Session I Recap: Nine Cowboys Headed for Semifinals at Big 12 Championships

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TULSA — The Big 12 Championships were expected to be a two-horse race between Oklahoma State and Iowa State, and after one session in Tulsa, that looks to be the case.

Oklahoma State leads the team race after the opening session, with the Cowboys and the Cyclones running away from the field.

The Cowboys put nine of their 10 wrestlers into the semifinals, which is more than any other team. Iowa State has eight wrestlers still competing for a Big 12 title.

Here’s a look at the team standings and some storylines from Session 1:

Team Standings

Forrest Flying in First Big 12s

High school phenom turned freshman phenom Jax Forrest didn’t look too troubled in his first two matches at Big 12s.

He finished both of his bouts in the first period, teching Iowa State’s Garrett Grice 15-0 and beating South Dakota State’s Cale Seaton 19-4.

Forrest needed only one takedown in that opening bout. After he got it, he rolled Grice over for four sets of four nearfall points. Forrest let Seaton up some, as the Cowboy scored five takedowns in his quarterfinal match — again, all in the first period.

Northern Iowa’s Julian Farber, the 5 seed, will meet Forrest in Friday evening’s semis. Forrest beat Farber via a 19-4 tech in a dual at the end of January.

That’s A Lot of Bonus

The Cowboys wrestled 18 matches in the opening session, and 13 of those ended in bonus point victories.

Troy Spratley, Forrest, Sergio Vega, Landon Robideau, Alex Facundo and Konner Doucet all had a 100% bonus rate in the opening session.

Taylor has long preached unrelenting offense, and the bonus points help the Cowboys in the team tally.

Ryder, Swiderski Return from Injuries

The Cowboys’ only loss of the opening section came in the 184-pound quarterfinals, where Zack Ryder fell to Iowa State’s Isaac Dean 6-2.

Ryder suffered a shoulder injury in the Cowboys’ dual against Northern Iowa back on Jan. 30. That injury had kept Ryder out until the Cowboys’ season finale against Iowa. Ryder appeared to reaggravate it in the match with Dean, needing injury time on two occasions, which essentially awarded Dean two points.

Ryder looked good in his first match, pinning Cal Baptist’s David Alonso in the second period.

“He’s doing fine,” said David Taylor of Ryder. “Part of this time of the season. You’re gonna get banged up a little bit. Gotta refocus and get ready for the next match. There’s a lot of people in this room that are banged up, so just gotta refocus. I thought he did a good job of refocusing. Things don’t go your way, and did a really good job of refocusing. It’s a tough match giving up injury points, but that’s just what happens when you call injury time. There’s really nothing else he could’ve done in that moment.

“Really proud of him for his fight and his effort. Just something he’s gonna have to get his mind right for what’s next.”

Casey Swiderski had been out of the Cowboy lineup since OSU’s dual win against Iowa State on Feb. 1, but he returned to the mat Friday morning.

With his left knee wrapped, Swiderski gutted out wins against Willie McDougald (West Virginia) and Gabe Willochell (Wyoming). It wasn’t Swiderski’s cleanest work, but he got the job done.

“Casey really hasn’t wrestled in a month,” Taylor said. “He hasn’t missed a beat. He’s out there, and he looks good. He was on the hunt today. … He’s doing a really good job. Lots of scoring opportunities, so it’s just capitalizing on those. He’s a gamer, and he’ll continue to feel better as the tournament goes on.”

Fun Semis

As previously mentioned, the Cowboys are littered throughout Friday night’s semifinal round. Here are two matches that will be particularly exciting.

174: Alex Facundo vs. MJ Gaitan — The 174-pound bracket went chalk, which means top-seeded Facundo will get 4 seed MJ Gaitan (Iowa State) in the semis. The two wrestled in the dual on Feb. 1, where Facudno won 4-2. It’s big both in the team race along with individual glory.

197: Cody Merrill vs. Joey Novak — Merrill and Novak (Wyoming) didn’t meet in the regular season. Merrill entered the weekend as the No. 7 guy at 197 nationally, per Intermat, while Novak sits at No. 3.

David Taylor After the Opening Session