OSU wrestlers win two national championships

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Chris Perry and Jordan Oliver racked up two more individual national titles for Oklahoma State at the NCAA Wrestling Championships on Saturday night.

OSU lost the overall bid for its 35th NCAA wrestling title but not because of Perry and Oliver.

Perry defeated No. 2 ranked Matt Brown of Penn State and Oliver beat No. 2 ranked Jason Chamberlain of Boise State in the finals on ESPN.

As a team, the Pokes fell four points short of another title. Here’s what coach John Smith had to say on okstate.com:

We gave ourselves a chance today. We did everything we could. We won nine out of 11 matches on the final day of competition. Any other time we’ve done that, we’ve come home with a team title. It hurts, but I’m proud of our team’s effort. We came to wrestle, and that’s what we did.

Penn State would prove to be just too much as they took home their third straight national title.

The individual title was Perry’s first of his career, here he is talking about his win.

And Oliver’s title was his second (and should have been his third). Here’s what he had to say on okstate.com:

I’m happy to be a part of the Cowboy tradition and getting to cap off my senior season with my second national title. It’s been an honor wrestling under Coach Smith and for Oklahoma State. It’s been a great journey.

And here are a lot of national titles hugging each other after Oliver’s W.

Another great season for OSU wrestling has concluded and with basketball over too we’re officially in one of the three following modes:

“Who’s the QB going to be?” mode.
“When does Smart declare for the draft?” mode.
“Does baseball have a shot at the CWS?” mode.

We’ll keep you updated on all three.