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Ferrari, Fix Make The NCAA Finals, Cowboys Sit In Third Place

The Pokes have a pair of finalists and others who made consolation runs.

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[Photo via Bruce Waterfield, Oklahoma State Athletics]

Oklahoma State closed out Saturday with six All-Americans, and Daton Fix and AJ Ferrari pushed their way into the finals.

The Cowboys sit comfortably in third place after Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament in St. Louis. If things go perfect for them, they could finish as high as second. The top four teams bring home a team trophy.

Fix was the highest point scoring wrestler in the NCAA tournament leading up to the semifinals where he met up with Iowa Hawkeye Austin DeSanto for his biggest test so far.

DeSanto took a shot early, which Fix countered and scored off to go up 2-0. DeSanto quickly got an escape, and the match went to the second period with Fix in a 2-1 lead. Fix and DeSanto both got escapes in the second and third periods, and Fix went on to win 3-2.

Expect fireworks tomorrow as he’ll wrestle PSU’s Roman Bravo-Young in what most predict to be a high paced match for the 133 pound title.

AJ Ferrari has created a persona unlike any other in wrestling. His celebrations, his flexing, everything, has created an image that nearly all wrestling fans now know.

He backs every bit of it up. Ferrari wrestled top-seed Myles Amine in the semifinals. Amine was an Olympian and European Silver Medalist representing San Marino. Ferrari used an impressive takedown and ton of riding time to walk away with a comfortable win and spot in the finals. His post match interview may be the most talked about thing from the NCAA tournament.

Tomorrow he’ll take on Pitt’s Nino Bonaccorsi for an NCAA title.

OSU had one other semifinalist with Boo Lewallen. Boo was pinned by top-seed Sammy Sasso of Ohio State.

The consolation side saw some incredible performances by OSU. Wyatt Sheets became the first 33 seed to ever finish as an All-American.

Sheets won a wrestle-in match then fell to the No. 1 seed. He bounced back from there with three close wins to get to the blood round. His opponent Brady Berge was forced to injury default out of the tournament, which put Sheets into the All-American round. He fell to Jacori Teemer and will wrestle for 7th place tomorrow. Incredible run considering Sheets is waiting to receive a knee surgery and didn’t even realize he’d be wrestling here until just a few days ago.

The final two All-Americans for the Cowboys are Dakota Geer and Travis Wittlake. Both have taken similar paths. After falling in the quarterfinals, they’ve stormed through the consolation side to get to the consolation semifinals. A win tomorrow and they’ll be competing for third. A loss and they’ll wrestle for fifth. Both have rematches tomorrow with wrestlers who beat them yesterday.

Another impressive run came from Austin Harris. Harris was bounced to the consolation side early then put together upset after upset to get to the blood round where he needed one more win to become an All-American. Harris fell to Greg Kerkvliet, but that run scored some valuable team points and took guys out of the tournament that could’ve helped other teams in the team race.

True freshman Dustin Plott and Trevor Mastrogiovanni both also competed here and went 1-1 on the day.

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