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    Takeaways from Big 12 Wrestling Championships

    Conference season has officially concluded. All that is left is the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, March 18-20. That said, the second and final weekend of conference action ended in style. Both the Big Ten and the Big 12 each held their respective conference tournaments this past weekend. The events more than lived up to the hype.

    Here are six takeaways from the Big 12 Wrestling Championships.

    Oklahoma State keeps Big 12 Championship team title steak alive … kind of

    The Oklahoma State wrestling team claimed a school-record ninth consecutive conference tournament title Sunday night as the Cowboys went 3-0 in the finals and finished with 124 team points to earn a co-championship with Oklahoma at the 2021 Big 12 Championships.

    The run of nine straight conference tournament titles marks the longest streak in Big 12 wrestling history and breaks OSU's former school record of eight consecutive championships that was set from 1921-1928.

    However, the historic win was marred by the fact that they had to share the conference crown with bitter rival Oklahoma, who also finished with 124 total team points.


    According to the Big 12 Conference, there is no tiebreaker criteria, thus when the team race ends in a tie, the two top teams are co-champions. Had Oklahoma State not been penalized a team point Saturday they would have had sole possession of the team title.

    There needs to be criteria. If we don't let individual matches end in ties, we shouldn't allow our team races to either. I don't so much care which criteria you use, but there must be one.

    Nonetheless, Oklahoma, who won its first conference tournament team title for the first time since 2002, deserve credit for putting together a fantastic, complete team performance in Tulsa. Especially Sooner 133-pounder Tony Madrigal who came to Tulsa unseeded (3-7) and made it to the finals. More impressively, even in defeat, Madrigal took one of the best wrestlers in the world a full seven minutes and kept it to a decision. Well done, Tony.

    Oklahoma State's A.J. Ferrari celebratews after winning a Big 12 title (Photo/Oklahoma State Athletics)

    Ferrari will be a force at NCAAs in St. Louis

    Oklahoma State freshman A.J. Ferrari looked great at his first conference tournament. Not only did he get to the top of the podium as a true freshman, but he dismantled two very talented wrestlers in South Dakota's Tanner Sloan and Wyoming Stephen Buchanan in the process.

    Although he narrowly missed securing the major decision in the finals that his squad needed for sole control of the team title, Ferrari was very deserving of the Outstanding Wrestler award he received. The freshman upperweight will be a problem for many at NCAAs. He's a definite All-American (and probably better) in my mind.


    How about those Wyoming Cowboys?

    While I don't want to undercut the fine efforts of the co-champion Oklahoma Sooners, I would be a fool not to praise Mark Branch and the Wyoming Cowboys for a stellar tournament of their own. While they had a poor showing in the finals, that does not diminish how impressive it was to see for Wyoming grapplers in the back half of the finals.

    Who could have predicted that Wyoming would have a completely legitimate chance to win the whole thing? Certainly not me. The fact that they were in title contention is a testament to the amazing work Mark Branch and these student-athletes are doing in Laramie. Wyoming has risen up the Big 12 ranks quite nicely as of late.

    Also, after taking down Noah Adams for a third straight time this season en route to a finals appearance, Stephen Buchanan has proven he is a guy to keep your eye on for the next few years.


    What happened to Tanner Sloan?

    Wow. I did not see this one coming at all. I know that 197 is a gauntlet of a weight class in the Big 12, but to be the top seed at the weight and finish sixth in your conference is shocking. To make matters worse, the South Dakota Jackrabbit appeared to get a bit banged this weekend, requiring an injury default during his sixth-place match. Nonetheless, you never expected an undefeated (13-0) top-tier wrestler to get pinned.

    While I still expect Tanner Sloan to be awarded an at-large bid to NCAAs, which he certainly deserves given his overall body of work, Sloan will have a much tougher journey through a stacked NCAA tournament bracket as a result of his struggles this weekend. Hopefully any injuries he may have suffered this weekend weren't serious either.

    Way to go Luke Weber

    Not only did the North Dakota Bison shock the weight class by winning the title as the No. 4 seed, but he took out the presumptive champ, top-seeded Travis Wittlake, in the process. Many believed it was Wittlake's title to lose.


    If nothing else, these could create a seeding quandary at the national tournament. The 165-pound class is another one of the classes that is quite strong across the entire country, particularly in the ACC and Big 12. Like Sloan, Wittlake has made his journey to a national title harder after his recent upset. That said, his third-place finish did earn the Oklahoma State Cowboy an automatic qualification to St. Louis.

    At least Big 12 team race was competitive

    As a wrestling fan, all you can ask for is for things to be close. Well, the Big 12 team race was as close as it gets. It took until the ninth match of the finals bouts for a champion (or two team champions) to be crowned. Similarly, the top three teams were separated by less than seven points when all was said and done. Lastly, there were as many as four teams (Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Iowa State, and Wyoming) who all had a shot to win it all at some point during the second day. This level of competition and competitive parody within the conference not only benefits the Big 12, but the sports as a whole.

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