Wrestling Championships: What’s At Stake

With all the madness of the March variety finally hitting our TV screens as of about 3 PM yesterday, we’ve forgotten about the only madness Oklahoma State is participating in this time of year: the Arch variety of the NCAA wrestling championships in St. Louis.

If the storyline last year was one of disappointment – OSU sent six top 10 wrestlers to the championships and finished fourth overall – this year the narrative has been one of overcoming adversity.

OSU only sent four top 10 wrestlers to St. Louis and didn’t have any representation at all in the 184 lb. class and yet they stand firmly in eighth after two days of wrestling with a great chance to move up in the final day. They currently sit behind Penn State, Cornell, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio State, Illinois, and Lehigh (but only trail Illinois and Lehigh by .5 points).

Furthermore junior Jordan Oliver is looking to complete back-to-back title runs tonight in a match with Ohio State’s Logan Stieber, the #2 wrestler in the country at the 133 lb. class coming into the championships.

Oliver’s run has been whatever is on the other side of utterly dominant. He wrestled a total of 6:12 in his first three matches, earning an early pin in each, before outlasting B.J. Futrell of Illinois in the semis last night, 8-4.

He looks to become OSU’s 36th (THIRTY-SIXTH!) two-time national champ.

You can watch his potential coronation on ESPNU or on ESPN3.com (no times set yet, though both I and @cowboywrestling will tweet it out when it becomes available).