OSU Wrestling Wins Big 12 Championship, Six Win Individual Titles

TULSA — A seventh straight team title was locked up before the championship round, but that didn’t stop the Cowboys from piling points.

Six of seven Oklahoma State athletes wrestling in Sunday’s Big 12 finals won, as the Cowboys totaled 158 team points, beating second place Iowa State by 43.5.

Nick Piccininni and Daton Fix started Sunday night’s festivities with back-to-back wins. It was Piccininni’s third straight Big 12 crown and the win moved him to 30-0 entering NCAAs. Fix, a redshirt freshman, won his first Big 12 title after defeating Oklahoma native Montorie Bridges 4-2.

Piccininni and Fix each had relatively low-scoring bouts. Piccininni got an escape in the second period and rode out the third on route to a 2-0 victory over North Dakota State’s Brent Fleetwood.

Things didn’t go as planned for OSU’s 141-pounder Kaid Brock. Brock was matched up against Oklahoma’s Dom Demas. Demas threw Brock twice and scored a pin in 54 seconds.

Kaden Gfeller won in the final minute of a wild match against Iowa State’s Jarrett Degen. Degen led 5-4 with 30 seconds to go, but Gfeller scored a clutch takedown to take a 6-5 lead. Degen was scrambling for an escape as time expired to no avail.

Jacobe Smith went into the final period of his match against Taylor Lujan tied at 2. Smith got an escape and a takedown to start the final period to go up 5-2. Lujan then scored off a reversal that led to Smith escaping. Smith fought off desperate takedown attempts at the end of the round to win 6-4.

Preston Weigel went started the second period of his finals match on top of Iowa State’s Willie Miklus. Weigel was able to roll Miklus to his back twice, scoring two nearfall points each time. Weigel added six more points in the third period to win 10-0. It was Weigel’s third Big 12 title.

Derek White ended the evening with a dominant performance, defeating Fresno State’s AJ Nevills by technical fall. White scored six points in the first period, three in the second and 11 in the third to win 20-5.

Results

125-Nick Piccininni DEC Brent Fleetwood (NDSU), 2-0
133-Daton Fix DEC Montorie Bridges (WYO), 4-2
141-Dom Demas (OU) WBF over Kaid Brock, :54
149-Kaden Gfeller DEC Jarrett Degen (ISU), 6-5
174- Jacobe Smith DEC Taylor Lujan (UNI), 6-4
197-Preston Weigel MAJ DEC Willie Miklus (ISU), 7-0
285-Derek White TF AJ Nevills (Fresno State), 20-5