Alex Facundo’s Strong Schedule Continues This Weekend With Two More Highly Ranked Foes

STILLWATER — Just bout every time Alex Facundo has taken the mat this season, he’s found himself across from a guy with a more-than-legitimate shot at standing on the podium come March.

A Penn State transfer, Facundo is Oklahoma State’s 174-pound starter this season. He’s 10-4 on the year eight of his 14 bouts coming against guys ranked 11th or better.

“I remember looking and just being like, ‘Man, he’s gonna have a pretty fun year this year — a lot of challenges,” OSU coach David Taylor said Wednesday. “That’s just part of it sometimes. You really can’t control that stuff, but Alex is doing a good job.”

Facundo is technically a redshirt junior, but he didn’t wrestle a ton of matches in four seasons at Penn State.

The 2022-23 season was Facundo’s only in the Nittany Lions’ lineup, a year he went 19-6 at 165 pounds and qualified for the NCAA Championships. But between then and getting to Stillwater ahead of this season, he had just five college matches — all down at 157 pounds.

Facundo’s ridiculous stretch of top opponents started at National Duals in November, where he wrestled four guys ranked in the Top 5 at the time of the match — again, coming off two years of basically being inactive. Facundo went 1-3 at National Duals, with his win coming against Nebraska’s Chris Minto. The two met again in Lincoln earlier this month, where Minto got that win back.

That most recent match with Minto started what’s become a string of three straight matches against Top 10 wrestlers, with the increasingly-experienced Facundo going 2-1 in that stretch with wins against OU’s Carter Schubert and a 2-1 win against Missouri’s Cam Steed. That win against the Tiger earned Facundo Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors.

On the rare occasion Facundo has wrestled an unranked wrestler, he’s dominated.

In six matches against unranked foes, Facundo has five technical fall victories and a major decision to his name.

The weekend provides Facundo the opportunity to wrestle two more highly touted foes as OSU hosts Northern Iowa on Friday and Iowa State on Sunday.

The Panthers’ 174-pound starter is Jared Simma, who is ranked 12th nationally and is 10-4 on the year. The two were supposed to meet in the Cougar Clash final in December, but Simma medically forfeited.

Iowa State’s 174-pounder is MJ Gaitan, who is 9-2 on the season and is at No. 13, according to Intermat.

So, it’s another opportunity for Facundo to show himself against the type of talent that will be battling for All-American finishes in a few months.

“You think about he hasn’t competed frequently for the last three or four years, so this is his first real season in quite a long time,” Taylor said. “So, as he’s adjusting, almost like he’s approaching it like a freshman, I think that’s kind of where his progression has been this year in terms of just getting back in that routine. His last couple matches, just the way he’s trying to carry himself, and he’s starting to hit a little bit of growth. Kind of talked about that this week. You gotta run with those things. When you get some growth in wrestling, you don’t get them all the time. When you get them, you gotta make the most of them.

“So, he’s going through that right now, and it’s fun to watch. He’s just gotta keep getting a little bit better, but he’s got a lot of skills and a lot of ways to score. Starting to capitalize on that stuff.”

Oklahoma State vs. Northern Iowa

When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Watch: ESPN+