Cowboys Open Postseason at Big 12 Championship in Tulsa

Notes (PDF)
Big 12 Championship Brackets (PDF)

STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestling team begins postseason action at the 2021 Big 12 Championship this weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Three OSU wrestlers claimed the No. 1 seed in their weight classes at the tournament, including Daton Fix (133), Boo Lewallen (149) and Travis Wittlake (165). While in Tulsa, the Cowboys will compete for their ninth-consecutive Big 12 tournament title and the 55th overall conference championship in program history.

Tournament Details
The Big 12 Championship is divided into four sessions over two days of competition. Saturday's matches will begin at 11 a.m. with the first round and quarterfinal matches. Session III will begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday with the consolation semifinals, followed by the championship matches at 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 6
Session I: 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Preliminary and Quarterfinal Matches

Session II: 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Semifinals & First and Second Round Consolations

Sunday, March 7
Session III: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Consolation Semifinals and Medal Matches

Session IV: 5 p.m.
Championship Matches

Tune In
Sessions I-III: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Session IV: ESPN2
Listen: Hot 93.7 KSPI-FM
Live Stats: Trackwrestling.com

Big 12 Tournament Seeds Announced
Three Oklahoma State wrestlers claimed the top seed at their weights at the Big 12 Championship. For the second year in a row, Boo Lewallen sits atop the 149-pound bracket and Travis Wittlake took the No. 1 seed at 165 pounds. In his return to the Big 12 tournament, Daton Fix is the first seed in the 133-pound bracket. Three Cowboys were also given the third seed in their respective brackets, beginning with Trevor Mastrogiovanni at 125 pounds. Fellow freshman Dustin Plott is the third seed in the 174-pound bracket and Dakota Geer enters his final conference tournament as the No. 3 seed at 184 pounds. At 197 pounds, AJ Ferrari will make his Big 12 Championship debut as the fourth seed in a loaded bracket. His only loss on the season came to third seed Noah Adams in a 3-2 bout at the Cowboy Challenge Tournament. Austin Harris is seeded fifth for the Cowboys in the heavyweight division, and junior Wyatt Sheets (157) lands at No. 6 in his weight class.

Returning Big 12 Champs
Oklahoma State has four previous conference champions in contention at this year's championship: Daton Fix (133), Kaden Gfeller (141), Boo Lewallen (149) and Travis Wittlake (165). Lewallen looks to claim conference title No. 3, while the others seek to win their second. Gfeller won his conference title in 2019 at 149 pounds, but will competing at 141 pounds in the tournament this season.

John Smith at the Conference Meet
Coach John Smith has led the Cowboys to a combined 22 conference titles including 20 Big 12 Tournament championships and two regular season crowns. Since Smith took over the program in 1992, OSU has produced 123 individual conference champs. Under Smith the Cowboys have finished either first or second at the conference meet 24 times in 27 eligible years. (Smith inherited an OSU program that was on probation and was not eligible to compete for the conference crown his first two seasons). Smith is a 13-time selection as Big 12 Coach of the Year to go with his two Big Eight Coach of the Year accolades. Should the Cowboys claim a conference title this weekend, it would mark the longest run of consecutive Big 12 Championship wins in Smith's tenure and in the history of the conference. It would also give OSU its longest run of conference titles in program history. The Cowboys look to add to 112 individual Big 12 titles and 287 conference champs. The team will seek its 53rd conference tournament title and 55th overall conference crown in program history.

Winning Wittlake
With a 40-2 record at Oklahoma State, sopho-more Travis Wittlake is 12th on the list of career winning percentage of wrestlers with a minimum of 30 career bouts at OSU. At 95.2%, he currently sits one spot ahead of teammate Daton Fix who holds a 39-2 record in his career. After a 28-2 record as a redshirt freshman in 2019-2020, Wittlake has started his sophomore season 12-0 and is the No. 1 seed at the Big 12 Championships. After winning an individual conference title at 165 pounds last season, Wittlake will attempt to win his second this weekend in Tulsa.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

AJ Ferrari

Daton Fix

Austin Harris

Boo Lewallen

Trevor Mastrogiovanni

Dustin Plott

Wyatt Sheets

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