Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Wrestling Primed for Big 12 Championship
March 05, 2015 | Cowboy Wrestling
The Basics
Sixth-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling travels to Ames, Iowa, this weekend to compete for its 13th Big 12 title. The tourney will be held at Hilton Coliseum with the semifinals at11 a.m. CT, third-place matches at1 p.m.and finals at6 p.m.This marks the fifth time the Cyclones have hosted the event.
Live Stats And Play-by-Play
Fans can follow the action for the tournament online through live results and play-by-play on www.trackwrestling.com. Simply go to the site and the link to live results and play-by-play will be prominently displayed.
Watch the Duals Live
There will be live online video for fans to catch all the tournament action. The semifinals will be featured onbig12sports.com, while the finals can be seen onfoxsportsgo.com.
Listen to the Duals Live
Thesemifinals of the tournament will be aired live on 780 AM-KSPI and the finals will be available on 93.7 KSPI-FM with Roger Moore on the call. The audio stream can also be heard live on okstate.tv, but a subscription is required to listen online.
In the Polls
Oklahoma State enters the Big 12 Championship ranked No. 6 in the USA Today/NWCA/Division I Coaches Poll and No. 11 in the Intermat dual team rankings. Iowa State and Oklahoma also received votes in the Intermat tournament rankings, coming in at No. 10 and No. 21, respectively. The Cyclones also appear in the Coaches Poll at No. 8.
Eight of the Cowboy's potential starters are ranked among the top 20 in the nation at their respective weight classes in at least one poll, including a No. 1 ranking for defending national champion Alex Dieringer from Amateur Wrestling News, The Open Mat, Intermat and WIN Magazine.
The tournament field features 19 ranked wrestlers; eight for the Pokes, six for the Cyclones, four for the Sooners and one for the Mountaineers.
Dual Season Wrap-Up
Oklahoma State finished the season with a 12-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark at home. Marquee wins from this year's home stretch include Bedlam rival Oklahoma, No. 25 West Virginia, No. 9 Pittsburgh, No. 20 Wyoming and an upset victory against No. 5 Penn State. This year's record marks back-to-back seasons with only one loss at home. The Cowboys wrestling program improves to 468-38-6 all-time record at Gallagher-Iba Arena. On the road, the Cowboys took out five opponents, while falling to two. Key road wins for the Cowboys were a 20-15 win over No. 8 Iowa State and a 20-12 victory over No. 20 North Carolina State. In all, OSU notched six wins over top-25 opponents this season.
2014 Big 12 Championship Standings
Final team scores:
1. Oklahoma State - 98.5 points
2. Oklahoma - 63.5 points
3. Iowa State - 45.5 points
4. West Virginia - 26 points
John Smith At The Conference Meet
Coach John Smith has led the Cowboys to 16 conference championships (including the 2012 and 2013 regular season titles) and has coached 88 individual conference champs since taking over the program in 1991-92.
Under Smith, Oklahoma State has finished either first or second at the conference meet 17 times in 21 eligible years (Smith inherited an OSU program that was on probation at the time of his hiring and was not eligible to compete for the conference crown his first two seasons.)
He is an 11-time selection as Big 12 Coach of the Year to go with his two Big Eight Coach of the Year accolades.
Cowboys At the Conference Meet
When Oklahoma State takes the mat for the Big 12 Championships, it will be hunting its 13th Big 12 tournament title in 19 attempts since the league held its first championship in 1997.
The Cowboys have won 48 team conference titles all-time (including the 2012 and 2013 regular season titles), claiming six Southwest Conference championships from 1917-25, four Missouri Valley Conference championships from 1925-28, 24 Big Eight Conference championships from 1958-96 and 13 Big 12 Conference championships (including the 2012 and 2013 regular season titles) from 1997-present.
Cowboy wrestlers have combined to win 255 conference individual titles through the years - one in the Southwest Conference, 23 in the Missouri Valley Conference, 151 in the Big Eight Conference and 77 in the Big 12.
Cowboys Return Four Big 12 Champions
Oklahoma State brings four Big 12 champions to Ames, Iowa this weekend in Eddie Klimara, Anthony Collica, Alex Dieringer and Austin Marsden.
With titles earned in 2013 and 2014, Dieringer seeks his third-straight Big 12 title. Collica and Marsden look for back-to-back conference championships, each earning their first in 2014. Collica became the 19th freshman in program history to earn a conference title.
Klimara is in search of a second title, with his first coming at the 2013 Championship.
Champs in the Classroom
The Big 12 Conference announced six Oklahoma State wrestlers to the 2015 Academic All-Big 12 first team this week. OSU's first-team honorees include Anthony Collica, Davey Dolan, Ethan Driver, Dean Heil, Josh Kindig and Michael Martin, with Dolan and Martin each boasting 4.0 GPAs. The Cowboys made up six of the 11 first team members and led the league in overall selections. Kindig, a Cowboy senior, repeats as a first team honoree, earning his first career honor in 2014.
Ranked Matchups
The 165-pound bracket will possibly see a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with Cowboy Alex Dieringer holding the top spot and Iowa State's Mike Moreno sitting at No. 2. The two met earlier this year in Hilton Coliseum, and Dieringer walked away with a 13-3 major decision victory over the Cyclone. Dieringer carries a perfect 26-0 record into the tournament, while Moreno touts a 21-2 mark. There are five other weights where a Cowboy wrestler may meet up with another ranked wrestler in 141, 157, 174, 184 and 285 pounds.
OSU Statistical Leaders
Overall Wins: 27, Gary Wayne Harding
Dual Wins: 15, Alex Dieringer
Bonus Point Wins: 22, Alex Dieringer
Wins by Fall: 9, Chandler Rogers
Wins by Technical Fall: 4, Dieringer & Koo
Wins by Major Decision: 10, Alex Dieringer
Dual Takedowns: 64, Alex Dieringer
Dual Nearfalls: 13, Alex Dieringer
Dieringer Undefeated
NCAA champion Alex Dieringer is in the midst of a 42-match win streak, dating back to last January. On the season he has compiled a perfect 26-0 overall record. Dieringer sits at 11th all-time for unbeaten streaks in program history and is just four-consecutive wins away from entering the top ten.
75 and Counting
Returning NCAA champion Alex Dieringer earned his 75th career win onNov. 29, defeating No. 14 Nick Wanzek of Minnesota in Minneapolis with a 9-2 decision. The win puts him in the hunt to join Oklahoma State's 100-Win Club. The junior boasts a 93-4-0 record with 62 bonus-point wins. Of those bonus-points victories, 28 were wins by fall.
Josh Kindig joins Dieringer in the milestone as he picked up his 75th career win and first Southern Scuffle title, defeating No. 4 Drake Houdashelt in the 149-pound finals, 5-3, onJan. 2. He carries a 79-31 career record.
Last Time Out
No. 6 Oklahoma State 20, No. 20 North Carolina State 12
Feb. 22, 2015 :: Reynolds Coliseum (Raleigh, N.C.)
*Match started at 174 pounds
174: No. 11 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) dec. Pete Renda (NCST), 5-3
184: No. 18 Nolan Boyd (OSU) dec. Nicky Hall (NCST), 4-2
197: Austin Schafer (OSU) dec. Mike Boykin (NCST), 4-2
285: No. 1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NCST) dec. No. 5 Austin Marsden (OSU), 4-1
125: Joe DeAngelo (NCST) dec. No. 8 Eddie Klimara (OSU), 3-2
133: Gary Wayne Harding (OSU) dec. Bryce Meredith (NCST), 9-4
141: Kevin Jack (NCST) dec. No. 15 Dean Heil (OSU), 7-3
149: Beau Donahue (NCST) dec. Davey Dolan (OSU), 9-7 SV1
157: No. 16 Anthony Collica (OSU) MD Sam Melikian (NCST), 20-9
165: No. 1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) MD Max Rohskopf (NCST), 15-5
All-Time Dual Wins Leaders
As ofMarch 5, 2015
1. Oklahoma State 1,066-123-23
2. Iowa State 1,048-299-20
3. Oregon State 1,012-327-28
4. Iowa 958-225-31
5. Minnesota 934-430-24
Best in the Big 12
Cowboy wrestlers Alex Dieringer and Nolan Boyd each earned Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors twice this season.
Dieringer, a junior and returning national champion for the Pokes, was named Wrestler of the Month for the month of November. He also was recognized as the best in the league onJan. 26for his pair of bonus-point wins against Mikey England of Mizzou and No. 4 Mike Moreno of Iowa State.
So far, the 165-pounder is 26-0 on the season and earned a 15-0 mark in dual action. Of his 26 wins, 22 came with bonus-points attached, including eight falls, four tech falls and 10 major decisions.
Sophomore Nolan Boyd earned his first career weekly honor onDec. 22for his championship performance at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where he was named Outstanding Wrestler. His second came onJan. 12for knocking off then-No. 7 Sammy Brooks of Iowa in an exciting comeback win, 9-6.
Dieringer, Kindig Compete at NWCA All-Star Classic
Returning national champion Alex Dieringer and 2014 NCAA finalist Josh Kindig were selected to compete in the NWCA All-Star Classic, which was held onNov. 1in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dieringer won his debut match at 165 pounds, defeating No. 2 Nick Sulzer, a two-time All-American for the University of Virginia, 4-1.
Kindig fell 4-1 to No. 1 Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern in a rematch of the 2014 149-pound finals.
Switching It Up
Junior Alex Dieringer, the 2014 NCAA champion at 157 pounds, made the move to 165 pounds this season. Taking his place at 157 pounds, is sophomore Anthony Collica, who won a Big 12 title last year at 141 pounds. Sophomores Kyle Crutchmer and Jordan Rogers are also changed weight classes, moving down from 184 pounds to battle it out for the 174-pound starting spot.
Welcome to Oklahoma State
The Cowboy wrestling squad welcomes two transfers this season in Luke Bean and Kyle Garcia.
Garcia traded in his crimson and cream for orange and black, transferring across the state from the University of Oklahoma. While at OU, Garcia compiled a 12-17 record his true freshman year at the starting 125-pound spot. He redshirted during the 2013-14 year and comes to OSU as a redshirt sophomore.
Bean, a transfer from Arizona State, strung together a 6-6 record during the 2013-14 season, his first season of varsity competition. He joins the Pokes as a sophomore.
Follow Cowboy Wrestling
Stay up to date with the Oklahoma State wrestling team on the following social media:
Twitter: @CowboyWrestling
Facebook:facebook.com/cowboywrestling
Instagram: @CowboyWrestling
Snapchat: OSUathletics
YouTube:youtube.com/osuathletics
Signing Day Recap
In mid-November, John Smith announced the signing of seven wrestlers during the 2014 early signing period.
The signees include four Oklahoma natives and three out-of-state recruits. Hailing from Oklahoma are Stillwater High seniors Kaid Brock, Tristan Moran and Joe Smith, and Yukon senior Boo Lewallen.
Venturing to Oklahoma from out of state is Nick Piccininni of New York, Andrew Marsden of Illinois and Lincoln Olson of Michigan.
Brock and Piccininni are ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively at 126 pounds with Olson coming in at No. 8 at the weight. Smith (160), son of head coach John Smith, and Lewallen (132) are both tabbed as the No. 5 wrestlers in their respective weight classes. Marsden comes in at No. 6 at 220 pounds, and Moran, a 145-pounder is ranked No. 12 at his weight class.
ASICS All-Americans Live Here
There are three different wrestlers on this year's Oklahoma State roster who were ASICS first-team All-Americans during their prep days:
Josh Kindig 2010
Jordan Rogers 2012
Chance Marsteller 2014
Fargo Champs, Too
There are three different wrestlers on this year's Oklahoma State wrestling roster who won titles at the ASICS Junior Freestyle National Championships in Fargo, N.D., during their prep days:
Alex Dieringer 2011
Jordan Rogers 2011
Anthony Collica 2012 and 2013
Coached by the Best
Members of the OSU wrestling staff combine for six world championships and two Olympic gold medals.
They also combine for six NCAA championships and 10 All-America honors. The breakdown:
Olympic Medalists
John Smith 1988 and 1992 Gold
Senior World Championships Medalists
John Smith 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991 Gold
NCAA Individual Championships
John Smith 1987, 1988
Eric Guerrero 1997, 1998, 1999
Zack Esposito 2005
