. Hawaii-Loa, Dec. 22, 1985
• Field Goal Percentage (Season) - 3rd - 56.4% - 1981 & 25th (tie) - 54.4% - 1980
• All-Time Victories (Min. 25 years in Division I) - 13th - 1,546 games
• Games played vs. Single Opponent - 1st - 323 vs. Oregon, 2nd - 275 vs. Washington, 4th 270 vs. Washington State
• Victories vs. Single Opponent - 1st - 181 vs. Oregon, 6th 159 vs. Washington State

Football

The football program has been a part of Oregon State University since 1893, working as a platform for over a hundred players to enter the NFL, such as Heisman Trophy winner Terry Baker and current St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson, and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. They have won their conference championship five times. If they win against Oregon in 2009 they will be crowned for their first ever outright Pac-10 Championship.

Soccer

Oregon State Men's Soccer team has a new coach in Steve Simmons, a 5 year head coach at Northern Illinois University. With a whole new coaching staff the Beavers are looking to move forward. The most recent improvement so far is the win over nationally ranked Stanford.Captain this year will senior Justin Woodward. Competing for starting goalie are Steven Spangler and Mike Miller. Starting all Pac-10 games has been a combination of Mike Miller and Steven Spangler. The 2009 roster is:

0 Miller, Mike00 Souza, Alex1 Spangler, Steve2 Anderson, Travis3 French, Tanner4 Demirelli, Emmett5 Miller, Chris6 Martin, Tommy8 Drake, Matt9 Grewal, TJ10 Mwanga, Danny11 Harms, Chris11 Woodward, Justin12 Swenson, John13 Mitchel, Colin14 Ramsey, Brian15 Sanchez, Travis16 Hodgen, Mike18 Mastronardi, Andrew19 Johnson, Scott20 Parker, Jake 5-9/15021 Harris, Jordan22 Penny, Alex23 Parker, Mike24 Kagey, Tim25 Fincham, Sean26 Thompson, Taylor27 Costello, Steve

Golf

The golf teams practice at Oregon State's own Trysting Tree Golf Club, a nationally recognized course that has held numerous tournaments.

Rowing

Oregon State has long been a powerhouse for men’s rowing, providing 13 different athletes to the highest levels of rowing in the U.S. And over the past five years, a pair of former Beavers have represented America and the Oregon State rowing program particularly well. Most recently these athletes include Josh Inman, Joey Hansen and Chris Callaghan.

Throughout its history, rowing at Oregon State has been led by committed and visionary coaching. Ed Stevens, a former Harvard coach, took over the reins from Mechanical Engineering Professor J.P. Othis. Stevens guided the program from 1931 to 1949 and during this time the program gained recognition and respect as a highly competitive crew.

Karl Drlica took over from Coach Stevens and would lead the program for the next 30 years. One of Coach Drlica’s first moves was to establish women as an integral part of the program when he started intramural competition in 1952. OSU was one of the first collegiate programs to support women’s rowing.

The achievements of Coach Drlica and his crews were recognized in 1967 when the Board of Intercollegiate Athletics accepted the men’s heavyweight crew as a varsity sport. Ten years later, Coach Drlica would orchestrate the elevation of women’s and lightweight rowing to varsity status as well.

In 1983 the athletic department hired Dave Emigh to assist with the crew program and in 1985 he was named the head coach. Emigh spent 11 years at OSU and continued to develop the program with the same innovative styles of his predecessors. Under Emigh, the crew achieved stability within the athletic department and firmly established itself as a leader in West Coast rowing.

Fred Honebein joined the Oregon State family in 2004 and led his squad to a ninth place finish at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships. The Beavers’ finish marked the fifth straight year they had finished among the top ten in the nation and the eighth time in ten years.

Steve Todd has been named interim head coach of the Oregon State University men’s rowing program for the 2006-07 season. Todd succeeded former head coach Fred Honebein in June after leading the Beavers to a 14th-place finish at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championships. A former rower at the University of Washington, Todd rowed to a national championship in the Huskies' JV8 in 1997 and earned medals in the Varsity boat in 1998 and 1999. Todd has been a part of the Oregon State rowing program for four years as the men’s freshman coach. During his time with the Beavers, Todd’s crews have medaled all four years at the Pac-10 Championships including a silver medal finish in 2003. Tood's 2003 crew of rookies also took second at the San Diego Crew Classic and in the process upset traditional powerhouse Washington. Most recently, Todd’s Freshman 4+ finished fourth at the IRA Regatta in June.

Dave Friedericks is in his first season as the men’s rowing assistant coach. Friedericks, a former member of the U.S. national team, directed the Lake Oswego Community Rowing Center for the past two years. While at Lake Oswego, Friedericks helped grow the club from a group of a dozen members to a membership of 75 with an additional 100 rowers taking classes.

The Oregon State University Men's Varsity 8+ had a 10th place finish at the 2007 Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships.

Wrestling

Traditionally, the Oregon State wrestling team has been a national powerhouse, winning their conference championship 46 times and finishing in the NCAA top ten 18 times. They have 12 individual NCAA champion titles (including 2 won by Les Gutches in 1995 and 1996), and have 82 All-American titles (of which 3 were earned by Gutches in 1994, 1995, and 1996). Pre-NCAA in 1926, OSU won the Amateur Athletic Association team national championship. Dale Thomas, Oregon State coach from 1957-1990 and National Wrestling Hall of Fame member, holds the NCAA record for most dual meet wins in a coaching career at 616. Additionally, seven OSU alumni have gone on to represent the United States in the Olympics, including in 1924 where Oregon State alumni won both the gold and silver medals in the same weight class. Only 5 of Oregon State's 88 seasons have resulted in a losing record. Oregon State's all-time dual meet record at the end of the 2007-08 season is 922-296-26, ranked 3rd in the NCAA for most all-time wins. With the retiring after the 2005-06 season of one of OSU's most successful coaches, Joe Wells, National Wrestling Hall of Fame member Jim Zalesky was named head coach.

Women's sports

Basketball

The Women's Basketball program at Oregon State has long been a power. From the 1980s and Carol Menken, to the Mid-1990s with the teams that made it to the NCAA tournament. More recently Oregon State women's basketball has seen many strong players. Felicia Ragland was at OSU in the early 2000s and ended up playing briefly in the WNBA and has a banner up in the rafters at Gill Coliseum. Since her, the recruiting has become better, with a lot of strong players coming through Oregon State. Women's Basketball currently plays its games at Gill Coliseum. The current coach is LaVonda Wagner.

The women's basketball team finished the 2008 season with a 20-12 record, making a postseason appearance in the WNIT tournament.

Golf

Gymnastics

The women's gymnastics team is historically known as one of the best teams in the country. They were ranked #13 in the nation in the 2006 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, and had one of the strongest schedules in the nation. The beavers came in second all-around at the 2006 NCAA West Regional, qualifying for the NCAA Championships hosted on their home turf at Oregon State. OSU gymnasts have won seven national championships on floor exercise and balance beam, most recently Amy Durham on beam in 1993.

Rowing

Soccer

Oregon State Women's Soccer team has a new coach in Linus Rhodes, an 8 year assistant coach at OSU. With a whole new coaching staff the Beavers are looking to move forward. The most recent improvement so far is the win over nationally ranked Washington State. Upsetting the Cougars the OSU Beavers snapped a 21-game no conference win streak.

Captains this year are Loretta (Red) Nixon and Najma Homidi. Competing for starting goalie are Colleen Boyd and Katie Bell. Starting all Pac-10 games has been Colleen Boyd. She has kept the Beavers in the game and is a great vocal leader in the back.

The 2009 Oregon State women's soccer team earned the first NCAA tournament berth in program history, and upset host Ohio State and nationally seeded Florida in the first two rounds to advance to the Sweet 16.

Softball

The women's softball team were co-champions for the Pac-10 title in 2005, ending the season with a 43-16 record. They have made NCAA regional tournament appearances eight years in a row, including the 2006 season where they made it to the Women's College World Series for the first time in program history. They were ranked #12 in the nation in the 2006 ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Top 25 Collegiate Poll. They had a 28 game winning streak in the 2006 season, the longest win streak the NCAA had seen since 2002 and the longest in the history of the program at Oregon State. The 28-game streak ranks 16th(t) all-time in the NCAA Division I record book for longest win streak, and the Beavers are one of just 11 teams in NCAA history to win 28 straight games.

Swimming

The women's swimming team finished 31st in the NCAA championships for the 2006 season. As of 2006, there have been a total of 5 women's NCAA All-American swimmers since the sport was added at Oregon State. In 2008, Saori Haruguchi won an individual NCAA championship in the 200 meter butterfly. She also set an NCAA meet record during this event.

Track and Field and Cross Country

Oregon State track and field and cross country were cut in 1988, but began a comeback in 2004 with the return of a women's distance program, led by Kelly Sullivan, the former coach of Willamette University. The Beavers compete largely in smaller, Division 3 meets, but have enjoyed some success in the PAC-10, including a ninth-place finish by Ashley Younce in the 2006 Western Regional meet. Men's track and field is confined to the club level.

Beaver Nation

Oregon State University’s proud fans, alumni, and supporters are commonly referred to as Beaver Nation by the media and are credited with giving the Beavers a great home field/court advantage at all of OSU’s sporting events. Reser Stadium, Gill Coliseum, and Goss Stadium at Coleman Field are regularly filled by fans dressed in the school colors, creating an intimidating sea of orange and black that loudly cheer on the Beavers.

Beaver Nation has also developed a very attractive reputation for “traveling well” to support its various teams, with large numbers of orange and black clad fans following the Beavers to away games, bowl games, and tournaments.

Two of the most prominent events showcasing OSU’s rabid fan support and willingness to travel include the 2001 Fiesta Bowl and the College World Series tournaments in 2006 and 2007. In 2000, Oregon State’s football team finished with a 10-1 regular season record and an invitation to the 2001 Fiesta Bowl. The Beavers football team brought an estimated 38,000 fans with them to Tempe, Arizona and went on to crush Notre Dame by a score of 41-9. In June 2006 and again in June 2007, Oregon State’s baseball team made consecutive trips to Omaha, Nebraska for the College World Series. Beaver Nation showed up by the thousands, creating large pockets of its dominating orange at Rosenblatt Stadium, and cheered the team on to the National Championship both years.

References

1. http://www.osubeavers.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&KEY=&SPID=1952&SPSID=24799
2. http://osubeavers.nmnathletics.com//pdf6/26123.pdf?SPSID=37974&SPID=1958&DB_OEM_ID=4700
3. http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=24930&SPID=1960&DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=218789
4. http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=24972&SPID=1963&DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=227307
5. http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=24972&SPID=1963&DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=273417
6. http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=249349
7. http://www.osubeavers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=24944&SPID=1961&DB_OEM_ID=4700&ATCLID=177986

External links

• Official site of Oregon State athletics
• AP poll history of Oregon State men's basketball