Cowboy Wrestling: Oklahoma State Announces OSU Invitational Tournament

Some of the Cowboys’ ranking matches could be taking place in front of a crowd this year.

Oklahoma State on Monday announced the OSU Invitational Tournament, a four-team wrestling event scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Nov. 1 in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The other teams in attendance will be Gardner Webb, Little Rock and SIU-Edwardsville.

The event will feature three mats going concurrently in GIA with double-elimination brackets. OSU’s release wasn’t clear on whether teams could have multiple entries per weight, but that’s how it is at similar invitational tournaments. The Black Knight Invitational, for example, is usually where Penn State sends guys when the Nittany Lions need a spot worked out.

David Taylor’s third squad looks to be his deepest to date, as he returns national champs Jax Forrest, Sergio Vega and Landon Robideau, while also returning All-Americans Troy Spratley, Casey Swiderski, Zack Ryder, Cody Merrill and Konner Doucet. On top of that, Taylor has brought in the top recruiting class of the cycle with guys like Dreshaun Ross, Jayden Raney, Jordyn Raney and others.

There will be some solid competition coming from the other squads, as well.

OSU alum Neil Erisman has done an excellent job building up the Little Rock program even in years where he has to replace outgoing transfers.

Stephen Little, a 197-pounder, is Little Rock’s star wrestler entering the season. He’s a three-time All-American after taking third this past season, losing to Merrill in tiebreakers at the NCAA Championships. Little went 20-3 last season.

The Trojans also added Iowa transfer Massoma Endene this offseason. Endene wrestled seven matches for the Hawkeyes last season at 197 pounds but looks to be making the move up to heavyweight this season. Endene beat Merrill 4-3 at National Duals last season.

Gardner Webb 133-poiunder TK Davis is a two-time national qualifier, who bowed out in the Round of 16 last season. Forrest beat him 16-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

SIU-Edwardsville 165-pounder Brock Woodcock qualified for NCAAs last season and finished the year at 26-9