Les Gutches

Les Gutches (born Leslie Lyle Gutches on February 21, 1973 in Medford, Oregon) is an American former amateur wrestler and coach. His accomplishments include winning the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation's best college wrestler in 1996, becoming the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion in the 177 lb. weight division in both 1995 and 1996, earning All-American status in 1994, 1995, & 1996, becoming a member of the 1996 United States Olympic freestyle wrestling team, and winning numerous other tournaments and honors.cite web|url=http://www.osubeavers.com/pdf2/52365.pdf?ATCLID=693204&SPSID=37974&SPID=1958&DB_OEM_ID=4700|title=2006-07 OSU Wrestling Media Guide Part 4 - Records, honors, history|accessdate=2007-03-26]

Youth

Gutches grew up in a family of wrestlers with his father Les Senior being the first Gutches state champion. Les's siblings are Jason and Chad Gutches. Les Gutches grew up in Southern Oregon and has the unique distinction of winning national championships in all of the wrestling age groups.

College

Gutches had a tremendous collegiate wrestling career as a member of the Oregon State Beavers wrestling team, culminating in winning the Dan Hodge Trophy as the best college wrestler in the United States in 1996. He placed 5th at the NCAA championships in 1994, and went on to win the title in both 1995 and 1996. This earned him All-American status each of the three years, which is awarded to the top 8 athletes in each weight class every year.

He graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor's degree in Physical Anthropology and a minor in German. Some years later he came back and completed requirements for the Bachelor's degree in German, and a Master's degree in Business Administration.

Coaching

Gutches was a full-time assistant coach at Oregon State from 1996–1999, was a volunteer coach in 2001, and was again a full-time assistant coach in 2002-2006. He was also an assistant coach for the United States National Team at the 2002 Freestyle World Cup, his team winning the title that year. [cite web|url=http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/stater/issues/Stater0209/sports.html|title = Sports News - Oregon Stater - September 2002|publisher = Oregon State University| accessdate = 2006-12-16| language = English]

Personal

Gutches presently works as a Commercial Loan Officer at Citizens Bank and lives in the Corvallis, Oregon region with his wife, the former Jennifer Busen, who played basketball at Oregon State. They have a daughter Alexis and a son Logan.

Accomplishments

Gutches has won numerous wrestling tournaments and awards [cite web|url=http://www.wrestlinghalloffame.org/champions/?names&wrestler=1723|title=Les Gutches|publisher=National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum|accessdate=2007-03-26] , including:
*1989 USA Junior Greco-Roman Championships (178 lb): 1st
*1989 USA Cadet Greco-Roman Championships (182.5 lb): 1st
*1991 USA FILA Junior World Greco-Roman Champion (198 lb): 1st
*1992 USA FILA Junior World Freestyle Championships (198 lb): 1st
*1993 USA FILA Junior World Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
*1993 USA University Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
*1994 USA University Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
*1994 NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships (177 lb): 5th
*1994 NCAA Division I All-American (177 lb)
*1995 NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships (177 lb): 1st
*1995 NCAA Division I All-American (177 lb)
*1996 NCAA Division I Collegiate Championships (177 lb): 1st
*1996 NCAA Division I All-American (177 lb)
*1996 Dan Hodge Trophy winner
*1996 US Olympic Team freestyle results (180.5 lb): 7th
*1996 USA Senior Freestyle Championships (180.5 lb): 1st
*1997 USA Senior Freestyle Championships (187.2 lb): 1st
*1997 FILA World Championships (187 lb): 1st
*1998 USA Senior Freestyle Championships (187.2 lb): 1st
*1998 FILA World Championships (187 lb): 7th
*1999 FILA World Championships (187 lb): 3rd
*2003 inductee to the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame

References