Five Things to Watch at the Cowboy Challenge Tournament

There’s a big wrestling tournament this Sunday at 11 a.m. in Stillwater that will include wrestlers from Oklahoma State, Wyoming, Missouri, and West Virginia.

Here are five things for fans to watch at the event.

1. The Return of Daton Fix

We covered it earlier this week, but Daton Fix is back and there’s plenty of reasons for Oklahoma State fans to be excited about it. He’s going to be a heavy favorite here but the biggest key is that he needs four matches to be eligible to qualify for the NCAA tournament without winning the Big 12, so just getting on the mat is crucial.

2. 197

197 in this tournament is incredible. You’ve got the undefeated freshman phenom AJ Ferrari, you’ve got Noah Adams from WVU (who has spent most of this season as the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the country), and you’ve got Wyoming’s Stephen Buchanan who beat Adams a few weeks ago and knocked him off his top-ranked spot.

With the current bracket, Ferrari and Adams will meet in the semifinals with the winner moving onto the finals. Luke Surber is also entered for the Cowboys and could run into Buchanan in the semifinals. Should be a very exciting weight.

3. Dustin Plott and Hayden Hastings

If the 174 pound brackets play out as their seeded, Dustin Plott will wrestle Hayden Hastings of Wyoming in the finals. This will be the toughest test for Plott so far this season. Plott is currently 9-0 as a true freshman. Hastings is 8-1 and ranked No. 9 in the country.

4. Intrasquad HWT Match

We could potentially see a finals matchup between Konner Doucet and Austin Harris. Doucet would need to upset the No. 1 seed for this matchup to happen. If it does, I think there’s some lineup intrigue regarding it.

John Smith was not happy with Harris’ Bedlam performance and in the post match mentioned potentially going with a true freshman if it didn’t improve.

Could this match happen and make that decision for Smith?

5. Brock Mauller and Boo Lewallen

This might be the best match of this tournament. Mauller is ranked No. 3 in the country at 149 and Boo is ranked 4th. Mizzou didn’t send all of their starters here, but according to the bracket on Track, Mauller will be here. This is a big matchup with NCAA tournament seeding implications.