OSU Wrestling: Casey Swiderski Ready to Set the Tone at All-Star Classic

STILLWATER — Casey Swiderski is set to kick off the college wrestling season this weekend, and he’s looking to set the tone for the Cowboys.

An Iowa State transfer, Swiderski joins Penn State transfer Zack Ryder as Oklahoma State wrestlers who will compete in Saturday’s NWCA All-Star Classic (streamed on Flo).

Swiderski’s match against Michigan’s Lachlan McNeil is the first on the Division-I men’s card. Flo lists Swiderski as the No. 5 149-pounder in the country. McNeil sits at No. 3.

“The way I look at it is, OK, Nov. 1, I get to compete in a high-level match, and then Nov. 7 is our home-opener,” Swiderski said. “So, I get to show my teammates, the nine other guys on my team, my starters, what you’re supposed to do as a Cowboy wrestler. Like how you’re supposed to compete as a Cowboy wrestler — against a high-level guy.

“It’s exciting. I don’t really think about it too much. I’m not bound up about it. It’s just like another takedown, another practice, I guess.”

This match against McNeil, a three-time All-American, will be Swiderski’s first college match in more than a year.

Swiderski suffered a preseason injury last year that saw him miss Iowa State’s whole season. That came after he battled through some injuries during the 2023-24 season to earn a seventh-place finish at nationals.

He nearly finished on the podium as a true freshman for the Cyclones, as well, rebounding off a first-round loss by battling all the way to the blood round at 141 pounds.

In his time at Iowa State, Swiderski had some battles against the Cowboys. Iowa State beat the Cowboys 18-11 in a dual in Swiderski’s freshman year, buy Carter Young picked up a 3-0 decision against the Cyclone-turned-Cowboy. Both teams were deducted a team point after the match — OSU for control of the mat area and ISU for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Cowboys beat the Cyclones in Stillwater the next year, but Swiderski put three points on the board for ISU after knocking off Sammy Alvarez 8-2.

That same season, Swiderski found himself in a heated semifinal against Jordan Williams at the Big 12 Championships. The match featured Williams needing some injury time, Swiderski bleeding out his mouth and Swiderski getting into it a bit with the OSU corner.

Despite developing a bit of a rivalry with the Cowboys, Swiderski said the decision to transfer to Stillwater wasn’t all that difficult. He speaks incredibly highly of David Taylor.

“It’s a no-brainer, I guess,” Swiderski said. “I said if you can’t beat them, you join them. I guess it’s one of those things you gotta do. You don’t wanna sit there and talk about how you wish you did it.”

MatScouts listed Swiderski as the No. 3 overall recruit in the 2022 class. He was a four-time Michigan state champion, becoming just the fourth Michigander to accomplish such a feat.

That means he went four state titles into an NCAA qualifier into an NCAA All-American and then, boom, just like that an injury shelved him for a whole season.

With Swiderski competing at such a high level for some time, having to sit out came with challenges outside of being physically injured.

“The bleachers teach,” Swiderski said. “Because you get to watch from a different perspective, almost as a coach’s perspective. And you get to watch, and watch wrestling, and slow things down, and kinda help other guys that are in right there. And the injury, and I guess being on the sideline has just kinda taught me to be more free because I get to wrestle. I’ve been taken out for eight months. I know that it sucks, and it takes you deep down a road you don’t want — it sucks.

“My whole life since — I don’t even know. Since I was a high-level wrestler, I was wrestling at that time of the year. I was always wrestling and competing, and it’s like if you take that away from me, what happens mentally and stuff like that? But I get to go wrestle now.”