Session I Recap: Cowboys Up Big after Opening Rounds of Big 12 Championships

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STILLWATER — David Taylor is a big fan of bonus points, so he’s probably having a pretty good day.

Oklahoma State has a 29-point lead on the field after the opening session of the Big 12 Championships at BOK Center in Tulsa. The Cowboys went 15-2 in the session with a dozen of those matches coming with bonus points. Eight Cowboys will wrestle in Saturday evening’s semifinals.

The heavier weights have been a strength for the Cowboys all season, and that group is flexing its muscles early in Tulsa. Dean Hamiti Jr., Dustin Plott, Luke Surber and Wyatt Hendrickson have combined to go 8-0 with all eight of those bouts coming with bonus points. That has included five pins and two technical falls.

“We talked about this tournament, bonus points being a difference-maker, and we did a good job of doing that this morning,” Taylor said. “It’s good to see that. Even there at the end, Luke got the decision and we just say, ‘Hey, you’ve got riding time, you got 12 seconds to get off the bottom or you got 19 seconds to get a takedown, what to do you want?’ He said, ‘I wanna go get a takedown.’ He ended up putting the guy on his back and dang near had him pinned. I just think that’s a good summary of the session so far.”

Troy Spratley started the day with a 9-2 decision against Missouri’s Gage Walker, and Spratley followed that up by avenging his 2024 season-ending defeat to South Dakota State’s Tanner Jordan. Spratley beat Jordon 10-0. Richard Figueroa, the reigning 125-pound national champ and top seed in his tournament, suffered an upset loss to North Dakota State’s Kysen Terukina in the quarterfinals. That’s who Spratley will meet in the semis.

It’s apparently been an interesting morning for OSU 141-pounder Tagen Jamison. At one point, the Air Force wrestling account tweeted out that Jamison had been disqualified this morning, with the scuttlebutt around BOK Center being that Jamison might have been late to the skin check line, but nothing has been confirmed. His match was delayed, but he did take to the mat and earned a major decision and a technical fall on his way to a semifinal matchup with national champ Andrew Alirez on Saturday evening.

Taylor didn’t get into much of what the issue was surrounding Jamison.

“Tagen made weight this morning, and he’s wrestled great today,” Taylor said. “It’s really good to see him out there wrestling.”

Teague Travis hadn’t wrestled a live match since November after suffering an injury. He was a surprise entrant in this tournament at 149 pounds, down from 157 where he had been wrestling. It doesn’t look as if he has missed a step, picking up a tech fall in the opening round before beating OU’s Willie McDougald 7-1. Travis will wrestle Iowa State’s Paniro Johnson, the 2 seed, in the semis.

“I believe in Teague,” Taylor said. “That’s why he’s here. He looked great today. He’s obviously got another challenge tonight, but he’s ready to go. He’s ready to be in this tournament. He wants to be here. He’s hungry, and I think that’s what we saw today.

“I had zero doubt. He’s good. He looked good.”

After receiving a bye in the opening round, Caleb Fish got to the semifinals of the 157-pound bracket with an 8-5 decision against Missouri’s James Conway. Northern Iowa’s Ryder Downey, the 3 seed, was upset in the quarterfinals by Northern Colorado’s Vinny Zerban, who Fish will face in the semis.

The only Cowboys to drop bouts were Reece Witcraft and Cameron Amine. Both received byes in the opening round before falling in the quarterfinals. Witcraft got a tough break in that 3 seed Julian Farber (UNI) was upset in the opening round and will now be Witcraft’s first consolation match. It appears Arizona State’s Nicco Ruiz is a tough matchup for Amine, as Ruiz won their quarterfinal tilt 6-4. Ruiz also beat Amine in the regular season.

The Cowboys are after their first Big 12 title since sharing the hardware with OU in 2021. The last time OSU won the league outright was in 2020, but the Pokes are in a good position to end that drought in Year 1 under Taylor. The next session starts at 5 p.m. Saturday.

“Nothing’s been decided at this point,” Taylor said. “We’ve still got a long tournament to go — big round coming up tonight. We have guys in the wrestlebacks. We’ve gotta keep scoring. We’ve gotta keep moving forward, but in terms of getting started, it’s been a good start.”

Team Standings

David Taylor after Session I