Boise State wrestler Josh Strait won’t get much of a senior year.
He hopes it’s meaningful, anyway.
Strait, who underwent shoulder surgery after last season, made his season debut Sunday afternoon at Taco Bell Arena.
He recorded a takedown with 7 seconds left in his 141-pound match to secure a 4-2 victory — part of Boise State’s 33-7 rout of Pac-12 rival Arizona State.
Strait made his move with 15 seconds left. He countered Matt Kraus’ attempt to hook Strait under his arm.
“I’m thinking I’ve got to score, and I felt like I could,” Strait said. “I was being a little conservative with it being my first match and all. I’ve got to let things fly right at the end when it matters.”
The victory was the Broncos’ fourth in a row and sixth in their past seven duals. They’ll be home again Feb. 1 against Cal State Bakersfield as part of Beauty and the Beast.
In fact, the Broncos are home for five straight duals leading into the Pac-12 meet March 2 at Arizona State.
“That gives us really good training time at home in our own gym,” coach Greg Randal said. “It’s that time of year when we’re supposed to start to roll and get hot. That’s how wrestling is. That’s what a good team does at the end of the year.”
Four of the Broncos’ five ranked wrestlers posted easy wins Sunday, including No. 2 Jason Chamberlain at 149 pounds (20-5 technical fall). Heavyweight J.T. Felix lost to Levi Cooper in the opening match.
The Broncos’ unranked wrestlers also went 4-1. Cody Dixon won by medical default against No. 5 Jake Meredith at 197. Dixon was in the middle of a fierce comeback when Meredith used more than the allowed 90 seconds of injury time.
Randall hopes Strait’s win is a sign of a lineup boost to come. Travis Himmelman is 11-11 in that slot. Strait and Himmelman will compete for the spot in the weeks ahead.
“(Strait) is just getting back to where he’s getting in shape where he can start competing at this level,” Randall said. “He did OK. It wasn’t great, but he won. Hopefully he’ll kind of build on it and keep it going because I still don’t know who I’m going to wrestle.”
Strait, who is from Inkom and wrestled at Marsh Valley High, was 13-14 last season. He finished fourth at the Pac-12 meet.
“I didn’t finish quite how I wanted to,” he said. “I’ve got to come back and redeem myself.”
He wrestled with the shoulder injury last season and opted for surgery last spring knowing he would miss a significant amount of his senior year.
It’s a common dilemma for wrestlers.
“Most of the time, you think, ‘I want to be healthy toward the end of the season so I have a chance,’ ” Randall said.
Chadd Cripe: 377-6398, Twitter: @IDS_BroncoBeat
