Oklahoma State Finishes Second at Big 12 Wrestling Tournament

The Cowboys started Day 2 of the Big 12 tournament in third place and pushed themselves into second place after a solid Sunday morning round.

Reece Witcraft, Travis Wittlake, and Luke Surber all finished with third-place finishes. Witcraft picked up a fall over the No. 2 seed Jore Volk in the consolation semifinals then gutted out a tough sudden victory win over OU’s Joey Prata for third.

Travis Wittlake picked up two solid wins on the consolation side to wrestle to his seed and finish third. And Luke Surber had two pretty comfortable wins to wrestle a bit over his seed and get a third-place finish after coming in projected to finish fourth.

Konner Doucet finished fifth after falling in tie-breakers to Zach Elam in the consolation semifinals and receiving a forfeit for fifth and Wyatt Sheets wrestled back to a ninth-place finish at 165. Unfortunately, Carter Young was forced to injury default out but stepped on the mat to receive a forfeit and fifth-place finish at 141.

The Cowboys had three wrestlers in the finals with Dustin Plott, Daton Fix, and Kaden Gfeller. Dustin Plott opened the night by avenging a loss earlier in the season to Missouri’s Peyton Mocco 5-3. Daton Fix got a 10-2 major decision over Iowa State’s Zach Redding in what may be his final Big 12 tournament. Fix has the option to use the covid year and return next season, but wasn’t willing to commit to that plan just yet.

Kaden Gfeller wrestled the final match of the night for Oklahoma State falling 5-3 to North Dakota State’s Jared Franek.

The Cowboys ended up in second place as a team sandwiched between the Champion Missouri Tigers and third-place finishers Iowa State.

All of Oklahoma State wrestlers have a bid to the NCAA tournament next week in Tulsa with the exception of Wyatt Sheets who will have to wait for a potential at-large bid in the coming days.