Cowboys Open 2017-18 Season in Albany

PDF Notes

ALBANY, N.Y. – The Oklahoma State wrestling team opens the 2017-18 season this weekend as it travels to Albany, N.Y., for the Journeymen Northeast Duals and Journeymen Collegiate Classic. The Cowboys will start off the weekend on Saturday, when they face off with the 22nd-ranked Tar Heels of North Carolina in the first dual of the season. On Sunday, the Cowboys will face off with some of the nation's best at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic in a round robin format.

Watch the Cowboys
Both events during the weekend can be streamed live on FloWrestling.org.

Listen Live
Fans can listen to both duals live on 93.7 KSPI-FM or okstate.com with Rex Holt and Roger Moore on the call.

Cowboy Connections – North Carolina
The North Carolina wrestling program features a number of Cowboy connections. Most notably, third-year Tar Heel head coach and OSU grad Coleman Scott was a four-time All-American and 2008 NCAA Champion during his time in Stillwater. A four-time member of the U.S. National Team, Scott also claimed bronze at the 2012 London Olympics under coach John Smith.

Assistant coach Neil Erisman, a 2011 graduate of Oklahoma State University, joined the Carolina coaching staff in 2014. A four-year starter at 157 pounds for the Cowboys, Erisman came to UNC after two seasons of coaching at his alma mater and one at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma.

Cowboy legend Kenny Monday enters his second year as club coach of the Tar Heel Wrestling Club. Monday enjoyed a great deal of success in his wrestling career as he was a three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist, earning gold in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, and silver in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. He won the World championships in 1989 and finished with World silver in 1991. In 1988, he won gold at the Tbilisi Tournament, which was considered the toughest in the word at the time. In his collegiate career at Oklahoma State, he was a three-time NCAA finalist, winning the championship in 1984.

Journeymen Classic Field
The Journeymen Collegiate Classic will feature some of the best from around the country. Teams competing at the event include NC State, Lehigh, Rutgers, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Purdue, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Citadel, Army, and Kent State.

About the Cowboys
With a pair of NCAA individual titles under his belt, Oklahoma State senior 141-pounder Dean Heil leads a young, but talented Cowboy roster into the 2017-18 season. Facing the losses of Anthony Collica and Nolan Boyd, both multi-year staples in the OSU lineup and All-Americans in their own right, head coach John Smith returns Heil along with All-Americans Nick Piccininni, Kaid Brock, Joe Smith, Chandler Rogers and Preston Weigel from the 2017 NCAA Championships.

The Pokes will look to build on a 2016-17 season that saw them tally a third-place finish at the national tournament. Following up an impressive 14-1 dual record, the Cowboys also claimed the program's 51st conference title, shattering Big 12 Championship records for team points and margin of victory.

Smith also brings a new-look coaching staff into the upcoming season. After elevating Zack Esposito to the associate head coach post prior to the 2017 season, Smith made more moves this past summer. Chris Perry was promoted to assistant coach from his previous volunteer assistant position, while Wisconsin standout Isaac Jordan made the move to Stillwater to assume Perry's former role. Four-time All-American Tyler Caldwell was also added to the staff as a recruiting coordinator.

The Cowboy wrestling program enjoyed a number of firsts and record-breaking performances during the 2016-17 season, and they look to continue that trend into 2018. While Dean Heil sets his sights on title No. 3, a slew of other Cowboys and returning All-Americans look to make their mark on program history as well come March.

Last Time Out
Eight members of the Oklahoma State wrestling team claimed titles at the OCU Open on Sunday afternoon to open the 2017-18 season.

Aside from the seven Cowboy wrestlers who earned open titles, OSU also had five Cowboys finish second and another three medal in the division. Kaden Gfeller also earned the 141-pound title in the freshman/sophomore division.

OCU Open Final Results (Open Division)
125: Eli Hale (1st), Gary Wayne Harding (2nd)
133: Kaid Brock (1st), Donald Cannon (DNP)
141: Dean Heil (1st), Mike Magaldo (2nd)
149: Boo Lewallen (1st), Tristan Moran (2nd), Geo Martinez (3rd)
157: Jonce Blaylock (1st), Dalton Moran (2nd), Wyatt Sheets (3rd)
174: Jacobe Smith (1st)
197: Andrew Marsden (2nd)
HWT: Derek White (1st), Blake Andrews (2nd), Ethan Andrews (3rd)

OCU Open Final Results (Freshman/Sophomore Division)
125: Jet Taylor (DNP)
141: Kaden Gfeller (1st), Josh Solomon (DNP)
157: Tyler Dieringer (DNP)
184: Austin Harris (2nd), Bear Hughes (DNP)
HWT: Cornelius Putnam (3rd)

Series Notes
?The Cowboys and Tar Heels have met five times in both programs' histories, with the Pokes taking each prior matchup.
?Four of the five matchups have come in the John Smith era, with the lone other contest coming in 1987; a dual the Cowboys won, 21-15.
?OSU is 2-0 against North Carolina in neutral-site duals.
?Saturday will mark the second contest between John Smith and Coleman Scott. Smith's Cowboys took the win in the lone previous showdown, coming up on top, 33-6.

Smith Chasing No. 400
With the retirement of former Rider head coach Gary Taylor during the offseason, Oklahoma State head coach John Smith assumed the title of winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I wrestling.

Currently sitting at 398 wins for his coaching career, Smith is only two away from the 400-victory mark. With those two wins, he would become the eighth coach to reach that benchmark at the DI level. He would also become only the fifth coach to win all 400 of his duals at the same school. A look at the list:

All-Time Wrestling Coaching Wins*
1. 616     Dale Thomas        Oregon State                                        1957-90
2. 493     Harold Nichols      Iowa State /Arkansas St.                    1948-85
3. 442     Gary Taylor           Rider                                                      1977-2017
3. 440     J Robinson            Minnesota                                             1986-2016
4. 424     Bobby Douglas     Iowa St./Arizona St.                             1975-2006
5. 421     Jack Childs           Drexel                                                    1975-2010
                T.J. Kerr CSU-Bakersfield/San Jose State      1984-2013
7. 398     John Smith          Oklahoma State                                 1992-Pres.
* Includes only DI wins

We're Going Streaking!
Senior Dean Heil enters the 2017-18 campaign with a 44-match win streak dating back to the 2015-16 season. The streak is the second-longest in the nation behind only Penn State's Zain Retherford, who boasts a 64-match streak.

Last season, Heil posted a perfect 32-0 overall record with a 15-0 dual mark on the way to his second-straight national title at 141 pounds and the 142nd individual title in program history. His 32-0 season marked the 15th undefeated season of 29 wins or more in school history.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Next Event

Related News

Related Videos