Taylor Says Cowboy Invitational Results Will Give Wrestlers First Shot, but Won’t Mean Everything Come March

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STILLWATER — With the World Championships getting pushed back, David Taylor was unable to attend the inaugural Cowboy Invitational.

Taylor was in Kazakhstan coaching former Cowboy Wyatt Hendrickson to his world bronze, but since returning stateside, the OSU coach got caught up on the festivities and met with reporters on Tuesday.

Although the Cowboy Invitational counted as OSU’s wrestle-offs, Taylor made it known that just because a guy won a tournament at the beginning of November doesn’t necessarily mean he’s got that spot in the lineup locked in through March. But Taylor noted that it was good for those matches to take place in front of a crowd to get a more real feel for the situations wrestlers would find themselves in.

“I think there was a time and place where wrestle-offs were wrestle-offs, and it’s just kind of like that was kind of what determined the season,” Taylor said. “I think with having the team that we have now, we tell these guys this is not the final decision on the season. This is just a point in the season. Obviously everyone on our team will have more opportunities to, whether it’s to distance themselves in their weight class or in the country. Obviously some weight classes will continue to be contested.

“That’s just kind of what we’ve kind of talked about the last couple years — the goal isn’t to just make our team. These kids have goals way bigger than that. Our team is really good, so their teammates are obviously really good. And I think culturally despite the wins and losses our guys are still behind each other and understanding the bigger picture in what we’re trying to do this year as a team.”

But the wins at the Cowboy Invitational apparently do mean something in the short term, as Taylor said this weekend’s lineup against Drexel will “for the most part” feature Cowboy Invitational champions. OSU hosts Drexel at 2 p.m. Sunday for the Cowboys’ season-opening dual.

It sounds like an exception could be 197-pounder Cody Merrill, who looked to be momentarily knocked out late in his match against Little Rock’s Stephen Little. Taylor said Merrill is doing better and should be back soon but didn’t sound definitive on whether that’d be this weekend.

“I think for the most part what you saw this weekend, I think those guys are gonna get the first opportunity to wrestle against Drexel,” Taylor said. “I think that’s kind of a given there, and then just we’ll have some things that are pretty straightforward and we’ll have some things that’ll continue to kind of be determined on a week-to-week basis. And I think that’s good for our guys. It keeps them hungry.”

To jog your memory, here were the highest-placing Cowboys at each weight from the Cowboy Invitational:

125: Rocklin Zinkin
133: Jax Forrest
141: Jayden Raney
149: Sergio Vega
157: Landon Robideau
165: Casey Swiderski
174: Alex Facundo
184: Mikey White
197: Cody Merrill
HWT: Dreshaun Ross

One thing Taylor didn’t sound too pleased with from the event was the crowd response to an emotional 165-pound final where Casey Swiderski beat Dee Lockett in tiebreakers.

Swiderski and Lockett are two emotionally charged wrestlers to begin with, so when you throw in the emotion of a wrestle-off, a few major stoppages and two guys wrestling in front of their home fans, it got a little crazy.

At one point during the bout fans started booing — mostly in Lockett’s direction. Taylor, obviously, wasn’t a fan of that.

“Dee and Casey are very emotional guys,” Taylor said. “They have great ties with our team. Like, those are guys that have a lot of deep relationships with our team. When you get two emotional guys wrestling each other, that’s what makes them great. Those are also areas that they need to improve in. I wasn’t here, but I would say we have a very passionate fanbase, but I would say one area that I would like to address is, like, man, if you want to boo the opposing team, you do that, but you don’t do that to our guys. I think that’s what makes fans great is they’re fans, but you gotta understand the amount of emotion that goes into those matches.

“Wrestling your teammates is not an easy thing to do, especially when you have two emotional guys. Those kids, they’re hugging each other afterward. They’re pushing each other constantly, and that weight class is gonna continue to be contested. There’s pros and cons to everything that we do, and when you open it up to people to be able to watch, you can’t control what they’re doing. But moving forward, if we continue to do that, just something to keep in mind. You just gotta remember what goes into it for these kids, what goes into it for our team. But ultimately, these guys are competitors. They’re emotional competitors. If they wrestle in the room, it’s the same way. It’s part of it. It’s part of the sport. It’s what makes them great, and it’s also areas that they gotta improve in.”