OSU Wrestling: No. 3 Cowboys Throttle No. 7 Hokies 34-9

PHOTOS

STILLWATER — Dean Hamiti might just be a national title contender in his first season as a Cowboy.

Oklahoma State beat Virginia Tech 34-9 on Thursday night in Gallagher-Iba Arena, as the No. 3 Cowboys advanced to 6-0 on the season. OSU has scored at least 30 points in all of its wins — a feat the Pokes conquered five times all last season. This was OSU’s most impressive win of the young season, as the Hokies came to Stillwater ranked seventh in the country.

“It’s been a really tough early schedule for us with Vegas, a West Coast trip, come back to OU and then this match,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “Just really happy with the guys. We’re getting better every week. It’s just cool to see the stuff we’re working on in practice and these guys going out and doing it. We’ve talked to them about wrestling the way you want to wrestle, and these guys are going out and doing that.”

Hamiti had the performance of the night. He came in ranked third at 174 pounds and beat No. 4 Lennox Wolak with a 20-4 technical fall in just two periods. David Taylor had Hamiti let Wolak loose extremely late in the second period. It would’ve been easier to get the tech in the third period, but Wolak could not keep Hamiti off his ankles. At the buzzer of the second period, Hamiti dumped Wolak to the mat to close out the match.

Straight dominance.#GoPokes l @HamitiDean pic.twitter.com/Rqy6gaeSt9

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) December 20, 2024

“We’re just trying to build that reputation,” said Taylor of the late release. “DJ’s building that reputation. Yeah, he’s awesome on top, but there’s a point in time where he’s gonna have to get a takedown with 20 seconds left. Let’s do it now. Let’s show that you can do it against a really tough guy.

“Sometimes when there’s blood in the water, you gotta keep wrestling. You gotta find a way to bury those guys because you’re gonna wrestle them again, and you don’t wanna leave them with any hope. That’s just our sport. You get a chance to take that away, you gotta take it away.”

Hamiti is now 11-0 on the season with a win at the Cliff Keen, a technical fall against a Top 5 guy at the weight and two other Top 10 wins.

No. 10 Luke Surber also picked up an impressive win, beating No. 9 Andy Smith with a sudden-victory takedown after a scramble that went on for a good while. At different times in that scramble, it looked as if each guy might win on a few occasions. Eventually, Surber popped up on the right end of things, sending the 6,067 into a frenzy.

After a 2023-24 season filled with injury, Surber is 12-1 this season with a pair of Top 10 wins (three if you count a medical forfeit in Vegas). Thursday’s win also avenged a 4-3 loss Surber suffered to Smith in Vegas.

“I was dead to right like twice, I think,” Surber said. “I had my arm extended, and once I got my hands locked, I’m pretty good. So, I sucked it in and got the takedown. I know that I’m pretty hard to takedown, so just gotta keep wrestling through every position and I’ll score most of the time.”

The Hokies path to victory involved them getting ahead at some of the lighter weights, but No. 3 Troy Spratley stomped such a strategy out early by beating No. 4 Eddie Ventresca with a 10-1 major decision. Spratley took Ventresca down in the first period then again in the third. He rolled the Hokie to his back as time expired to get a pair of nearfall points and the bonus-point win.

That started a spree of three straight major-decision wins for the Cowboys to start the dual, as Reece Witcraft beat Dillon Campbell 14-4 and Tagen Jamison beat Sam Latona 8-0.

The Hokies answered after the Cowboys ran out to that 12-0 lead. No. 1 Caleb Henson pinned No. 14 Carter Young at 149 pounds. The fall came in a scramble. A takedown wasn’t even awarded. No points were scored in the match, just a fall.

So that was funky, and so was the next match at 157 pounds. Caleb Fish ended up losing to Rafael Hipolito in a 20-15 barn burner. It was 10-4 in Hipolito’s favor after the first, as the Hokie scored two takedowns and had a four-point nearfall. All that happened in the second period was a Fish escape to make it 10-5 going into the third. Hopolito got an escape, a takedown and four more nearfall points to take an 18-5 lead. From there, Fish started rolling as the two were visibly gassed. Fish escaped and got three takedowns to pull the match back out of bonus-point territory.

Once down 12-0, Virginia Tech was all of a sudden down just 12-9, but the Cowboys didn’t lose again.

After Hamiti’s tech, Dustin Plott followed suit, beating Sam Fisher 20-5. Plott got a takedown in the final seconds, which paired with a riding time point to push his lead to 15. Wyatt Hendrickson closed the dual with a first-period pin against Hunter Catka. It was Hendrickson’s fifth pin of the season. He’s also had four tech falls so far.

The 6-0 Cowboys are done for the calendar year but return to the mat Jan. 3 when they host Air Force.

Results

David Taylor’s Post-Dual News Conference