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Session III Recap: Four Cowboys Make Semifinals, Three More Still Wrestling in Consolations

Spratley gets a big upset to move into the semis.

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The Cowboys have put four into Friday evening’s semifinals, and another three are pushing to become All-Americans on the backside of their brackets.

With 63 points, Oklahoma State sits third in the team standings after three sessions at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, trailing only Penn State (90.5) and Nebraska (65.5). OSU went 4-2 in quarterfinal bouts, with Troy Spratley, Dean Hamiti, Dustin Plott and Wyatt Hendrickson advancing to the semis.

Hamiti, Plott and Hendrickson were favorites in their quarterfinal matchups, but Spratley got to the semis with an upset.

The 7 seed, Spratley beat 2 seed Matt Ramos (Purdue) 5-2, as Spratley got a match-deciding takedown in the first period. It was the inverse of their meeting earlier in the season, as Ramos beat Spratley 5-2 in December in Las Vegas.

A redshirt sophomore, this is Spratley’s first time as an All-American, but he should have his eyes set on a national title. Spratley gets 3 seed Eddie Ventresca (Virginia Tech) in the semis. Spratley majored Venstresca 10-1 in December. The other semifinal is 8 seed Shelton Seymour (Lehigh) vs. 4 seed Vincent Robinson (NC State). Seymour upset top-seeded Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) in the quarters. Robinson beat Spratley 7-3 in a January dual.

Hendrickson has pinned his way into the semis, as he stuck quarterfinal opponent Isaac Trumble (NC State) in the first period. Hendrickson earns his third All-America honor, and his three matches thus far have lasted a combined 7:25.

The fun starts now, though, as Hendrickson will match up against 3 seed Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) in the semis. They last wrestled at the 2023 NCAA Championships, where Kerkvliet won 4-2. The winner of that match will likely get Olympic champion Gable Steveson, who has been throttling guys on the other side of the bracket, in the finals.

With his 12-5 quarterfinal win against Nebraska’s Silas Allred, Plott becomes the 16th four-time All-American in OSU’s decorated history. He joins some elite company in that, as OSU’s past four four-time All-Americans were Daton Fix (5x), Alex Dieringer, Jordan Oliver and Coleman Scott.

Plott will also match up against a Penn State wrestler in the semis — four-time national champ Carter Starocci.

The Big 12 has three 174-pounders in the semifinals, as Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole and South Dakota State’s Cade DeVos join Hamiti. Hamiti will also get a Nittany Lion, though, in his semifinal match, as he squares off with Levi Haines, who won a national title at the weight last season. Hamiti and Haines enter their semifinal a combined 52-2 on the season with both losses coming to the top-seeded O’Toole.

To get into the semis, Hamiti wrestled a tough match against Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy. Hamiti won it 8-6 in a bout Kennedy just kept hanging around in. The match was tied in the third period before Hamiti got a takedown and kept Kennedy at bay to advance.

Caleb Fish and Cameron Amine each dropped their quarterfinal bouts.

Fish was up 2-0 after two periods against 20 seed Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern), but Chumbley scored on a reversal and a takedown in the third to win it 6-4. Chumbley is one of the stories of the tournament, going from 20 seed to the semifinals. Fish will wrestle 23 seed Chase Saldate (Michigan) in the consolations Friday evening, with the winner becoming an All-American.

Amine lost to top-seeded Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) 5-0 in the quarterfinals. Amine gets 11 seed Braeden Scoles (Illinois) in consolations with the winner becoming an All-American.

After dropping his second round match Thursday night, Tagen Jamison has been powering through the consolation side of the 141-pound bracket. He pinned Stanford’s Jason Miranda before teching South Dakota State’s Julian Tagg in the third session.

Jamison will wrestle 4 seed Joshua Koderhandt (Navy) on Friday evening for a spot on the podium.

Teague Travis is one tough dude, but his tournament came to an end in Session III. He suffered an apparent leg injury in his third round consolation match against Lehigh’s Malyke Hines. That match was tied at 6 when the injury took place, but Hines ended up winning 12-6 against a compromised Travis.

Travis suffered a knee injury (on the opposite leg from the one he hurt Friday) just two matches into this season, but he battled back and jumped down a weight for the Big 12 tournament, earning a spot in Philly. As the 33 seed, he won three matches at the national tournament before bowing out. He also entered the day with quite the shiner.

The fourth session will start at 7 p.m. (CT) Friday on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

Team Standings

Team Points
1 Penn State 90.5
2 Nebraska 65.5
3 Oklahoma State 63
4 Iowa 42
5 Northern Iowa 37.5
6 Ohio State 37
7 Minnesota 35.5
8 Illinois 33.5
9 Cornell 29.5
10 Michigan 27.5

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