Cowboys Go 6-0 in 3rd Session of Big 12 and Qualify Nine for NCAAs

Cowboy wrestling was perfect in Session 3 today going 6-0, winning all three consolation semifinal matches and all three consolation finals. Jacobe Smith, Keegan Moore, and Preston Weigel all took third place and scored automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.

Here are the results.

Consolation Semifinals Schedule (Noon Sunday)
174: No. 4 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State) WBF over No. 8 Parker VonEgidy (West Virginia)
184: No. 4 Keegan Moore (Oklahoma State) DEC 3-2 over No. 7 Dane Pestano (Iowa State)
197: No. 1 Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State) MAJ DEC 13-0 over No. 9 Andrew Dixon (Oklahoma)

Jacobe Smith with his second pin of the weekend to advance to the 174 pound 3rd place match!

Watch on @FloWrestling: https://t.co/q9TXd7XIyP #okstate pic.twitter.com/BAQV1Ds6OU

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) March 4, 2018

Consolation finals

174: No. 4 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State) DEC 6-4 over No.2 Yoanse Mejias (Oklahoma)

184: No. 4 Keegan Moore(Oklahoma State) MAJ DEC 13-5 over No. 2 Martin Mueller (SDSU)

197: No. 1 Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State) DEC 8-4 over No. 3 Jacob Holschlag (UNI)

The Cowboys wrestled well here. Initially this weekend I thought Jacobe Smith’s knee may have still been hurt a bit, but after seeing the rest of his weekend I don’t think it’s an issue. He wrestled well. If it weren’t for one awkward scramble in the semi’s he may have won that and potentially could’ve taken this tournament. Either way, after he shook off the rust a bit in the first match he wrestled really well and I think could potentially do some damage at the NCAA tournament in two weeks.

Keegan Moore had about as good a tournament as you could ask for. There has been a ton of debate on whether or not him or Andrew Marsden should be the starter here, but Moore wrestled really well this weekend. He finished above his seed and scored a bid to the NCAA tournament, which is huge for him. He really let loose in a lot of matches and had good offense out there. He also didn’t falter late in any matches. We’ve seen him gas out late in spots and that definitely didn’t happen here. In every match he got a takedown in the 3rd and that’s a good sign.

Preston Weigel’s match was a typical Weigel match. He dominated on top and except for one spot in the match really controlled the whole thing. When discussing injuries John Smith has said Jacobe would be 100 percent when back and never really confirmed that with Weigel would. Jacob Smith from WVU is good and there were some controversial calls in the match, but I still worry Weigel isn’t quite 100 percent. The loss to Smith will hurt his seed a bit at the NCAA tournament, but he’s still a guy that could finish very high at 197 especially if he’s at full speed.

The Cowboys qualified every weight except 157 for the NCAA tournament.

The finals start at 6 PM tonight on Fox Sports Oklahoma. The matchups from 125-141 are amazing, so you really don’t want to miss it. The rest should be pretty good as well.

Big 12 Finals Schedule (6 p.m. Sunday) 
125: No. 1 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 3 Zeke Moisey (West Virginia)
133: No. 3 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 1 Seth Gross (South Dakota State)
141: No. 2 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 1 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming)
149: No. 2 Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 1 Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa)
165: No. 2 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 4 Andrew Fogarty (North Dakota State)
285: No. 1 Derek White (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 3 AJ Nevills (Fresno State)