Three Cowboy Wrestlers Earn Top-Five Seeds for NCAA Championships

Full Championship Brackets

STILLWATER – For the third year in a row, Oklahoma State sends nine wrestlers to the NCAA tournament with three Pokes falling among the top five in their weight classes. In the second season with fully seeded brackets, each OSU qualifier lands in the top 25 at the Minneapolis, Minn. hosted event.

The highest seed among qualified Cowboys belongs to senior No. 3 Nick Piccininni. The four-time Big 12 Champion is 26-2 on the year with four wins against ranked opponents. His only losses this season came at the hands of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded competitors at the NCAA Championships. Piccininni leads all Cowboys in bonus point wins this season (20) with half coming via technical fall. He looks to improve upon a fifth-place NCAA finish from a year ago.

Landing a four seed in his NCAA tournament debut is Travis Wittlake. The redshirt freshman leads all Cowboys in wins at 27-2 and is coming off his first conference championship. Wittlake has defeated five ranked opponents and suffered losses to only the No. 1 and No. 3 seeded wrestlers at his weight.

The third top five Cowboy is two-time conference champion Boo Lewallen. Positioned as a five seed, Lewallen leads the Cowboys with seven wins against top-20 wrestlers this season. Two of those ranked victories came at the Big 12 Championships against Jarrett Degen and Henry Pohlmeyer. Lewallen has compiled a 21-2 record and owns a team-leading nine wins via major decision. He will seek an All-America finish for the second time in his career after placing eighth at the national tournament in 2018.

Redshirt freshman Anthony Montalvo scored a top 10 seed for the Pokes at 184 pounds landing at No. 9. Montalvo finished third at the Big 12 Championships, going 5-1 on the weekend. He has put together a 25-6 freshman campaign with wins over two ranked opponents. He leads the OSU roster in falls with five, scoring two at the conference tournament.

Wyatt Sheets (11), Joe Smith (12), Dusty Hone (14) and Dakota Geer (14) all landed inside the top 15 in their brackets. Sheets makes his NCAA Championship debut and is coming off a runner-up Big 12 finish to third seeded David Carr of Iowa State. The Cowboy lost a tight 6-4 decision in the conference finals that ended an eight-match winning streak. Also debuting at the national tournament for the first time is Dusty Hone. Hone outwrestled his seed to finish third at the Big 12 Championships last weekend. Smith also finished third among 174-pounders at the Big 12 meet and looks to build on his 12-6 record in Minneapolis. All-American Dakota Geer finished third for a second year in the conference and will seek the podium at nationals again this season.

Freshman Reece Witcraft was named the No. 22 seed at 133 pounds. He earned a spot at the weight with a seventh-place finish in Tulsa.

Action begins in Minneapolis on Thursday, March 19, with the first round getting underway at 11 a.m. CST.

NCAA Championships Seeds
125: Nick Piccininni – No. 3
133: Reece Witcraft – No. 22
141: Dusty Hone – No. 14
149: Boo Lewallen – No. 5
157: Wyatt Sheets – No. 11
165: Travis Wittlake – No. 4
174: Joe Smith – No. 12
184: Anthony Montalvo – No. 9
197: Dakota Geer – No. 14

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Three Cowboy Wrestlers Earn Top-Five Seeds for NCAA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Dakota Geer

Dusty Hone

Boo Lewallen

Anthony Montalvo

Nick Piccininni

Wyatt Sheets

Joe Smith

Reece Witcraft

Travis Wittlake

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