Oklahoma State on Pace for Record, Jax Forrest Ranked After Bedlam Debut

STILLWATER — Sunday night felt like a turning point for Cowboy wrestling, perhaps in more ways than one.

It now feels inevitable that the program will break the average attendance record for the second-consecutive year under coach David Taylor.

“What we did tonight was, it was special,” Taylor said.

In his first season, OSU averaged 7,597 fans inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. On Sunday night, 12,549 packed into GIA to watch No. 5 Oklahoma State shut out the 15th-ranked Sooners.

That’s the fourth-largest home crowd to come out in support of Cowboy wrestling. The program has only topped 10,000 seven times, including once last year against Missouri.

Top home crowds for OSU Wrestling:

1. 14,059- 2017 vs Penn State
2. 13,811- 2019 vs Iowa
3. 13,721- 2024 vs Iowa
4. 12,549- Sunday vs Oklahoma
5. 12,028- 2022 vs Iowa
6. 10,802- 2001 vs Oklahoma
7. 10,740- 2025 vs Missouri

The Cowboys need only average 6,604 fans in the remaining five duals to break the record set last season. That seems relatively easy considering the Cowboys had 7,618 at the season opener vs. Stanford.

Oh, and there’s the simple fact that the home finale on Feb. 22 includes a visit from Iowa. It would be surprising if that dual doesn’t find its way onto the list above meaning the Cowboys could have a near empty arena once and still find themselves on track for the record.

“You know, we talked about selling this place out,” Taylor said. “We’ve been talking about it. That’s an awesome thing. Our guys are exciting to watch. … And it’s good practice for us because we plan to have this type of crowd many, many times moving forward many, many times. So it’s a great practice for our guys to know what it’s like to have that type of energy supporting you. It was fun tonight.”

Of course the crowd wasn’t the only reason Sunday was memorable.

First-semester freshman Jax Forrest recorded the only pin of the night in his debut. On Wednesday, the highly anticipated 133-pounder ranked 15th in the Intermat rankings and ninth on Flo’s rankings.

Although Taylor toed the line about whether Forrest would take over at 133 or maintain his redshirt status (limiting him to four more appearances this season), but he did say he planned to throw the freshman out there against the Sooners since June.

“I just believe that this year his best path to being successful was being here second semester,” Taylor said. “And getting this opportunity, and getting the opportunity to be around this team, and knowing that we had a young team, you know, just building. This is what we’re building. We’re building something special here. … Everyone wants a definite plan. You know, there is no real, definite plan in college athletics.

“We have a great vision, and we can kind of lay it out. You got to be mobile. It’s a week-to-week thing. You can’t, you can’t win the national tournament January. You know, you don’t win in November. You win March, for the individuals and for our team. And you just have to keep getting better every single week. And you got to continue to evaluate what’s best for our team, but today was a good start to the second semester.”

Forrest wasn’t the only Cowboy to rise in the ranks. Two teammates rose six spots each, per Intermat, as 174-pounder Alex Facundo jumped from 13th to seventh and 149-pounder Casey Swiderski moved up to No. 12 after previously ranking 18th.

In the Rankings