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OSU Wrestling: Cowboys’ Weekend of Upsets Ends with 17-16 Victory against No. 8 Missouri

Surber beat the No. 1 wrestler at his weight.

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10 months ago

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

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STILLWATER — It was a day full of upsets in Gallagher-Iba Arena, but none were as impressive as what Luke Surber was able to do.

The Oklahoma State wrestling team pulled off its second upset of the weekend with a 17-16 win against No. 8 Missouri, two days after beating No. 6 Michigan in Arlington. This dual came down to criteria. The matches were split five wins apiece with each team picking up a major decision, but OSU outscored the Tigers 45-43 in the matches, earning the victory.

In four matches, a lower-ranked wrestler beat a higher-ranked wrestler, with OSU taking three of those matches. The biggest of the upsets came via Surber at 197 pounds, where he beat No. 1 Rocky Elam 5-4. The match had an explosive first period. Surber scored a takedown before Elam escaped and answered with a takedown. But Surber wasn’t on bottom long before he scored on a reversal to take a 4-3 lead into the second. The two traded escapes in the final two periods, and Surber got his hand raised.

“It was awesome to go out there in front of a big crowd and get the win,” Surber said.

The win at 197 gave OSU a 12-10 lead before Missouri won at heavyweight and 125 to take a 16-12 lead. So that left poster boy Daton Fix to have to either win via tech fall (or better) or outscore Connor Brown by 10 points. Fix won 14-3, giving OSU the win in criteria.

“There was nothing easy about going out, putting a show on and winning by 11 when you have to,” OSU coach John Smith said. “Most of the time, you don’t have to do that. You go out and you compete. You have to separate the score by 10 points. Go do it. You gotta do it. Little different environment when you have to do something. I didn’t have to do anything, I don’t think, when I wrestled. I wanted to do it, but Daton, you have to do this — you’re Daton Fix. With that comes that type of pressure that really helps you grow and be tougher than hell in the long run.”

The Cowboys’ first upset came in the first match of the dual. At 141 pounds, No. 22 Carter Young topped No. 7 Allan Hart 4-2. After a scoreless first period, Young picked the neutral position and scored a takedown in the second. Hart scored a reversal in the third, but an escape and a riding-time point gave Young the victory.

Young started the year 5-8 but is now on a five-match winning streak. Three of those wins have come against ranked opponents and two have come against guys inside the Top 10.

No. 14 Kaden Gfeller beat No. 8 Jarrett Jacques 4-3 at 157. Gfeller scored all his points in the third period. It started with a Gfeller escape before he was taken down, but Gfeller quickly scored a reversal and the riding-time point to close things out.

The win moves the Cowboys to 11-2 on the year and 6-1 in the Big 12. It also comes after the No. 11 Cowboys upset No. 6 Michigan at Bout at the Ballpark on Friday night. But don’t tell Fix that the Cowboys are the ones doing the upsetting.

“We’re Oklahoma State — we’re the team to beat,” Fix said. “Always. We’re always the biggest dual on everybody’s schedule. Rankings don’t really matter. We’re always gonna be Oklahoma State, regardless of whether we’re down at the beginning of the year, people say it’s a development year, doesn’t matter. We still have 34 national titles and teams want to beat us.”

Results
Weight Result
141 Young (OSU) dec. Hart (MIZZ), 4-2
149 Mauller (MIZZ) dec. Voinovich (OSU), 3-2
157 Gfeller (OSU) dec. Jacques (MIZZ), 4-3
165 O’Toole (MIZZ) MD Sheets (OSU), 14-4
174 Mocco (MIZZ) dec. Plott (OSU), 4-3
184 Wittlake (OSU) dec. Hawks (MIZZ), 6-4
197 Surber (OSU) dec. Elam (MIZZ), 5-4
HWT Elam (MIZZ) dec. Doucet (OSU), 4-2
125 Surtin (MIZZ) dec. Witcraft (OSU), 2-1
133 Fix (OSU) MD Brown (MIZZ), 14-3
John Smith’s Post-Dual News Conference
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