Alex Dieringer and Jon Morrison Win Bill Farrell Memorial

In a really good weekend of senior level wrestling for a few former Cowboys, Alex Dieringer dominated his way to a tournament title at 79 KG and was named outstanding wrestler. Jon Morrison took home the 61 KG crown, knocking off NCAA champ Seth Gross on his way to the title.

Dieringer’s performance was sort of to be expected here. He dominated in a much tougher tournament in Ukraine a few weeks ago, and going into this the other tournament entries at this weight weren’t on the level of the guys he saw in Ukraine. Even with that, he tech’d his way through the tournament, and I can’t overstate how dominant he’s been the last few times out. He deservedly was named outstanding wrestler here after his performance.

Dieringer takes the title at 79 kilos. pic.twitter.com/CnnPcRGUh3

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) March 31, 2018

What might be the most important positive from Dieringer’s performance is its impact on the Cowboy RTC. The club has some serious firepower at the junior level, but Alex is their premier senior level athlete. For him to dominate this tournament and win like he has recently is huge for the RTC. Wins like this are great for their branding, fundraising and a lot of other things.

@ringing57 @CowboyWrestling #BillFarrell18 #okstate 79 kg freestyle finals
1st – Alex Dieringer (TMWC) tech. fall Zelimkhan Khadjiev (France), 14-2, 3:32 pic.twitter.com/FnO26ONy1L

— Cowboy RTC (@CowboyRTC) March 31, 2018

He wasn’t as dominant and was a bit of a surprise to a lot of people here, but Jon Morrison put together a tremendous performance to pick up a tournament title. A large amount of talk surrounding the tournament was NCAA champ Seth Gross and how he would do here. Morrison shut most of that hype down by beating him in the semifinal with a late head pinch. In the final he took on No. 1 seed Tyler Graff and won another close one there 6-5.

Morrison is now at the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club at Michigan, so it doesn’t have quite the same impact on OSU as Dieringer. It’s still very positive to have a former Cowboy win something like this and a great tournament for him.

This tournament was a qualifier for the World Team Trials, so now both Alex and Jon have a seat at the table there. Alex has looked good and I really think should have a shot to make the World Team if he continues wrestling like he has been, but will have to make it through Kyle Dake among others to do so. Again he’s looked great, but Dake has had his number historically.

Jon on the other hand has a bit of an open weight class with no clear cut favorite. His performance here has to make you feel like he has a chance though. He finished ahead of two guys many have in the conversation to have a shot at making the World Team and ahead of a Junior World Champ from Russia. Really a great performance by him.

Austin Schafer also made the podium here and finished third at 97 KG.