OSU Wrestling: Olympic Chances End for Cowboy Hopefuls

Cowboys of the past, present and future competed for an opportunity to wear red, white and blue instead of orange at this summer’s 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Oklahoma State freshman Christian Carroll, alumni Daton Fix and Alex Dieringer, and Cowboy commit Ladarion Lockett wrestled at the Olympic Team Trials, which started Friday morning and conclude Saturday at College Station, Pennsylvania. Although all Cowboys are still alive in the tournament, their chances at Olympic glory are over as each lost a match Friday. Coleman Scott was the last OSU wrestler to qualify for the Olympics when he won a bronze medal in 2012, and that drought will now extend to at least 2028.

Here’s how each OSU wrestler, alum or commit did Friday at the Olympic Team Trials.

Daton Fix (57 kg)

Fix was knocked off by a familiar foe in the Olympic Team Trials semifinals.

Thomas Gilman, the 2 seed, shut out 3-seeded Fix 6-0 to advance to the championship and force Fix to wait another four years for a chance at reaching the Olympics. Gilman will wrestle 4 seed Spencer Lee in the championship, where the winner of the best-of-three final will make Team USA and still have to qualify the country for the Olympics at the weight.

Fix got to the semis with a 5-1 decision against Nick Suriano in a rematch of the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships 133-pound final. Fix got a bye in the first round to automatically advance to the quarterfinals.

The loss put Fix in the consolation semis, where he will face the winner of Marcus Blaze and Luke Lilledahl on Saturday. 

Alex Dieringer (86 kg)

A huge start wasn’t enough to get Dieringer to the Olympic Team Trials championship.

Dieringer slipped in the semis to 1 seed Aaron Brooks 8-4 in the semifinals despite leading 4-0 after the first period. Dieringer exploded with a big 4-point move to get an early lead and held it the rest of the period. But Brooks answered early in the second period with a 4-point move of his own. Dieringer’s corner challenged the call, but the failed challenge gave Brooks a point and a 5-4 lead. Brooks then added three more later in the period.

In the quarterfinals, Dieringer beat Mark Hall 5-2 after both received first-round byes.

Christian Carroll (97 kg)

This time last year, Carroll hadn’t even graduated high school, but less than a year later he was going toe-to-toe with Olympic bronze medalist J’Den Cox, who is 29, to try to earn a spot on Team USA before even wrestling in a real college match.

Carroll narrowly lost to Cox, the 1 seed, 1-1 by criteria in the quarterfinals. Carroll scored first after being awarded a passive point to lead 1-0 after the first period. Cox matched that in the second period. Neither wrestler actually scored an offensive point in the bout, but Cox ultimately moved on since he scored the last point. Carroll would wind up being the last victory of Cox’s illustrious career after Cox lost in the semifinals and announced his retirement after the match.

Criteria played in Carroll’s favor in his first match, though, as he beat Anthony Cassioppi 6-6 in the opening round. Carroll scored four points in the second period to come back and win after trailing 6-2 at the end of the first period.

The loss to Cox dropped Carroll to the consolation quarterfinals, where he will wrestle Nate Jackson on Saturday.

Ladarion Lockett (74 kg)

Does competing for a spot on Team USA count as an excused absence?

Lockett committed to OSU in December before winning his third state title as a junior at Stillwater High School. His sights are already set beyond the state line, though. He was one of a handful of preps wrestlers who qualified for this weekend’s Olympic Team Trials. And it was difficult for a spectator to tell it was a high schooler wrestling the best grown men in the country.

In the first round, Lockett beat Meyer Shapiro with a 12-1 technical superiority to advance to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Mitchell Mesenbrink 13-3. That loss put Lockett in the consolation bracket. There, he advanced to the quarterfinals via forfeit to Vincenzo Joseph.

Lockett wasn’t the only young pup competing that might be a Cowboy one day, though. Jax Forrest hasn’t committed yet, but OSU is reportedly the frontrunner to land the lower-weight standout. He wrestled in the same bracket as Fix at 57 kg and was a win away from  meeting Fix in the semifinals. Forrest earned a 10-0 technical superiority over Liam Cronin in the first round before narrowly losing to Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Gilman 5-4 in the quarterfinals. Forrest then beat Daniel DeShazer 5-4 in his first consolation match before advancing to the semis thanks to an injury forfeit from Nick Suriano. Fix will wrestle in the other consolation semifinal bout in the bracket.