Cowboys Face Top-25 Teams in East Coast Trip

Saturday, January 12

Princeton, NJ

12:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Princeton

January 10, 2019 | Cowboy Wrestling

Princeton Notes

Dual Details
Opponent(s): Princeton (3-3, 1-0), Rutgers (6-2, 0-1)
Date/Time: Jan. 12, 2019/12:00 p.m. CT, Jan. 13, 2019/12:00 p.m. CT
Location: Jadwin Gymnasium/Rutgers Athletic Center
Series: OSU has never wrestled either program
Watch: FloWrestling (Rutgers)
Radio: Princeton-Pete 94.3 FM & Rutgers-93.7 KSPI-FM
Live Stats: Trackwrestling.com

Cowboy Quick Hits
The Cowboys moved to 5-0 following their latest dual with Northern Colorado, nearly a month ago. The Pokes competed at the Reno Tournament of Champions to close out the 2018 portion of the schedule and opened the 2019 with a second-place finish in a highly competitive Southern Scuffle. Each Cowboy starter is ranked at his respective weight this week, and seven of those land inside the top 10. Four wrestlers collected first-place honors at the Scuffle, with dominant performances from Nick Piccininni, Daton Fix, Kaden Gfeller and Derek White. Piccininni (125), Fix (133) and Gfeller (149) remain undefeated this season.

The Basics
Remarkably, Oklahoma State has never wrestled Princeton or Rutgers in a dual meet. Both programs are in the top-25 this week with Princeton at 25 and Rutgers coming in at 19, and the programs' lineups feature multiple ranked wrestlers.

Gfeller Named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week
No. 6 Kaden Gfeller was unanimously selected as the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week on Monday afternoon following a dominant Southern Scuffle performance to begin the calendar year. He is the first Cowboy to receive the award this season. The redshirt freshman stormed through the first day of the tournament, pinning each of his opponents and earning a place in the quarterfinals. He took it to the wire with Penn State's Jarod Verkleeren and won a 3-2 decision to advance to the semifinals. The Cowboy collected an 18-3 technical fall in the second period of his bout with Cal State Bakersfield's Russell Rohlfing to earn a spot in the finals against No. 6 Mitch Finesilver (Duke). Gfeller took the 3-2 decision and claimed a spot atop the podium for the second-consecutive year. Gfeller moved to 19-0 on the season with his six tournament wins and brought his bonus-point win total to 14.

Big Men Fall Hard
Heavyweight Derek White garnered his first career pin against Oklahoma's Jake Boyd on Dec. 9, and has been on a roll ever since. White went on to defeat Northern Colorado's Robert Winters in a second-period, 17-2 technical fall in the Cowboys' latest dual meet. Four days later in Reno, the No. 3 ranked wrestler collected first and second round falls against Menlo's Jeremiah Holbrook and Bryan Barnes (unat.). The first tournament pin came in a career-best 29 seconds. At the Southern Scuffle, White pinned earned two technical falls in his first two matches before pinning Lock Haven's Thomas Haines in the quarterfinals. The Cowboy went on to claim the heavyweight title defeating Nick Nevills and Anthony Cassar (PSU) via decisions.

What to Watch
Three Cowboys will grapple in top-10 bouts against the Tigers. Piccininni faces No. 10 Patrick Glory, Gfeller wrestles the top-ranked 149-pounder in Matthew Kolodzik, and at 197, Dakota Geer takes on No. 3 Patrick Brucki.
It doesn't get any easier for the Pokes at Rutgers, where No. 4 Fix takes on No. 3 Nick Suriano in a much-anticipated rematch of what was the longest high school match on record. Gfeller is set to wrestle his second top-five match in two days against No. 2 Anthony Ashnault. No. 18 Andrew Shomers matches up with No. 15 John Van Brill, and Jacobe Smith has another test at 184 pounds against the Scarlett Knights' Nick Gravina (No. 12).