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Nine Takeaways from the Opening Day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships

Recapping an action-packed day.

Published

2 months ago

on

[Devin Wilber/PFB]

MATCH-BY-MATCH RECAP
BRACKETS

Day 1 of the NCAA Wrestling Championships is a wrap, and the Cowboys pushed seven wrestlers into Friday morning’s quarterfinals.

Oklahoma State sits in fourth in the team standings with two more days left to wrestle. Here are some takeaways from the opening day.

1. Spratley Gets His Revenge

Last year’s national final happened in the second round, but this time, it went the way of the Cowboy.

Troy Spratley beat reigning national champ Vincent Robinson 8-5 on Thursday night in what was a heck of a match.

Spratley was down 4-0 late in the second period when he hit what the internet tells me is called a Jonesy. Spratley went from having one of his legs held in the air to putting Robinson on his back. It was a 7-point move, flipping the match on its head, and Spratley was able to close it out in the third.

Robinson was 3-0 against Spratley entering this match, so this feels like it could be big for the one they call Spark Plug.

He’ll get 4 seed Sheldon Seymour in the quarters. Seymour is 20-0 this season after beating Iowa State’s Stevo Poulin 5-4 in the second round. Spratley had just beaten Poulin 5-2 in the Big 12 final if you believe in transitive properties in wrestling.

2. Forrest Remains Ridiculous

Neither of Jax Forrest’s first two opponents at the NCAA Championships made it out of the first period.

After pinning OU’s Carter Schmidt to start, Forrest teched Gardner-Webb’s T.K. Davis 16-1 in the second round.

Takedown, four nearfall, escape, takedown, two nearfall, four nearfall — match. It’s nuts.

The quarterfinals at 133 are must-see. Forrest will get Northern Illinois’ Markel Baker, the 8 seed. Baker is 27-3 this season and hasn’t lost this calendar year.

Elsewhere, Kyler Larkin (the guy Forrest beat in the Big 12 final) will wrestle Aaron Seidel (the guy from Virginia Tech who gave Forrest his closest match of the year).

Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s stud freshmen will each battle a national finalist from last season. Penn State’s Marcus Blaze, the 3 seed, will take on two-time national runner-up Drake Ayala (Iowa). Ohio State’s Ben Davino, the 2 seed, will wrestle reigning national champ Lucas Byrd (Illinois).

3. Cody Merrill Is in a Good Spot

Don’t look now, but Cody Merrill will wrestle the 15 seed for a spot in the semifinals.

Merrill took care of business Thursday, starting with an 18-3 tech before grinding out a 2-1 win against 10 seed Mac Stout.

Merrill’s on-paper quarter was supposed to be 2 seed Rocky Elam (Iowa State). Elam was unbeaten this season, including a close win against Merrill. But 15 seed Remy Cotton (Rutgers) steamrolled Elam in the second round, winning 12-4.

Cotton is obviously on a hot streak, but it’s hard to deny this is an excellent spot for the redshirt freshman Cowboy.

4. Big 12 Finals Rematch at 157

Landon Robideau was close on a few takedown attempts against Kaleb Larkin in the Big 12 final that he couldn’t quite finish, but he’ll get his shot at redemption Friday morning.

Robideau beat Minnesota’s Charlie Millard 7-3 to get to the rematch. Larkin pinned 20 seed Jimmy Harrington.

That Big 12 final ended 4-3 in Larkin’s favor, one of only two losses Robideau has suffered this season.

5. OSU-Penn State Coming at 149 Pounds

Our first data point of Oklahoma State vs. Penn State will come in a 149-pound quarterfinal between 8 seed Casey Swiderski and 1 seed Shayne Van Ness.

Van Ness is unbeaten this year but had some tight matches at Big Tens. However, his last three matches have been a pin in the Big Ten final, a tech in the NCAA first round and a pin in the NCAA second round.

Swiderski will be the underdog, which he probably likes, and he’s doing some of his best wrestling of the season right now, as well.

He won his first Big 12 title earlier this month and pushed to a major decision in his second round matchup against 9 seed David Evans on Thursday night. Swiderski scored four takedowns on Evans.

6. Sergio Vega Wins a Tight Match Via Pin

Eli Griffin had a cradle locked on Sergio Vega to start the second period of their second-round match, and you wondered for a moment if Vega’s unbeaten freshman year was going to come to an end.

But then Vega was able to wiggle his head free, and then late in the third period, he slapped a cradle on Griffin but allowed no such release, flipping the 15 seed to his back and pinning him.

The match provided a few tense moments, but Vega is just so good an constant wrestling.

In the first period, Griffin got in super deep on a shot, but Vega defended long enough from his tailbone to scramble to a different position. He still hasn’t been taken down this season.

It almost felt like a guy walking a tight rope and then he leaps off it and does a front flip at the end. Vega would find himself in a precarious position before the big reveal that it was actually his foe in trouble this whole time.

Vega will wrestle Iowa’s Nasir Bailey in the quarters. The two met at National Duals, where Vega won 3-0 in sudden victory (that’s right, it was 0-0 at the end of regulation).

That was Vega’s fourth college match. Bailey has had some ups and downs this year but is looking as good as he has all season right now, taking third at Big Tens with his only loss coming to two-time defending national champ Jesse Mendez.

Should be a fun match.

7. Doucet Off to His Best Start

Redshirt senior heavyweight Konner Doucet is off to his first 2-0 start at NCAAs.

Doucet went 0-2 in his first national tournament in 2023 before going win-loss-win-loss in 2024 to finish in the Round of 16.

His Thursday matches weren’t flashy, but he looked in control the whole time, beating 25 seed Luke Luffman 2-1 and 10 seed David Szuba 4-1.

Doucet gets 2 seed Isaac Trumble in the quarters. Trumble, from NC State, is unbeaten this season after finishing fourth at the weight last season.

Despite both of these guys being sixth-year seniors, they haven’t met in college.

Doucet is a win away from his first All-America honors, but he’ll likely have to beat a Top 10 guy to do it. If he beats Trumble, Doucet is on the podium. If he loses, he’d likely wrestle the winner of 5 seed Nick Feldman (Ohio State) and 6 seed Nathan Taylor (Lehigh) in the blood round.

8. First Losses Come for the Cowboys

Dee Lockett was attempting to power to a match-winning takedown when he drove 12 seed Cesar Alvan to his back, but then the two kept rolling. Lockett ended up on his back. That was all she wrote.

Lockett got pinned in sudden victory. He was the aggressor in that match, but couldn’t quite find the takedown he needed.

Even worse, he drops to a Consolation Round 2 matchup against 6 seed LJ Araujo (Nebraska) after Araujo was upset to start the day. The two wrestled in December, where Lockett won 4-1 in sudden victory.

That started a string of three straight losses for the Cowboys, as Alex Facundo and Zack Ryder each fell in their second-round matchups.

Facundo was the more active wrestler in his bout against 9 seed Beau Mantanona, but Mantanona was more efficient, winning 7-3.

Ryder was in on a shot attempt late against 6 seed Eddie Neitenbach, but Neitenbach got in on a counter attack and scored a match-icing takedown to beat Ryder 7-2.

Paths to the podium for Facundo and Ryder are less precarious to start, but it’s the NCAA Tournament, everyone is good.

9. The Team Race

After the opening day, the Cowboys sit fourth in the team standings with 25 points behind Penn State (40.5), Nebraska (27) and Iowa (25.5).

It’s feeling like a battle for second, and it’ll be tight. Behind the Cowboys are Ohio State (23) and Iowa State (21.5).

Of the second-place contenders, OSU, Nebraska and Iowa have seven wrestlers still on the championship side. Ohio State and Iowa State have four and three, respectively. All of those schools with at least 20 points have at least nine guys still wrestling.

Place Team Points
1 Penn State 40.5
2 Nebraska 27
3 Iowa 25.5
4 Oklahoma State 25
5 Ohio State 23
6 Iowa State 21.5
7 Arizona State 17
8 Stanford 15
9 Cornell 14
9 Michigan 14
9 Virginia Tech 14

 

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