OSU Wrestling Notebook: Fix’s 141-Pound Debut, Spratley Moving Up and Williams ‘Growing Up’

For the ninth dual in a row, the Cowboys will take on a ranked opponent.

Second-ranked Oklahoma State will host No. 12 South Dakota State at 6 p.m. Saturday in Gallagher-Iba Arena. OSU coach John Smith met with media Wednesday to preview the upcoming matchup and recap the Cowboys’ victories over Arizona State and Missouri this past weekend. You can watch the full interview here, but here are three storylines that stood out.

Daton Fix’s 141-Pound Debut

There was no way Daton Fix was going to miss out on another match during his last collegiate season.

Missouri had a forfeit at 133 pounds during OSU’s 24-10 win on Sunday, creating some shuffling that caused Sam Smith to make his debut and Fix to debut at a new weight. Smith, son of coach John Smith, had his hand raised and won by forfeit at 133 in his first dual appearance as a freshman. Fix, who has wrestled at 133 since his redshirt freshman season in 2018-19, bumped up to 141 and beat No. 26 Josh Edmond 2-1.

Although the win won’t benefit Fix’s record for postseason seeding, he improved to 10-0 during his seventh collegiate season. With three duals left, Fix will enter the postseason with the least amount of matches under his belt since the 2020-21 season that was riddled with cancellations because of COVID. This season, Fix wrestled only twice in the months of November and December because of injury, missing out on OSU’s two tournament appearances to amass matches and wins.

Fix not only got himself on the mat Sunday, but also helped his team on the scoreboard and got teammate Tagen Jamison extra rest after suffering an injury two days before against Arizona State.

“He wanted to wrestle,” John Smith said. “He’s a senior and you don’t wanna miss a dual. You want to wrestle. I would have wrestled Tagen [Jamison], but it was nice to have him out. And when Daton said, ‘I’ll wrestle. I wanna wrestle 141,’ I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.'”

It was a weekend of close calls for Fix, who is a three-time NCAA finalist. Two days before narrowly beating Edmond by a point in the 141-pound matchup, Fix was tied with No. 26 Julian Chlebove of ASU heading into the third period before getting a takedown to win 5-3.

“Probably wanted to wrestle because he felt like he didn’t wrestle well [on Friday],” Smith said. “Scored one takedown, a really pretty easy score in the third period. As hard as it looked like you were struggling to score, you made it really look easy when you needed a takedown. I thought most of his matches leading up to last weekend had been pretty good. He’s wrestled really hard to put major decisions on the board, even some tech falls. Last week, a little slow.”

Troy Spratley Moving Up

Troy Spratley is climbing rankings just as much as his team is.

Spratley earned Big 12 Wrestler of the Week on Tuesday after tallying a pair of top-15 wins last weekend, including the first top-10 victory of his career. He’s won four straight matches over ranked opponents at 125 pounds, improving to 17-4 in his redshirt freshman campaign.

Spratley’s run has boosted him up rankings from multiple outlets, including up nine spots to No. 11 this week in Intermat’s rankings, which is what OSU uses. Spratley is one of four OSU freshmen ranked inside Intermat’s top 20 at their respective weight.

“You gotta be a little careful with these guys as they jump up there,” Smith said. “We gotta remind them it doesn’t get any easier, it doesn’t get any tougher. Let’s make sure we’re not adding pressure to our daily routines. Let’s make sure we’re coming in with a clear conscious that we’re gonna train hard, bust our a** everyday and prepare for the weekend of matches. It’s not any more than that.

“As we go through and have success and we’re doing well, be humble and know that it can be taken away like that, with me not being intense in a match and hurting my knee. Adding too much pressure to myself, now I’m expected to do things. Talking to yourself is gonna be real important for these young guys, making sure they keep a really good attitude and enjoy and be hungry about competing every weekend, and we’ll be fine.”

Jordan Williams ‘Growing Up’

What a ride it’s been for Jordan Williams in his first real season of college wrestling.

Williams, a redshirt freshman, won the starting job at 149 pounds after an impressive performance at the Lindenwood Open, which included beating teammates Carter Young and Teague Travis before Travis’ move up to 157. That first-place outing was in the midst of a seven-match win streak to start the season before losing to No. 6 Chance Lamer of Cal Poly at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Williams did enough at the tournaments to start in OSU’s second dual of the season against Lehigh, beating Drew Munch 10-5 in his dual debut. Williams seemed to have had control of the 149-pound spot, but after losing two of his next three and suffering a hamstring injury, Sammy Alvarez got the nod during OSU’s West Coast trip to wrestle Pitt and West Virginia.

Who is starting at 149 has essentially been a match-time decision for Smith, with Alvarez getting the most matches until this past weekend. Williams started against Arizona State and Missouri, winning both of his matches and notching consecutive wins for the first time since Dec. 1.

“I think more importantly, personally he’s growing,” Smith said. “And that’s what has to happen first. He’s personally growing up, he seems to understand what’s at stake. There’s been times in the season where I wanted to step back and just give the weight class to Sammy. I think for Jordan, recognizing that, ‘Hey, I lost my spot there for a while and may have lost it period.’

“I think it’s helped him grow up, more than helped him get his head on and become a better wrestler. I think he sees a little bit of about what the world can do to you if you’re not careful, and I’m sure glad to see him just grow up and take responsibility and come in the mornings– our morning workouts, he’s one of the first ones here now. Just some good things are happening for him right now that he sees. His mindset is really at a good place of helping him develop as we go forward here.”