Cowboys Secure Third-Place Finish at NCAA Wrestling Championships

Brackets After Session V
Session V Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – With one session remaining at the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Oklahoma State has secured a top-three team finish at the event.

The Cowboys finished the early session Saturday with 84.0 team points and sit in third place behind Penn State and Ohio State. Barring the loss of team points, Oklahoma State will finish in third place at the event regardless of what happens in the final session Saturday night.

Preston Weigel (197), Nick Piccininni (125) and Dakota Geer (184) all wrestled in Saturday's early session, each winning their final placement match to finish the tournament in third, fifth and seventh place respectively.

"It was a good round for us," coach John Smith said. "These are the medal rounds, and we pushed everybody kind of forward. Nick losing his first match was tough but then coming back and picking up a pin – those bonus points are important. Preston Weigel ended up a strong third place. Really he had an unbelievable season with the injuries he had. Not sure if he would be able to wrestle or not, and here we have him finishing up third and scoring a total of 5.5 bonus points between the pins and a tech fall. He scored big bonus points."

Weigel, a senior and the No. 3 seed in his bracket, wrapped up his tournament in impressive fashion by pinning No. 6 William Miklus of Iowa State in 2:10 in the consolation semifinal before defeating No. 4 Patrick Brucki of Princeton, 7-1, in the third-place match. Weigel wraps up his season with a 16-1 overall record and finishes his Cowboy career at 69-23 overall and as a two-time All-American.

"I gave it everything I had and finished pretty high," Weigel said. "I feel like I maybe could've done a little better last night, but that's just the way it goes. If I could play the matches out the way I wanted, I'd be winning it. It was fun though. It was a fun tournament."

Although he dropped his consolation semifinal match to open the session, Piccininni came back with a vengeance in the fifth-place match at 125 pounds, pinning No. 7 Pat Glory of Princeton in 5:29. It marked the junior's 27th bonus-point of the season and closed out his season record at 34-2.

Seeded No. 26 in a 33-man bracket, Geer was the lowest seeded wrestler to place at this year's NCAA Championship, and he's the only wrestler seeded in the bottom half of the brackets to do so. Geer closed out his tournament in the seventh-place match against No. 3 Zachary Zavatsky of Virginia Tech and found a way to win again with a 5-4 decision.

It marked the fifth upset of the week for Geer and his third against a top-seven opponent. His wins over No. 2 Shakur Rasheed (Penn State) and No. 3 Zavatsky marked two of the four biggest upsets of the tournament this year. Geer finished his sophomore season with a 30-7 record.

"What an effort from Dakota Geer," Smith said. "He beat the No. 2 seed, the No. 3 seed and the No. 7 seed. He was ranked 26th coming in. He was pretty impressive. It was a good morning, and I'm looking forward to the finals tonight."

The Cowboys wrap up the 2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships in the sixth and final session of the event Saturday at 6 p.m. central time.

The last round kicks off with the heavyweight final as top-seeded senior Derek White tries to become OSU's first heavyweight champion since 2005, facing No. 2 Anthony Cassar of Penn State. Two matches later, 133-pounder Daton Fix will try to become just the fifth freshman in school history and the 32nd freshman in college wrestling history to win a national title as he faces No. 3 Nick Suriano of Rutgers.

The finals will be televised live on ESPN and watchespn.com.

2019 NCAA Wrestling Championships
March 22, 2019 | PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh, Pa.

Session V (Saturday Morning) | Attendance: 18,436

Team Standings After Session V (Top 5)
1. Penn State – 123.5
2. Ohio State – 96.5
3. Oklahoma State – 84.0
4. Iowa – 72.0
5. Michigan – 62.5

Consolation Semifinals
125: No. 8 Vitali Arujau (Cornell) dec. No. 2 Nick Piccininni (OSU), 5-1
197: No. 3 Preston Weigel (OSU) fall No. 6 William Miklus (Iowa State), 2:10

Third-Place Match
197: No. 3 Preston Weigel (OSU) dec. No. 4 Patrick Brucki (Princeton), 7-1

Fifth-Place Match
125: No. 2 Nick Piccininni (OSU) fall No. 7 Pat Glory (Princeton), 5:29
Seventh-Place Match
184: No. 26 Dakota Geer (OSU) dec. No. 3 Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech), 5-4

Finals Schedule (Saturday Night)
285: No. 1 Derek White (OSU) vs. No. 2 Anthony Cassar (Penn State)
133: No. 1 Daton Fix (OSU) vs. No. 3 Nick Suriano (Rutgers)

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboys Secure Third-Place Finish at NCAA Wrestling Championships

Players Mentioned

Daton Fix

Dakota Geer

Nick Piccininni

Preston Weigel

Derek White

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