Fix, Plott Make Quarterfinals of NCAA Tournament, 7 Cowboys Move to Day 2

Oklahoma State is not in contention for a National Title this year and has little shot at finishing in the top four and bringing home a team trophy from the NCAA tournament, but the Cowboys did manage to push all but one wrestler in the tournament into the second day of competition. Here’s how it all broke down.

Daton Fix opened with a comfortable major decision over Wisconsin’s Kyle Burwick, and then Fix got a pretty solid test in the second round. NC State freshman Kai Orine wouldn’t let Fix get his offense going and at one point nearly got a takedown of his own to hold Fix to a 7-4 decision. Friday Fix will have Northwestern’s Chris Cannon in the quarterfinals. A win there will give Fix his third All-American finish.

Dustin Plott won two matches by identical scores to make the quarterfinals. In the first round, he beat Sal Perrine of Ohio 8-2 and followed that up by beating Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois) by the same score. Friday he’ll have his first match of the tournament where he’s not the higher seed, as he’ll face Michigan’s Logan Massa who’s seeded third.

Trevor Mastrogiovanni (125), Dakota Geer (184), and Kaden Gfeller (141) all won their first-round match and lost their second one. Geer had the most exciting first-round match of the group after going down 6-0 early to Big 12 runner-up Jeremiah Kent. Geer stormed back late to tie the match with a little less than a minute left before putting Kent on his back and picking up a fall to move on to the second round. Of the three, Mastrogiovanni gave up the only upset of the second round for the Cowboys to Northwestern’s Michael DeAugustino who was seeded 10th.

After first-round losses, Wyatt Sheets (157) and Luke Surber (HWT) bounced back with wins on the consolation side to make it to the second day. Carter Young was the only Cowboy knocked out of the tournament on the first day, as he was beaten by Michigan’s Stevan Micic. This match featured possibly the biggest age gap in the entire tournament. Micic, who has had a few redshirt seasons along with the COVID year, graduated high school in 2014. Young is a true freshman who graduated high school in 2021.

Here’s a look at the matchups for the Cowboys on Friday. The third session begins at 10 a.m.

Quarterfinal

133 — Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. Chris Cannon (Northwestern)

174 — Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) vs. Logan Massa (Michigan)

Consolation

125 — Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Oklahoma State) vs. Patrick McKee (Minnesota)

149 — Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) vs. Jaden Abas (Stanford) 

157 — Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) vs. David Carr (Iowa State)

184 — Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State) vs. Abe Assad (Iowa)

285 — Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) vs. Tate Orndorff (Ohio State)