Daton Fix and Jordan Oliver Fall at Final X

Current Cowboy wrestler Daton Fix and former Cowboy Jordan Oliver competed for World Team spots at Final X in Stillwater on Friday. This was a best of three series to determine the World Team representatives at each weight for the United States this fall in Serbia.

Daton Fix and Seth Gross wrestled their first match for the 61 KG spot in the first session. Fix got in tight on a shot early but was unable to finish on the edge. He picked up a pushout point to go up 1-0. Fix and Gross got in a bit of a scramble in the first, but neither were able to score and Fix took a 1-0 lead into the second. Early in the second, Fix got a pushout point then another for Gross fleeing to go up 3-0. He followed that up with a takedown to get his biggest lead of the match at 5-0. Gross answered with two pushout points, a takedown, and another pushout point to make it 5-5. Fix still led on criteria due to Gross’ fleeing point and Fix took the first bout of the series.

In match two, Fix got a called takedown early in the first. It was challenged and changed to a one-point step out. Fix responded by countering a shot from Gross to go up 3-0. Gross answered with a step-out point to make it 3-1 going into the second. Fix took a shot in the first minute of the second to score a step-out point. Gross then responded with three step-outs of his own to make it 4-4 with Fix leading on criteria. The two battled for a bit before Gross got another push out to take the match 5-4 and set up a third and final match to decide the series.

In match three, Fix got in on a shot early and got a pushout point on the edge. He followed that up with another to go up 2-0. Late in the first, Fix and Gross traded takedowns to make it 4-2 heading into the second period. Gross then got a takedown off a counter roughly one minute into the period to go up 4-4 on criteria. Fix responded with a pushout to make it 5-4. Gross then got a called 2 on the edge which Fix’s corner challenged. They lost the challenge and Gross went up 7-5. Fix took a late shot and gave up an exposure and push out to fall 9-5.

Jordan Oliver, competing at 70 KG, competed first against Zain Retherford. Retherford got in on a shot early, but Oliver was able to defend and keep the score at 0-0. Oliver was then put on the shot clock and unable to score putting Retherford up 1-0. In the second Oliver gets a shot clock point to go up 1-1 on criteria then takes Retherford off the edge for a called two and goes up 3-1. Retherford then answered with a takedown of his own to make it 3-3 with Retherford leading on criteria. Oliver locked up upper body which was countered by Retherford. Retherford threw Oliver out of bounds for 4. This was challenged by Oliver’s corner and the call was confirmed. Retherford took the first bout 8-3.

In the second match, Retherford struck first with a pushout point in the first. Oliver quickly responded with a pushout of his own to make it 1-1 and lead on criteria. Oliver defended a late shot in the first and the match went to the second tied 1-1. Oliver opened things up in the second with a quick takedown to go up 3-1. Retherford got in on a shot a bit later that Oliver countered and scored to go up 5-1. Retherford’s corner challenged and won with the decision being 2 for Retherford followed by 2 for Oliver. This put Oliver up 5-3. Oliver received a caution and one for Retherford but held on the final few seconds to take the bout 5-4, setting up a third match to decide 70 KG.

In the third match of the series, Retherford got in on a shot and got a pushout point, which was followed by a caution point as Oliver pushed Retherford after they went out of bounds. This put Retherford up 2-0. Retherford then got a takedown in the second to go up 4-0. Oliver battled back with a takedown and pushout but it wasn’t enough as he fell 4-3 and Zane Retherford took the World Team Spot at 70 KG.

Uniquely, Oklahoma State did get one representative on the team in a very tragic fashion. Jacarra Winchester, who has been training at Oklahoma State at the Cowboy RTC won the 55 KG spot after an injury to Army SGT Jenna Burkert, who wrestles for the Army World Class Athlete Program.