OSU Wrestling: Oklahoma State Sets Season Attendance Record, Throttles Mizzou on Senior Day

PHOTOS

STILLWATER — The lights went down ahead of Sunday’s heavyweight mat before Wyatt Hendrickson’s name and face popped up on the video board, enough alone to bring put about 11,000 people into a frenzy.

Oklahoma State beat Missouri 36-3 on Sunday in Gallagher-Iba Arena. It was OSU’s Senior day. It was Gallagher Day. And 10,740 loaded into the arena, a number that helped break OSU’s season average attendance record.

“Sweet — it’s pretty dang awesome,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “What was it, 10,700 today, is that what it was? It’s pretty dang close to a sellout here. Historically, that’s not something you see here all the time. You don’t see that in many places, to be able to have a wrestling place that can get 11,000 people for a wrestling match. I mean, that’s pretty damn special. Proud of the guys and the way they’re wrestling, and I’m so grateful for the fans. We talk about what Oklahoma State wrestling means to this country, to the state of Oklahoma and the surrounding states, we’re starting to see that.”

Mere moments after Hendrickson’s thunderous introduction and trot to the mat, he flipped No. 24 Jarrett Stoner to his back and pinned him — again sending the crowd into an uproar. Hendrickson closed the show with a standing backflip and a bow. He’s now 16-0 this season with seven pins and six technical falls. Since stepping on campus, Hendrickson was almost immediately a fan favorite. It’s easy to see why. He’s in the Air Force, he’s built like a brick house, he pins people and he does backflips — what’s not to love?

The dual lacked drama, but it was a good sendoff for the senior Pokes. Reece Witcraft, Carter Young, Caleb Fish, Cameron Amine, Dean Hamiti Jr., Dustin Plott, Luke Surber and Hendrickson all went through Senior Day festivities, and all picked up wins in their final matches in GIA (Young is a redshirt junior so probably could return).

Amine’s match was the closest, but close matches aren’t necessarily unique for the 165-pounder. Amine, ranked sixth at the weight, went up against No. 15 Cam Steed. After a scoreless first period, Steed rode Amine for 1:51 of the second, but a stall call on Steed and a late Amine escape meant Amine carried a 2-0 lead into the third. Amine rode just long enough to negate a would-be riding time point in the third period and held Steed off for a 2-1 win.

Although Amine is known for his tight matches, he does have four bonus point wins this season, which is the most he has had in a season in his career. Amine was a three-time All-American at Michigan. This is his first season in Stillwater, and it sounds as if he’s taken a liking to it.

“This place is special, man,” Amine said. “It really is. … Just to get that experience of wrestling here and experiencing the fans and the people and the atmosphere, definitely changed my life a little bit.”

Amine’s win gave OSU a 16-3 lead in the team score. It got much worse for the Tigers from there.

Hamiti beat Joel Mylin with a 19-4 tech fall in two periods, as Hamiti moved to 17-0 this season.

At 184, Plott picked up an 18-7 major decision against Aeoden Sinclar, a Top 5 recruit in the 2024 recruiting class. It was the last date Sinclair could use while still maintaining a redshirt. Sinclair has a pair of ranked wins this season at 197 pounds, beating No. 9 Isaiah Salazar and No. 16 Zac Braunagel. Plott, though, left little doubt. He led 7-1 after one period, 13-2 after two and won with an 18-7 major decision. Plott was taken down late as the two were scrambling and Plott was pushing for a tech fall.

“Sinclair’s a tough kid,” Taylor said. “He’s really tough, and they wanted to test the waters tonight, probably to see how he’s gonna do. Dustin looked really good. He looked really good.”

Surber took Jesse Cassatt down seven times in two periods to earn a 22-6 technical fall. Then Hendrickson got his pin in less than a minute.

The only match the Cowboys lost came at 141 pounds, where freshman Kolter Burton wrestled in place of Tagen Jamison. Burton held his own with No. 14 Josh Edmond for much of the match, as Edmond had a 5-2 lead going into the third before he scored a pair of takedowns and eventually won 11-4.

“Kolter’s a tough kid,” Taylor said. “He was in the middle of a tournament yesterday. He was 3-0, and we say, ‘Hey, we need you tomorrow.’ He was like, ‘OK.’ Came home, was five pounds over, got his weight down, wrestled today and wrestled tough. He was in there. He was in the fight today. Proud of him. I told him that. I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m proud of you. You didn’t win the match today, but I’m proud of the way you fought.'”

Taylor said Jamison would be “ready to roll” next week.”

Witcraft got the nod at 133, with him continuing to battle for that spot in OSU’s lineup with Cael Hughes. Witcraft beat Kade Moore 6-3. Taylor said they closer to figuring out who will be the Cowboys’ guy at the weight for the post season but said they are “still figuring that out.”

OSU is 12-0 this season and finished unbeaten in home duals for the 45th time. The Cowboys have a pair of road duals left before the postseason gets going. OSU goes to No. 17 Little Rock for a dual at 3 p.m. Saturday. OSU closes the regular season with a huge dual against No. 2 Iowa on Feb. 23.

David Taylor’s Post-Dual News Conference

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