OSU (5-0, 3-0 Big 12) took the win at a raucous Storey Gym despite upsets of Geo Martinez, Chandler Rogers, Kaid Brock and Dean Heil, and thanks especially to bonus point wins from Preston Weigel, Derek White and Nick Piccininni. Heil's loss to No. 3 Bryce Meredith ended the two-time defending national champion's win streak at 55 wins.
"It probably wasn't the best showing, but I had a feeling it was going to be tougher than we thought," head coach John Smith said. "We tried to get them ready for it telling them that it was going to be tough and they were going to have to grind it out. You may be able to beat the other guy at Big 12's by six, seven or eight points, but you might have to win by one tonight. We didn't want to do that, not at those first three weights anyways…It wasn't pretty, but it was good to see guys battle us back into the match."
"In the end, dual meets are always different," Smith said. "You look at the outcome and see we won those two important matches at 174 and 184. You never know. When your team needs you, you step out. Then, when we secured the win, we might not have had that fight at 133 and 141. I thought Dean wrestled hard and wrestled well. He was tired, and we expect that coming to Wyoming. We knew they were going to fill (the gym) in a big-time match. There's no shame there. We took it on the chin with a win, but we could have gotten out of here without the win."
Wyoming opened the dual with three-straight wins, beginning with a Sam Turner 4-3 decision over OSU's Geo Martinez at 149. At 157, Jonce Blaylock couldn't come up with a win over No. 17 Archie Colgan, coming up short, 3-1. Wyoming then ran the score to 9-0 at 165, as Rogers was bested by No. 15 Branson Ashworth in a 6-2 decision.
Jacobe Smith got OSU on the board at 174 with a decision over Kyle Pope. Trailing 4-3 after two periods, Smith was able to escape quickly to tie the match up at the beginning of the third. Pope would answer with a takedown, but Smith answered with an escape and takedown to take a 7-6 lead. Pope was able to tie it back up on an escape, but Smith claimed the 8-7 decision on riding time.
Keegan Moore and Chaz Polson had another wild battle at 184 pounds. The two wrestlers each registered a takedown in the opening two periods, but Polson's two escaped put him ahead, 4-2, going into the third. Moore wouldn't back down, however, and hung tough in the third, tallying a reversal to open the frame followed by another two takedowns to gut out an 8-7 decision and pull OSU within three.
Preston Weigel took back the lead for good in a 15-0 shutout tech fall at 197 over Cody Vigoren. After a scoreless first period, Weigel registered three four-point nearfalls in the second and capped off the victory with a takedown in the third to lock up the seven-minute tech. After his first two duals this season, Weigel has outscored his opponents 22-0.
Heavyweight Derek White followed up Weigel's tech with one of his own over Hunter Mullins in the seventh match of the night. Mullins had no answer for the redshirt junior, who racked up five takedowns and three nearfalls on his way to finishing off the 17-2 win in 5:23.
At 125 pounds, redshirt sophomore Nick Piccininni came up just a point short of a third-straight tech fall for the Pokes, but settled instead for a 15-1 major over Drake Foster. Piccininni scored three takedowns and a pair of nearfalls to overwhelm Foster and put OSU up, 20-9.
Brock couldn't overcome an early 6-0 deficit the redshirt sophomore suffered when opponent Montorie Bridges scored a quick takedown and nearfall in the opening seconds of the match. Brock would answer with four takedowns of his own throughout the remainder of the bout while denying Bridges' attacks, but would ultimately come up short, 11-10.
Heil suffered his first loss since February of 2016 Tuesday in a tightly-contested battle with rival Bryce Meredith. After the wrestlers traded escapes in the second and third frames to head to sudden victory tied at one apiece despite numerous scrambles. The two scrambled again for an extended period in the opening frame of sudden victory to head to the first tiebreaker. Meredith rode out the first 30 seconds against Heil, and then escaped early in the second. Heil responded and nearly scored a takedown in the final seconds; however, no points were awarded and Meredith walked away with the 2-1 win.
The Cowboys will be back in action Jan. 5 when they travel overseas to Naples, Italy for a showdown with No. 6 NC State.
Results:
149: Sam Turner (WYO) dec. Geo Martinez (OSU), 4-3
157: Archie Colgan (WYO) dec. Jonce Blaylock (OSU), 3-1
165: Branson Ashworth (WYO) dec. Chandler Rogers (OSU), 5-2
174: Jacobe Smith (OSU) dec. Kyle Pope (WYO) 8-7
184: Keegan Moore (OSU) dec. Chaz Polson (WYO), 8-7
197: Preston Weigel (OSU) tech. fall Cody Vigoren(WYO), 15-0
285: Derek White (OSU) tech. fall Hunter Mullins (WYO), 17-2 (5:22)
125: Nick Piccininni (OSU) major dec. Drake Foster (WYO), 14-1
133: Montorie Bridges (WYO) dec. Kaid Brock (OSU), 11-10
141: Bryce Meredith (WYO) dec. Dean Heil (OSU) in OT, 2-1
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