How OSU’s Top 5 Wrestlers Stack Up to the Other Bests at Their Weight

The Cowboys have a little bit of down time before they close their regular season with a Feb. 23 trip to Iowa City.

Oklahoma State doesn’t have a dual this week, but the Pokes will enter that meeting with Iowa at 13-0 on the season.

The Cowboys boast five wrestlers ranked in the top five of their weight classes, according to Intermat. Here is a look at how those top-five Cowboys have historically stacked up against the other top-five wrestlers at their weights.

125: Troy Spratley

Top 5:
1. Matt Ramos, Purdue (22-0)
2. Richie Figueroa, Arizona State (8-1)
3. Vincent Robinson, NC State (17-1)
4. Troy Spratley, Oklahoma State (16-3)
5. Eddie Ventresca, Virginia Tech (14-3)

Spratley’s All-Time Record vs. Current Top 5: 2-2

Jan. 11, 2025: Robinson dec. Spratley, 7-3
Dec. 19, 2024: Spratley MD Ventresca, 10-1
Dec. 7, 2024: Ramos dec. Spratley, 5-2
Feb. 2, 2024: Spratley MD Figueroa, 13-5

The 125-pound weight class is chaotic, but Spratley has proven he can compete with the best the weight has to offer. Spratley majored Figueroa in a dual last season before Figueroa turned around and won a national title. Spratley has had a tough schedule to this point in the year, having wrestled three other top five guys, with two close losses and one bonus-point victory.

141: Tagen Jamison

Top 5:
1. Jesse Mendez, Ohio State (23-0)
2. Andrew Alirez, Northern Colorado (9-0)
3. Beau Bartlett, Penn State (15-0)
4. Cael Happel, Northern Iowa (18-2)
5. Tagen Jamison, Oklahoma State (16-3)

Jamison’s All-Time Record vs. Current Top 5: 0-4

Jan. 24, 2025: Happel dec. Jamison, SV-1 4-1
Dec. 7, 2024: Mendez dec. Jamison, 5-2
March 21, 2024: Happel dec. Jamison, 4-2
Jan. 26, 2024: Happel dec. Jamison, 4-2

Tagen Jamison and Cael Happel have seen a lot of each other across the past few seasons, and Happel has found a way to get his hand raised each time. But whether it’s those losses to Happel or a 5-2 loss to unbeaten Jesse Mendez in the Cliff Keen final, Jamison has been within a takedown of all the guys in the top five of the 141-pound division.

174: Dean Hamiti Jr.

Top 5:
1. Keegan O’Toole, Missouri (11-0)
2. Levi Haines, Penn State (14-1)
3. Dean Hamiti Jr. , Oklahoma State (18-0)
4. Lorenzo Norman, Stanford (18-1)
5. Carson Kharchla, Ohio State (11-0)

Hamiti’s All-Time Record vs. Current Top 5: 3-0

Dec. 7, 2024: Hamiti dec. Norman, 4-3
March 4, 2023: Hamiti MD Kharchla, 14-2 (165)
March 6, 2022: Hamiti dec. Kharchla, SV1 4-2 (165)

With how Dean Hamiti is wrestling, it’s hard to imagine there are two wrestlers better than him, but the two ranked higher have a combined three national titles. Haines is the reigning 174-pound champ, and O’Toole won two national titles at 165 pounds before bumping up. Hamiti hasn’t officially crossed paths with either of those guys, but he wrestled O’Toole at the 2022 NWCA All-Star Classic (an event that doesn’t count on official records). O’Toole won that 165-pound meeting 7-1. The two would’ve wrestled Feb. 2 in a dual, but O’Toole has been battling through injury with the plan being for him to be back by the postseason. O’Toole and Haines wrestled in December, where O’Toole won with a takedown in sudden-victory.

184: Dustin Plott

Top 5:
1. Carter Starocci, Penn State (15-0)
2. Parker Keckeisen, Northern Iowa (18-0)
3. Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State (15-2)
4, Max McEnelly, Minnesota (17-0)
5. Bennett Berge, South Dakota State (20-4)

Plott’s All-Time Record vs. Current Top 5: 1-5

Jan. 24, 2025: Keckeisen MD Plott, 15-4
Dec. 7, 2024: Keckeisen dec. Plott, 8-3
March 23, 2024: Keckeisen MD Plott, 14-5
March 10, 2024: Keckeisen MD Plott, 14-5
Feb. 10, 2024: Plott dec. Berge, SV-1 9-6
Jan. 26, 2024: Keckeisen dec. Plott, 12-6

Parker Keckeisen has been Plott’s kryptonite. Plott has lost six matches in his past two seasons, and five of those have been to Keckeisen. Keckeisen and Starocci (a four-time NCAA champ at 174) pounds met at the All-Star Classic in November, where Starocci won 4-1 with a takedown in sudden-victory. That match didn’t count on their official records.

HWT: Wyatt Hendrickson

Top 5:
1. Gable Steveson, Minnesota (10-0)
2. Greg Kerkvliet, Penn State (14-0)
3. Wyatt Hendrickson, Oklahoma State (17-0)
4, Isaac Trumble, NC State (14-3)
5. Cohlton Schultz, Arizona State (16-3)

Hendrickson’s All-Time Record vs. Current Top 5: 3-2

Jan. 13, 2025: Hendrickson dec. Trumble, 10-4
Dec. 7, 2024: Hendrickson fall Trumble, 2:35
Nov. 24, 2024: Hendrickson dec. Schultz, 11-5
March 17, 2023: Kerkvliet dec. Hendrickson, 4-2
March 18, 2021: Stevenson TF Hendrickson, 17-2

Similar to Hamiti at 174, it’s tough to imagine watching Wyatt Hendrickson lose a wrestling match. But there’s an Olympic gold medalist in this weight class. Gable Steveson won Olympic gold in 2021 — months after he won his first national title. He won another national title in 2022 before trying his hand at WWE and the NFL and is now back on the mat for the Gophers. Hendrickson and Steveson haven’t met since Hendrickson was a freshman. Hendrickson wrestled Kerkvliet at the 2023 NCAA Championships, where Kerkvliet won a tight match. Kerkvliet won a national title last season while Steveson was away. Kerkvliet and Steveson should meet in the Big Ten tournament.