OSU Wrestling: No. 3 Cowboys Beat No. 5 NC State 34-3

PHOTOS

STILLWATER — Gallagher-Iba Arena had as much buzz Monday night as it has had this winter sports season, and Cael Hughes harnessed that energy into a big moment.

As part of Oklahoma State’s 34-3 victory against No. 5 NC State, Hughes pinned Kai Orine in the third period of the 133-pound match. Hughes is a redshirt freshman with only a few duals to his name. Orine, a redshirt senior, came into the bout ranked seventh nationally at the weight. And it wasn’t a fluky, either. The two were scoreless in the first before Hughes rode Orine the entire second period before finishing the bout with a fall and sending the 8,212 in attendance into a frenzy.

IT’S A MADHOUSE IN GIA.#GoPokes l @_cael_hughes_ pic.twitter.com/UgaN3qSIxJ

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) January 14, 2025

“You almost go blank for like 10 seconds,” Hughes said. “It’s like, man, this is the greatest feeling. Want to replicate that as much as I can. It’s always awesome wrestling in GIA.”

Out of Stillwater High School, Hughes was a decorated prospect. He became the 45th wrestler to win four Oklahoma state titles while going 140-0 in his high school career. Hughes also won myriad high school tournaments — like Fargo in 2019 — and earned a ton of awards — like the Junior Hodge Trophy.

The 133-pound weight class has been the Cowboys’ most volatile this season. The year started with Hughes and Reece Witcraft trading off duals, but both have also battled through some injury this season. Against Air Force last week, the Cowboys forfeited the weight. Without mentioning names, Taylor said after that dual that guys had a shot to make the weight and wrestle against Air Force but didn’t “do it appropriately.” Taylor said after Monday’s dual that the weight is still up in the air. Hughes and Witcraft both weighed in Monday.

“Those are the things that are challenging,” Taylor said. “We gotta figure out what’s best for our team at the end of the year at the national tournament. We keep saying that these guys gotta prove that they’re the guy. Each opportunity is an opportunity to go out there and do that. They’re neck and neck, and they’re tough. They’re pushing each other. We’ll see how it continues to unfold moving forward.”

The Cowboys’ streak of scoring 30+ team points this season extends through their first eight duals. That’s even more impressive considering OSU has wrestled five ranked opponents this season — two of those were in the top 10. On average, OSU is beating its opponents 35.6-5.3.

Monday’s dual started on a sour note for the Pokes, as No. 2 Troy Spratley lost to No. 11 Vince Robinson in a bout that should shoot Robinson, now 14-1, up the rankings. But Hughes quickly flipped the script before Tagen Jamison, minus a pair of teeth, earned a technical fall win against Tyler Tracy. After starting with a 3-0 lead, the Wolfpack was quickly behind 11-3.

NC State did a better job than most at not allowing a ton of bonus points. OSU won five straight decisions after Jamison’s tech before Luke Surber won via tech against Christian Knop. Surber scored 11 points in the third period, including riding time, with pair of takedowns and a four-point nearfall he held to the buzzer.

Rankings-wise, No. 14 Caleb Fish scored an upset win against No. 12 Ed Scott at 157 pounds. Fish took a 4-1 lead into the third period, but Scott didn’t go quietly into the night. With an escape and a takedown, Scott had a 5-4 lead before Fish escaped, took Scott down and scored a quartet of nearfall pounds to win 12-5. Scott was an All-American last season.

The heavyweight match featured No. 3 Wyatt Hendrickson vs. No. 4 Isaac Trumble. The hype surrounding that match lost a little bit of its luster considering Hendrickson pinned Trumble in just 2:35 at the finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Monday’s bout was more competitive. Hendrickson scored a pair of takedowns in the first period and earned three nearfall points to start the second. Trumble then scored a reversal and for a moment threatened some back points of his own, but Hendrickson battled through to win 10-4. Hendrickson is now 12-0 this season, and that was just the second time he was taken the distance.

Results

Post-Dual News Conferences