Up-in-Weight Sergio Vega Shooting More, Not Worried About Giving Up a Takedown

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STILLWATER — Sergio Vega went undefeated, won a national title and didn’t give up a takedown as a true freshman last season. And now he’s tasked with getting even better.

It was just three matches, but Vega looked outstanding at the Cowboy Invitational this past weekend, going 3-0 with three bonus-point wins.

As good as Vega was last year — which was really good — he wasn’t the most offensive wrestler on Oklahoma State’s roster. Vega won by bonus points about 46% of the time last season. Again, that’s quite good, but his NCAA finals opponent Jesse Mendez had about a 70% bonus percentage.

But there’s reason to believe that Vega could improve on that number as a sophomore. For one, he’s more experienced, but secondly he is up in weight, going from 141 to 149, which could come with some more energy.

“We talked about his weight cut last year, it was pretty extreme,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “He really weighed what he weighs now going down to 141. I think the move up for him has been great, I’ve seen that. Probably a lot of growth from him — he hit a similar path of growth around this time last year, too. I think he kind of made this adjustment last year going into the season. He carries himself with a lot of confidence. He’s hyper driven, and this summer noticeably made an effort to get better.

“We obviously know defensively how great he is, but I would say offensively, he’s made a lot of adjustments with just his pace and his tenacity and the way that he’s competing. Yeah, we were excited to watch him last year and equally excited to watch him this here. He’s got a really tough weight class, and it drives him. He’s driven to want to be the best guy in the country.”

Say what you will about the first two opponents of the Cowboy Invitational, but Vega took on blue-chip freshman teammate Jordyn Raney in the final. Sure, Raney is a freshman, but he was the No. 5 wrestler on Flo’s big board for the 2026 class. Raney went 203-4 as a high schooler with 187 pins.

So, Vega’s elite defense was tested. And not only did he defend well, but he attacked at a higher rate than he did last year.

Vega beat Raney 16-4, taking the freshman down five times to none in the match.

“I think just having the confidence that I’ve been trying to instill in myself that I got confidence to go out and shoot a bunch,” Vega said. “Just trying to have more offense and more points than I scored last year and just have a lot more fun. I think I was in a lot of tight matches, and they were fun, but just try to score more points.”

As previously noted, Vega hasn’t given up a takedown as a college wrestler. He’s been close myriad times but often Houdinis his way into a favorable position.

That will probably change at some point, especially with how good a weight class he finds himself in this year.

The 149-pound class has three national champions in it, with Vega joining Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) and Aden Valencia (Stanford). The class also features Shayne Van Ness (Penn State), who has finished in the Top 3 on three occassions, and Anthony Echemendia (Nebraska), who gave Vega two of his toughest matches while at Iowa State last season.

Not being taken down is a cool stat, but Vega said he’s not too worried about his streak coming to an end at some point.

“I just wrestle and get out of positions,” Vega said. “If I get taken down, it doesn’t really matter. I’m gonna get back up and try to keep scoring the next points. I think just having fun and not really worrying too much about any of that. If I put too much pressure on myself, bad things are gonna start happening. So, just go out there, have fun and enjoy all these times I have.”