OSU Wrestling: Forrest Burns Redshirt, Thrashes Ayala, Cowboys Beat Iowa for First Time Since 2019

PHOTOS

STILLWATER — With “Funky Town” filling Gallagher-Iba Arena, Jax Forrest made the trot to the mat, burning his redshirt to wrestle a two-time national runner-up. And the early enrollee freshman was dominant.

Forrest handed Drake Ayala his first technical fall defeat of his college career, helping push the Pokes to their first win against their archrival Hawkeyes since 2019. OSU beat Iowa 32-11.

Forrest beat Ayala 19-3, taking the Hawkeye down four times and collecting six nearfall points in the bout.

Ayala, a senior, had been pinned a couple of times in his college career, but the 19 points the young Forrest put on Ayala were the most Ayala has given up in a match in his career, per WrestleStat.

That’s a heck of a way to burn a redshirt. Coming into the night, both Forrest and Ronnie Ramirez had wrestled five dates this season, meaning whichever 133-pounder took the mat against the Hawkeyes would be the Cowboys’ guy going into the postseason, and that is Forrest.

“For Jax, it’s been a crash course to this,” David Taylor said. “It’s just him believing in what he wants to go do. He’s got a lot of skills, and he’s learning how to kind of put it all together and just showing his maturity from last week to this week. Both really tough opponents, and he’s just learning how to navigate things, how to have that balance of calmness and a little bit of chaos. That’s what makes him unique, and it makes it really hard for people to wrestle him.”

It was, for the most part, an evening of domination for the Cowboys.

The 32 team points OSU scored were the most the Cowboys have ever put on the Hawkeyes.

OSU earned bonus points in four bouts, and none of those were major decisions. To go with Forrest’s tech, Sergio Vega, Cody Merrill and Konner Doucet each picked up pins.

Vega was up just 1-0 in the third period against Kale Petersen before Petersen took a shot that ended with him getting cradled. Vega closes his first regular season of college wrestle 15-0 without giving up a takedown.

THIS PLACE IS ELECTRIC

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— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) February 22, 2026

Daniel Cormier was in the house, as he walked the Cowboys to the mat. Along with being an All-American at OSU, Cormier coached Merrill, a redshirt freshman, at Gilroy High School in California. In front of DC, Merrill thumped Brody Sampson, with Merrill scoring five takedowns before flipping Sampson over and pinning him.

You know his name…

📺: @espn #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/Q3JGS6hxm6

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) February 23, 2026

Then Doucet had a big lead on Gage Marty before flipping the Iowa heavyweight to his back. It looked like Doucet might’ve just been after nearfall points to secure his tech. But Marty’s shoulders hit the mat, and the ref slapped it.

“I just kinda picked up his leg, and he kinda rolled over,” Doucet said. “I was just trying to hold him on his back for a quick nearfall, and he kind of relaxed for a second, so I just kind of stacked him on his head. It wasn’t really a very good pin hold, but it worked out.”

Troy Spratley set the tone for the evening at 125 pounds. Back at National Duals, Spratley gave up a super late takedown to drop his bout against Dean Peterson. Spratley righted that wrong by beating Peterson via a 5-3 decision.

That led into Forrest’s tech and Vega’s pin, and the Pokes were promptly up 14-0 after three matches — more team points than Iowa would score the whole dual.

Aside from Forrest putting it on Ayala, OSU’s most impressive win of the night probably came at 184 pounds in what was an odd match.

Zack Ryder made his return after suffering an injury in the Northern Iowa dual back on Jan. 30. He took on Gabe Arnold, who entered at 14-4. The two went into sudden victory tied at 1 before Ryder forced a second stall call on Arnold, meaning Ryder won by simply shooting Arnold off the mat.

If there was one thing that went wrong for the Cowboys, it was at 165, where Dee Lockett fell to reigning national finalist Mikey Caliendo 4-2. This comes after Lockett beat Caliendo at National Duals. It’s the first loss of Lockett’s career, as he closes his first regular season 13-1 with five Top 10 wins.

“I think Dee, it’s kind of maybe a similar lesson for Cody Merrill last week — like he’s won a lot of close matches, but when you do that, sometimes the other side of it is you do fall a little short,” Taylor said. “I think he’s wrestled a lot of really tough opponents and to have that type of focus the whole time, that’s a challenge.

“But his perspective is good. I think he has good perspective, and our messaging is never anything about records, it’s about just trying to get better at wrestling. He’s a competitive guy. I know he hates to lose, so I think when we work on some of those scenarios, they’ll probably be a little more meaningful to him.”

OSU held a 16-9 advantage in takedowns against the Hawks and won in total match points 74-44.

Results

Post-Dual News Conference