Hero Hendrickson: OSU Wins First Outright Conference Title Since 2020 in Final Match of Big 12s

PHOTOS
MATCH-BY-MATCH RECAP
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STILLWATER — Little by little throughout Sunday, the Cowboys’ lead at the Big 12 Championships started to dwindle away until Northern Iowa tied them with one match left. The Cowboys needed a hero — an American hero.

Cue Steve Earle’s “Copperhead Road,” as Wyatt Hendrickson trotted into the area and onto the elevated mat to deliver Oklahoma State its first outright team Big 12 title since 2020. Hendrickson beat Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz 8-5, pushing OSU’s team points to 153.5 to UNI’s 149.5. It was the final match of the event.

“Oklahoma State’s got a legacy of being very dominant and being very prestigious,” Hendrickson said. “Being a part of that, it’s an absolute blessing. I think being loyal is really, really important, and if I could’ve been at Air Force for a fifth year, I would still be there. But, having the opportunity to come here is just an absolute blessing. Ever since I was a kid, before I went to Air Force, I wanted to be an Oklahoma State Cowboy. Kind of being able to do both is an absolute blessing. I’m very blessed.”

It wasn’t easy for Hendrickson — nothing was easy for the Cowboys all day Sunday.

Hendrickson scored on a takedown in the first period, but Schultz got a reversal and two nearfall points to take a 4-3 lead. A Hendrickson escape tied it at 4 heading into the second. Hendrickson escaped and scored another takedown in the second. A Schultz escape made it 8-5 going into the third, where Schultz chose neutral.

After a flurry in the third period, Hendrickson crumbled to the mat with an apparent arm injury. Was that going to be how it ended? An injury-forced tie? Nope. Hendrickson popped up and closed out the final minute and change to earn his third Big 12 individual title and the Cowboys’ team trophy.

Legend.#GoPokes l @wyatt_hendrick pic.twitter.com/xGFHiRnE1s

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) March 10, 2025

“What I just told Wyatt is think about the adversity you just went through,” first-year OSU coach David Taylor said. “You got the best from that guy, the match wasn’t going your way, you’re in a scrap — that’s what it’s gonna take to win the nationals.

“Shoot, tough match for him. He had a lot on his shoulders, but that’s why you wrestle at Oklahoma State. It’s a privilege to be in those kind of situations. It’s a privilege for our team to be in that kind of situation tonight. It’s a good learning lesson for all of us of how we can approach it the next time we’re here.”

OSU came into the day with a 17-point lead on UNI, but it just wasn’t the Cowboys’ day. OSU went 3-3 in the morning session and then started the finals 0-5 before Hendrickson’s tournament-saving win.

Three of OSU’s final losses came in overtime.

Troy Spratley dropped his bout with West Virginia’s Jett Strickenberger 5-2 in sudden-victory.

Tagen Jamison went to tiebreakers with Northern Iowa’s Cael Happel and lost.

Then Dean Hamiti had an instant classic against fellow unbeaten Keegan O’Toole. A two-time national champ, O’Toole handed Hamiti his first loss of the season with a sudden-victory takedown to beat Hamiti 7-4. Hamiti had a 4-0 lead heading into the third period before O’Toole matched his escape and takedown to tie it.

Dustin Plott lost to Parker Keckeisen 8-1. It’s the sixth time in the past two seasons Keckeisen has beaten Plott, and Plott has lost only eight matches total in the past two years.

Luke Surber then had a chance to clinch the team race in the 197-pound final, but he dropped his scrap against Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Voelker, which tied the team score and set up Hendrickson’s heroics.

An underrated MVP for the Cowboys was Iowa State 149-pounder Paniro Johnson. Johnson, the bracket’s 2 seed, beat UNI’s Colin Realbuto, the 1 seed, 5-4 thanks to a takedown in the final 30 seconds of the match. Without that takedown, OSU and Northern Iowa tie in the team race.

Came through in the clutch.

📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/iQygXSFvol

— Iowa State Wrestling (@CycloneWR) March 10, 2025

Although Sunday had its rough patches and tough matches, the Cowboys won this tournament thanks to what Taylor has preached for his entire first season at the helm of the program: scoring as many points as possible. OSU won 16 matches with bonus points this weekend. That paired with the fact that the Cowboys pushed six into the finals meant it was going to be hard for OSU to lose the team race even despite not much going the Pokes’ way Sunday night.

Nine of the 10 Cowboys who wrestled this weekend earned automatic qualification for the NCAA Championships. Reece Witcraft would need an at-large bid to make the 133-pound bracket.

“This sport, it’s such a combination,” Taylor said. “You have individuals, you have a team, and it all makes up what the end product is. It took a team effort. We talk about every point mattering. We talk about bonus points that we can score as a team. Shoot, we needed every single point today.

“There’s a lot of good experiences we can take from this leading into the national tournament. When our team’s at our best, we’re scoring and we keep scoring. That’s something that we gotta continue to focus on the next couple weeks. Our team has been battle-tested and prepared. Now we go to the national tournament. Gotta go wrestle.”

David Taylor’s Post-Event News Conference

2025 Big 12 Individual Champions

125: Jett Strickenberger, West Virginia
133: Dominick Serrano, Northern Colorado
141: Cael Happel, Northern Iowa
149: Paniro Johnson, Iowa State
157: Vinny Zerban, Northern Colorado
165: Peyton Hall, West Virginia
174: Keegan O’Toole, Missouri
184: Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa
197: Wyatt Voelker, Northern Iowa
HWT: Wyatt Hendrickson, Oklahoma State

Team Standings

OSU’s Placements

125: Troy Spratley, Second
133: Reece Witcraft, DNP
141: Tagen Jamison, Second
149: Teague Travis, Fourth
157: Caleb Fish, Fourth
165: Cameron Amine, Fifth
174: Dean Hamiti Jr., Second
184: Dustin Plott, Second
197: Luke Surber, Second
HWT: Wyatt Hendrickson, First