OSU Wrestling: Fan-Favorite Cody Merrill Battles to Third-Place Finish at Second Day of Big 12 Championships

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PHOTOS
DAY 1 RECAP

TULSA — The “Cody Merrill” chants that engulfed Gallagher-Iba Arena throughout the season followed the Cowboys’ 197-pounder down the turnpike to Tulsa.

Merrill wrestled two tough matches during the third session of the Big 12 Championships on Saturday to finish his first conference tournament in third place.

“Yesterday, fell short,” Merrill said. “Bad calls, just gotta wrestle through all of it, and then win or lose, I’m just trying to reach my best and get the next best thing.”

His day started with Bennett Berge, who came into the weekend ranked a spot ahead of Merrill in Intermat’s national rankings.

Merrill scored a takedown 27 seconds into the match, a bit of a death knell for his foes considering how good Merrill is on top. Berge was able to escape. Merrill escaped in the second period to take a 4-1 lead into the third before Berge selected neutral, not wanting to go under the Cowboy redshirt freshman again. Berge was unable to get a takedown, and Merrill won it 4-1.

There was then a little Bedlam in the third-place match, as Merrill wrestled tournament 5 seed DJ Parker. This time it was Merrill getting taken down quickly, but he responded by getting an escape and getting his own takedown, bringing a 4-3 lead into the second.

Parker was able to escape in the second, but Merrill got that point back plus a riding time point to win it 6-4.

Merrill was the only Cowboy taking part in Saturday’s first session, as eight of his teammates are in Saturday night’s finals and the other injury defaulted out of the rest of the tournament. Despite the lack of Cowboys, there was still a noticeable contingent of orange in the BOK center, ringing out chants like “Co-dy Mer-ill!” and “Let’s go Cody!”

“Thank you to all the fans out there, coming out and supporting,” Merrill said. “I think it’s really cool, really sweet to wrestle out there in front of a home crowd, even when we’re not at home. Appreciate the support and go Pokes.”

Merrill went 4-1 in his first Big 12 Championships with the lone loss coming in sudden victory to the No. 3 guy in the country.

Merrill went into the weekend with a new hairdo. Gone were his shaggy black locks and in their place was a buzzcut that he and Cowboy heavyweight Konner Doucet shaved.

“Just needed a restart, you know,” Merrill said. “Hair got caught on my ear a couple times, made it a little itchy, so a little restart, a little reset, get my head back in the game.”

Merrill enters his first NCAA Championships at 17-4. Of his losses, one is to a guy who didn’t finish the season (Massoma Endene, formerly of Iowa). He’s lost one match to each of Saturday’s Big 12 finalists, No. 2 Rocky Elam (Iowa State) and No. 3 Joey Novak (Wyoming). The other was a 2-1 decision to Virginia Tech’s Sonny Sasso, who entered the weekend ranked 11th.

None of those losses has been by anything more than a takedown, so he’s right there. It’ll now be about putting it together in Cleveland.

“Super excited,” Merrill said. “I’ve never been to a national tournament as a spectator, or even a conference tournament. I think it’s gonna be exciting. Can’t wait to put on a show for the guys.

“The mindset and expectation is always to come out on top of the podium. I think, obviously it’s a long road until then, so right now I’m just worried about match by match.”

Team Standings

Saturday Night’s Big 12 Finals

125: 1 Troy Spratley (OSU) vs. 2 Stevo Poulin (ISU)
133: 1 Jax Forrest (OSU) vs. 2 Kyler Larkin (ASU)
141: 1 Sergio Vega (OSU) vs. 2 Anthony Echemendia (ISU)
149: 1 Casey Swiderski (OSU) vs. 6 Caleb Rathjen (UNI)
157: 1 Kaleb Larkin (ASU) vs. 2 Landon Robideau (OSU)
165: 1 Dee Lockett (OSU) vs. 3 Nicco Ruiz (ASU)
174: 1 Alex Facundo (OSU) vs. 3 Cam Steed (MIZZOU)
184: 1 Aeoden Sinclair (MIZZOU) vs. 3 Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming)
197: 1 Rocky Elam (ISU) vs. 2 Joey Novak (Wyoming)
HWT: 1 Yonger Bastida (ISU) vs. 2 Konner Doucet (OSU)

7 p.m. start on ESPN+