Five Christmas Wishes for OSU Wrestling

If you haven’t noticed in my writing yet, I’m a big holiday guy. For Halloween I put together a list of top 10 scariest wrestlers, for Veterans day I did a story on wrestlers’ service and I’ll probably continue to do more as I go.

Here’s my Christmas wish list for Oklahoma State wrestling.

1. A New Wrestling Facility

A few months ago I spoke with OSU athletic director Mike Holder about his plans to build a massive new wrestling practice facility for the Cowboys. He’s got big plans at this point, but is still looking for a naming rights donor. With the recruiting OSU has been doing lately there are a lot of selling points for a donor to attach their name to this program. All signs point to the Cowboys contending for NCAA titles in the very near future. When will they get a donor and start breaking ground on the new building?

It’s been long overdue for the Cowboys and I think all Oklahoma State is really hoping for it to happen soon.

2. Health and Happiness!

Yes, it’s a little cliche to just wish for good health around the holidays, but as I’ve covered OSU the last few years I’ve seen Boo Lewallen seemingly do everything right as an athlete, but have his career devastated by injuries. It’s been difficult to watch, especially with a kid like Boo who is universally liked by the wrestling world and has everyone rooting for him. Ultimately it’s also had a big impact on OSU. They finished third at the NCAA tournament last year and even though 1st was probably a little out of reach they likely would’ve been at least No. 2 with Lewallen in the lineup. Then to kick off this season they’ve been without Kaid Brock and others with injuries as well. Here’s hoping Boo, Kaid and the rest of the Cowboys have a healthy upcoming year.

3. An Olympian

The 2016 season was one of the few years in Oklahoma State wrestling history that the Cowboys did not produce an Olympian. After the sport was dropped from the Olympics in 2013, then reinstated, the number of weights for men’s freestyle was lowered making it even more difficult to qualify.

Right now the Cowboys have four prospects with a shot, and all four have qualified for the trials.

Greco

• Chandler Rogers-87 KG

Freestyle

• Daton Fix-57 KG
• Jordan Oliver-65 KG
• Alex Dieringer-86 KG

All are very real contenders for spots on the team, but the depth at each weight this year is incredible. It will be interesting to see how the trials play out in April.

4. A Big 12 Title

From 1921-28 OSU won eight-straight conference titles. That is a program record. If the Cowboys win the Big 12 this year they would tie that record. In recent years, conference titles have been an afterthought for the Cowboys. With Mizzou moving to the MAC and OU and Iowa State down, the Cowboys have owned the Big 12 and even in down years have won it comfortably.

This year could be different. Iowa State and Northern Iowa are the real deal and either team could contend with OSU for the Big 12 crown. I still see OSU as the favorite, but really want to see Nick Piccininni go out with his fourth individual Big 12 title and help tie a program record for the Cowboys with eight-straight team conference titles.

5. A Continued Rise in Attendance

OSU fans did an incredible job last year. The Cowboys set record attendance and crowds throughout the season all culminating in a massive win over Iowa in front of the second largest crowd in Gallagher-Iba Arena history.

This plays a huge role in program perception, in recruiting, in the budget, and many more areas. It’s no secret that some of the best attendance in program history also coincided with one of the best recruiting classes ever for the Cowboys. This stands to reason that more of that high attendance could continue to help produce more top recruiting classes.

Attendance is still a little behind some of the other top programs, but if this rise continues it could help get the Cowboys back on top of the NCAA tournament podium in March.