OSU Wrestling: Doucet Secures NCAA Championships Bid with Fifth-Place Finish in Tulsa

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TULSA — Konner Doucet stood in the corner of the BOK Center awaiting a fifth-place match that would determine whether he got an automatic qualification to nationals.

Behind Doucet, stood another large man, wearing a Konner Doucet T-shirt. That man was Christian Carroll. With Carroll in his corner, Doucet went out and beat West Virginia’s Michael Wolfgram with a 5-2 decision to clinch that spot in Kansas City. Doucet, a redshirt junior, and Carroll, a freshman, have apparently developed quite the friendship in their short time together.

“Christian is my dude,” Doucet said. “We stayed up a little later than we probably should’ve last night watching the UCF fights, but we didn’t weigh in until 10. So, it wasn’t that big of a deal. We spend a lot of time together. He helps me get better. I help him get better. You guys will see for yourselves: he’s the real deal.”

Freshman Christian Carroll rocking Konner Doucet merch as Doucet goes out and clinches a spot a nationals is rather wholesome. pic.twitter.com/DxdXza7egG

— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) March 10, 2024

Carroll came to Oklahoma State as a highly touted recruit. Out of Elkhart, Indiana, Carroll was the No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the 2023 class. He won the U.S. Open as the 6 seed and was the U20 freestyle national champ in 2023.

One day, Carroll will likely be the Cowboys’ guy at heavyweight, but for now, he is supporting Doucet.

“When I first got here, I had Austin Harris as the heavyweight, and we competed in some close wrestle-offs, but he was one of my closest friends,” Doucet said. “Me and (Luke) Surber lived together for three years and have known each other since we were little.

“Yeah, we compete. We want to kick the sh– out of each other, but what good is a team if you can’t lean on each other and treat each other like brothers? I think just the older guys before me and me carrying it on down, that’s what you should do as a team. That’s what Oklahoma State needs to be about. That’s why we’re putting ourselves in a position to hopefully come back and get this Big 12 title.”

Doucet enters nationals at 19-9 on the season. He had a rough, tough stretch toward the end of the regular season, as he entered Big 12s having lost five of six. But three of those losses came against opponents ranked in the top five nationally.

Doucet’s matches, even against some of the better guys in the country, are always close. His losses against those top-five opponents came by an average of three points, but it might even be closer than that makes it seem.

He fell to No. 3 Yonger Bastida 7-2 — his widest margin of defeat all season — before going to sudden victory against No. 4 Cohlton Schultz. His next match was against No. 5 Zach Elam, who beat Doucet just 1-0 in Columbus. Doucet and Elam met again Sunday, where Elam won 2-0 en route to a third-place finish.

Offense has been a question mark for Doucet this season. He managed fifth in Tulsa despite scoring only a pair of takedowns the entire tournament. If you believe in momentum, though, Doucet did manage a takedown in his fifth-place match against Wolfgram.

“It’s frustrating because I got it [offense],” Doucet said. “I feel it in practice. Sometimes it doesn’t show in matches, but it felt good to get some takedowns and feel the legs.”

Doucet’s Big 12 run had its ups and downs, but he wrestled to his seed and made it to NCAAs for the second consecutive season.

“Bitter sweet — it’s good to end on a win, qualify for nationals, but like I said last year, it’s not the goal,” Doucet said. “I’ve had a decent year. Kinda struggled late, but I know I’m right there with the best guys in the country. I’ve proven that several times. Just building these next two weeks is really what I thought about over this tournament.

“There’s time to get better, and if I get better, good things will happen at nationals.”