WEDNESDAY, with Oregon State athletics:

It slipped under the radar Tuesday because of the LaVonda Wagner dismissal, but another OSU athlete is in trouble with the law, this time Pac-10 174-pound wrestling champion

Colby Covington.

According to police records Covington, 22, was involved in a fight near campus in the wee hours of Sunday morning, May 23, and was cited for fourth-degree assault.

The police report says Waleanalu Arquette, 23, of Corvallis was walking with a friend on Northwest 14th Street when “some men in front of them’’ began calling them names.

Arquette said he responded, and one of the men punched him twice in the face.

Arquette’s friend, 21-year-old Kenn Asato of Corvallis, was punched in the eye.

Police later interviewed Covington and determined that he threw the punches that hit Arquette. Covington has a June 24 court date set at the Benton County Courthouse.

Covington – a former junior college national champion at 165 pounds - wrestled at national powerhouse Iowa for one year as a redshirt sophomore before coming to OSU to be closer to his Springfield home (he prepped at Thurston High).

It was a situation where he was also getting a clean start of sorts because he had an unseemly incident at Iowa in August, 2008, where he was arrested for

DUI and eluding police

trying to race back to his apartment in his car.

Covington’s blood-alcohol level was 0.255, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08.

After the DUI arrest, Covington was suspended from the Iowa program. He redshirted his sophomore year, then saw limited action in 2008-09, going 9-2 at 165 pounds.

details Covington's saga at Iowa.

Covington, a senior next season, helped lead the Beavers to an 18-3 dual meet record. He led the team with 15 pins, went 40-7 on the season, and was one of six OSU wrestlers to compete at the NCAA championships. He took a 15-match winning streak into the NCAAs and was disappointed not to win the 174-pound title. He went 2-2, losing a controversial match that would have given him All-America status.

Covington is the highest-profile wrestler on an OSU team that ranked as high as 14th in the nation last season, the school’s highest ranking since 2000-2001.

OSU wrestling coach

Jim Zalesky

said Covington has a lawyer, “and he really hasn’t told me anything (about the incident) because of that. … according to him, he didn’t do anything.’’

Zalesky said, “you don’t like things like that happening. If you want to fight, you fight in the wrestling room.’’

Zalesky said it was too early to speculate on what Covington’s punishment might be if he is convicted on the fourth-degree assault charge.

Before Covington's transfer to OSU, Zalesky was well aware of what happened to Covington at Iowa, and of other behavorial issues that went back to his days at Thurston.

“We’ll look into it,’’ said Zalesky. “It’s his first time (in trouble) here and he had done a good job this year. It’s one of those things. We’ll look, and see what happens.’’

Another OSU NCAA wrestler, 141-pounder

Mike Mangrum,

was involved in a drunken fight last spring and pled guilty to second-degree disorderly conduct. Mangrum was put on probation, while a second OSU wrestler, then-injured 165-pounder

Tim Patrick

, pled guilty to one count of fourth-degree assault stemming from the same incident and received a 45-day jail sentence.

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Paul Buker