Cowboy Invitational Preview: OSU’s Entries, Top Potential Matches, Best-Non OSU Wrestlers

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Cowboy wrestling kicks off its season on Sunday in an event you have to be there to see.

Oklahoma State is hosting the Cowboy Invitational, a tournament with Little Rock, Gardner-Webb and SIUE.

The event gets going at 10 a.m. Sunday with three mats in Gallagher-Iba Arena. It won’t be streamed.

Here’s a preview of the action, looking at OSU’s entries, the best potential matches and some non-OSU wrestlers to look out for.

OSU’s Entries

Here’s a look at all the Cowboys who will compete.

125: Rocklin Zinkin

133: Jax Forrest, Sam Smith

141: Tagen Jamison, Jayden Raney, Cael Hughes, Ronnie Ramirez, Jake Hamiti

149: Sergio Vega, Jordyn Raney, Beau Hickman

157: Landon Robideau, Cutter Sheets, Kolter Burton

165: Dee Lockett, Casey Swiderski, Kody Routledge, Ishmael Guerrero

174: Lorenzo Norman, Alex Facundo, Ethan Teague

184: Bennett Berge, Mikey White

197: Cody Merrill, Austin Johnson

HWT: Dreshaun Ross, Kruz Goff

Top 5 6 Potential Matches

Top 5 sounds better, but I couldn’t decide which of these to cut.

6 — OSU at 141 pounds

And I’m already cheating because it’s not one individual match, but it’s clear the most open spot in the Cowboys’ lower weights is at 141 pounds, as a big group has met at the weight to do battle.

I think it’ll come down to the quartet of Jayden Raney, Tagen Jamison, Cael Hughes and Ronnie Ramirez.

Raney is a blue-chip freshman. He was a five-time state champ in high school (starting as an eighth grader) and was the No. 6 pound-for-pound prospect on Flo’s big board.

Jamison has qualified for NCAAs twice for the Cowboys but missed just about all of last season because of injury. He wrestled one tournament, doing so up at 149 pounds. There was a wonder if he could make it back down to 141, and here he is. He’s 41-17 in his career.

Hughes was undefeated as an Oklahoma high schooler and a four-time state champ. He had been in and out of the lineup at 133 pounds in 2024-25 but missed all of last season. He’s 10-1 to this point in his career.

After wrestling at 133 pounds last season, Ramirez was down at 57 kg (about 125 pounds) this offseason but now ascends to 141. He went 7-3 last season.

5 — Bennett Berge vs. Mikey White

Bennett Berge is one of two transfers Taylor took this offseason, joining the Cowboys from South Dakota State. Mikey White is one of Taylor’s blue-chip recruits.

Berge finished fourth at NCAAs at 184 pounds in 2024 but spent last season up at 197.

White finished as the No. 9 pound-for-pound wrestler on Flo’s big board for the 2026 class.

This is also a spot where Zack Ryder, who was an All-American at OSU last season, could play a factor. But, Ryder isn’t wrestling this weekend, as he is likely still recovering from a shoulder injury that required surgery in the offseason.

4 — Cody Merrill vs. Stephen Little

How about an NCAA semifinal rematch at an unstreamed event in GIA?

Merrill beat Little, of Little Rock, 3-2 in tiebreakers in their national semi. Merrill went on to finish second, and Little third. The match sells itself.

Little finished last season 20-3, while Merrill went 21-5 in his first season in OSU’s lineup.

3 — Sergio Vega vs. Jordyn Raney

It’s an unbeaten national champion sophomore vs. a blue-chip true freshman.

Vega wasn’t taken down last season, going 24-0 and winning a national title at 141 pounds. He makes the move up in weight to 149 as a sophomore.

“Really doesn’t weigh that much different than what he weighed last year,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “His body composition, I feel like, has changed. His love handles aren’t as much of love handles anymore. But, yeah, I feel like he’s just kind of maturing. I think you can kind of see it in his face and his body and his composition has matured. Just the way he approaches things. …

“I think 149 is a good weight class for him.”

Raney, the twin brother of the previous Raney, won a Kentucky state high school title every year from his seventh grade year to his senior year, going 203-4 with 187 pins.

2 — Alex Facundo vs. Lorenzo Norman

This seems like a legit battle for OSU’s 174-pound spot.

Facundo was the Cowboys’ starter last season, going 18-8 and finishing in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament. It was his first year with the program after transferring from Penn State.

Norman transferred in from Stanford, where he went a combined 31-14 across the past three seasons. Norman wrestled just two matches last season before an injury kept him out for the year. He went 21-6 as a sophomore, going 1-2 at nationals.

1 — Dee Lockett vs. Casey Swiderski 

After being the Cowboys’ starter at 149 pounds last season, Swiderski has bumped up two weight classes to 165 pounds.

He was an All-American at 149 last year, finishing eighth. He also finished seventh at 149 while at Iowa State in 2024.

“Casey and Sergio last year, spent a lot of time with them helping them with their weights,” Taylor said. “Casey’s kind of, definitely a little bit bigger now, but he was cutting a lot of weight. So, honestly he doesn’t look really all that much different to me than what he did. He’s a high-energy guy, but it’s hard for him to wrestle with a lot of energy last year (when he was cutting weight). So, I think now he just has a lot more — yeah, I would say energy.”

Lockett had a really good freshman season, going 18-4 and climbing as high as No. 2 in the rankings before bowing out in the Round of 16 at NCAAs. It was a disappointing finish to the year, but there’s no denying Lockett’s potential entering his sophomore season.

There is a potential landmine in this group that could break up this meeting: Kody Routledge. Routledge was also a freshman last season, going 6-2. One of his losses was 10-9 to Nicco Ruiz, who won the Big 12 and finished fourth at NCAAs.

Top Non-OSU Wrestlers

Just about every wrestler I mentioned in the previous section wrestles at OSU. This event’s podiums are likely to be dominated by Cowboys, but there high-caliber wrestlers in the field. Here’s a look at a few.

Stephen Little/Little Rock/197: We already covered Little in the previous section, but to continue, he is 78-17 in his career and a three-time All-American. Intermat has him listed at No. 3 entering the season, one spot behind Merrill.

TK Davis/Gardner-Webb/133: Davis enters the season at No. 9 in Intermat’s rankings after finishing in the Round of 16 last season. Davis went 26-3 last season. One of those losses was to Jax Forrest in the second round of NCAAs, with Forrest winning 16-1. Davis is 60-19 in his career.

Gavyn Whitehead/Little Rock/149: Whitehead is making the jump up to Division-I after winning two junior college national titles at Indian Hills Community College. He went 53-5 in his two years at the junior college level.

Marcel Lopez/SIUE/133: Lopez went 23-9 last season, going 1-2 at NCAAs. He enters the season ranked 23rd.

Brock Herman/Little Rock/157: Herman went 13-5 down at 149 pounds last season, going 1-2 at NCAAs and winning a Pac-12 title. He enters the year ranked 12th.