Cowboy Wrestling Set for NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 19

Cleveland, Ohio

Oklahoma State University

NCAA Wrestling

March 17, 2026 | Cowboy Wrestling

13 NCAAs

The Basics
The No. 3 Oklahoma State wrestling team (15-1 overall; 7-0 Big 12) closes the 2026 season at the NCAA Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, inside Rocket Arena. The Cowboys come into this week's action fresh off a Big 12 title, where OSU fell just shy of the all-time points record. Troy Spratley, Jax Forrest, Sergio Vega and Casey Swiderski claimed titles at their respective weight classes and Landon Robideau, Dee Lockett, Alex Facundo and Konner Doucet all finished runner-up.

On the Air
The entire NCAA Championships will be broadcast through ESPN's family of networks. Sessions one and four will air on ESPN2, sessions three and five will air on ESPNU and sessions two and six will air on ESPN. Rex Holt also returns as the voice of Cowboy wrestling to provide live radio coverage, which will be carried on Hot 93.7
KSPI-FM all weekend long. Live results and brackets can be found on trackwrestling.com.
Championship Schedule. The NCAA Championships are divided into six sessions over a three-day span. Each day will consist of a morning and evening session. A look at the full schedule (all times CT):

Thursday, March 19
Session 1 - 11 a.m. (ESPN2) Session 2 - 6 p.m. (ESPN)
First Round Second Round
Friday, March 20
Session 3 - 11 a.m. (ESPNU) Session 4 - 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Quarterfinals Semifinals
Saturday, March 21
Session 5 - 10 a.m. (ESPNU) Session 6 - 5:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Medal Matches Finals

About the Cowboys
The David Taylor era is in full swing after a third-place finish with a pair of individual champions at the NCAA Championships last season. The Cowboys returned six NCAA qualifiers and added three more out of the portal, including Richard Figueroa II, Casey Swiderski and Alex Facundo. Despite losing NCAA champions Wyatt Hendrickson
and Dean Hamiti Jr., the Cowboys are primed for another deep run in March.
The Cowboys enter this year's championships off a second-consecutive Big 12 title under David Taylor, where they scored 176 points to rank as the second-highest point total in OSU and Big 12 history. Coach Taylor joins Cael Sanderson as the only coaches in Big 12 history to win the title in each of his first two seasons at the helm. "Sparky" (Spratley) is the Cowboys' lead-off man and enters the NCAA tournament as a five seed after claiming
a Big 12 title in his last outing. Spratley leads the team in ranked wins and is primed for another deep run in March after reaching the NCAA final last season. True freshmen making noise has been the tune of the season for this squad, and 133-pounder Jax Forrest has
been shaking the wrestling world more than anyone. Since joining the team for the spring semester, Forrest is 14-0 with 12 bonus-point wins, which is best on the team. Forrest enters the NCAA tournament as the top seed after picking up bonus points in every match at the Big 12 tournament, including three wins by technical fall. Forrest's lone major decision victory of the weekend came in the finals against No. 6 Kyler Larkin of Arizona State,
where Forrest took a 15-2 victory. Other dominant true freshmen include second-seeded Sergio Vega (141), who's 19-0 and has yet to allow a takedown in his collegiate career, and Landon Robideau (157) and Dee Lockett (165) who are both 16-2 this season and are seeded fifth at their respective weight classes. Both aim to avenge their
Big 12 finals losses in the quarterfinal round of this week's tournament.
It would be hard to talk about the momentum of this team without mentioning the 149-pound Big 12 champion Casey Swiderski. Swiderski has been on a tear since December, winning his last 10 contests en-route to a 14-5 record to earn the No. 8 seed in this week's field. Konner Doucet (HWT) and Alex Facundo (174) aim to provide experience to this young team as two of four wrestlers on this roster to have competed at the NCAA Championships before.

The Opening Act - Recapping 2024-25
David Taylor's opening season for the Cowboys in 2024-25 brought the Cowboy faithful a new hope. Taylor's Cowboys dominated the competition by going 13-1 in dual action, finishing the season unblemished at home in seven matches and winning 10 matches against ranked opponents, including Oregon State, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech,
NC State, West Virginia, Northern Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri and Little Rock in dual action. Taylor also led the Cowboys to a Big 12 title for the first time since 2021. On the biggest stage of collegiate wrestling, Oklahoma State had a pair of Cowboys, Wyatt Hendrickson and Dean Hamiti Jr., crowned national champions. It marked the first time since 2016 the
Cowboys had multiple NCAA champions in the same season. Taylor's Cowboys never left the top three in the rankings, climbing as high as two in the polls.

At the NCAA Championships
No program in college sports represents tradition quite like Oklahoma State wrestling, which boasts 34 team national titles, 145 individual champions and 492 All-Americans. The legacy began with Ed Gallagher, who guided the Cowboys to 11 of the first 13 NCAA titles ever awarded. Art Griffith and Myron Roderick then helped capture 15 more championships
over the next 26 tournaments, while John Smith's legendary career was highlighted by four consecutive titles from 2003-06 and an NCAA-record five individual champions in 2005.

National Seeds
This weekend's tournament will see nine Pokes seeded in the top eight, OSU's most since 2017, as part of their lineup that will feature every starter on the team. The top-seeded Cowboy was Jax Forrest, who received the No. 1 spot at 133 pounds. Sergio Vega was not far behind, taking the second seed at 141 pounds. Other true freshmen Landon Robideau
and Dee Lockett are seeded fifth, as well as returning NCAA finalist Troy Spratley.

Consistency is Key
With 10 wrestlers headed to Philadelphia this weekend, Oklahoma State is joined by Virginia Tech and Penn State as the only programs to secure 39 national qualifiers over the past four seasons. That consistency throughout the lineup has been a constant over the years in Stillwater, having qualified at least nine wrestlers in 17 of the last 18 seasons and
at least eight every year since 1993.

Outstanding Wrestlers
Oklahoma State has seen one of its own receive the NCAA Outstanding Wrestler award 15 times. That list includes two-time winner Yojiro Uetake (1965, 66- 130), one of six multi-time recipients ever, as well as Alan Kelley (1933-145), Ross Flood (1935-126), Stanley
Henson (1937-145), Joe McDaniel (1938-118), Al Whitehurst (1941-136), David "Buddy" Arndt (1942-145), Charles Hetrick (1949-128), Dwayne Keller (1968-123), Darrell Keller (1971-42), Mike Sheets (1983-167), John Smith (1987-134), Chris Barnes (1990-177) and Pat Smith (1994-158).

NCAA Champions by Weight
Cowboy wrestlers have combined for 145 national titles, nearly double Iowa's second-place total of 85, with at least one in 72 of the 94 tournaments. A breakdown of those championships by weight class:

Most Recent Total
125: None --
133: Jordan Oliver (2011) 5
141: Dean Heil (2017) 2
149: Jordan Oliver (2013) 2
157: Alex Dieringer (2014) 5
165: Alex Dieringer (2016) 10
174: Dean Hamiti Jr. (2025) 5
184: Jake Rosholt (2003) 1
197: AJ Ferrari (2021) 4
HWT: Wyatt Hendrickson (2025) 18
*also won 93 titles at discontinued weight classes

Big 12 Champions Once Again
Last weekend, Oklahoma State claimed the 57^th overall conference championship in program history, earning back-to-back titles under head coach David Taylor. The Cowboys totaled 176 points, running away from the rest of the field. That point total ranks second-most in tournament history and was aided by eight finalists and nine top-three placers. OSU has now won 21 of the 30 Big 12 tournament trophies awarded, as well as both regular season titles in 2012 and 2013. With the victory, David Taylor became the second coach in Big 12 history to win a team title in each of his first two seasons, joining Cael Sanderson
who did it with Iowa State in 2007 and 2008.

Taylor & The Cowboys: Must-See TV
David Taylor's Cowboys have taken the wrestling world by storm in his first two seasons at the helm of the program. Attendance and viewership has skyrocketted under the new head coach. In each of his first two seasons, the Cowboys have broken the home dual aveage attendance records by over 20%. In addition to selling out Gallagher-Iba Arena twice this season, Oklahoma State's dual on February 22 against No. 7 Iowa drew the most viewership for any ESPN wrestling dual ever, with more than 494,000 fans tuning in to watch the greatest rivalry in college sports.

The Spark
The Cowboys have one of the most vaunted lead-off man in the country in Troy Spratley. Spratley, a returning NCAA finalist from last season, now ranks seventh in the latest poll. The 125-pounder is 16-3 on the season. Spratley's incredible season in 2024-25 included five wins over top-five opponents, gaining bonus points for the Cowboys in over half of
his matches as the leadoff man. Now with a Big 12 title under his belt, Sparky aims to avenge last year's NCAA title loss.

Fab Freshmen
The freshmen on the OSU roster have been the story of the 2025-26 season. 141-pounder Sergio Vega leads the charge with a flawless 19-0 campaign and is ranked second in the country, while 165-pounder Dee Lockett is 16-2 and ranked fifth. Other true freshman
Landon Robideau has dominated his competition this season, going 16-2 with his losses coming to last season's NCAA Champion at 157 pounds and the top seed at the Big 12 tournament, Kaleb Larkin. Cowboy newcomer Jax Forrest has inserted himself into the
Oklahoma State lineup in a big way, making his collegiate debut in Bedlam with a pin. He followed it up with a 133-pound Cyclone Open title, where he beat a two-time U23 World Champion in the title bout. He s now 14-0 on the year and received the No. 1 seed at
the NCAA Championships. Other freshmen making an immediate impact are 184-pounder Zack Ryder and 197-pounder Cody Merrill. Ryder started his season with an impressive win at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Ryder currently ranks No. 11 in the country with a 12-9
record, while Merrill is 17-4 on the year and is ranked seventh.

Hey Now, You're an All-Star
On November 1, Zack Ryder and Casey Swiderski competed in the NWCA All-Star Classic. Casey Swiderski led off the night for the Cowboys by facing Michigan's three-time All-American Lachlan McNeil. Swiderski controlled the match and nabbed the lone takedown of the bout to win, 4-2. The win vaulted Swiderski up to No. 2 in the poll at 149 pounds. Ryder
dominated what was considered the match of the weekend, as he took down Maryland's Jaxon Smith at 184 pounds. Ryder collected the only bonus-point win of the event with his major decision over Smith, 14-4. He took down Smith four times and did not allow a takedown. Smith, a three-time national qualifier, had only given up bonus points twice in his career – once to Carter Starocci and the other to Aaron Brooks, who have nine national titles between them. Ryder's win turned heads around the country, and it was seen in
the polls as he climbed to fourth at 184 pounds.

Made for the Moment
True freshman Landon Robideau and Dee Lockett made their Cowboy debuts on November 7 against Stanford, both facing All-Americans in Daniel Cardenas and Hunter Garvin. Unafraid of the moment, Robideau picked up a major decision victory and Lockett used a gutsy second period ride out to pick up a 2-1 win. Other true freshman Sergio Vega was incredible in his debut as well, picking up a technical fall win. Of the Cowboys' 33 points in last Friday's opener, the true freshman accounted for 12 of them. The trio is all ranked inside the top seven in the country.

New Kids On the Block
David Taylor took the recruiting world by storm, as he brought in the second ranked recruiting class in the country entering his second season at the helm. The Cowboys led the nation with eight signees ranked inside FloWrestling's Top 100 Big Board. The group is spearheaded by blue-chip prospects LaDarion "Dee" Lockett, Landon Robideau and Sergio Vega, who make up half of the top six overall spots. Of the 10 wrestlers in the class, six are in-state products while the others hail from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona and California. The full list includes Kruz Goff, Ishmael Guerrero, Beau Hickman, Austin Johnson, Lockett, Ronnie Ramirez, Robideau, Kody Routledge, Ethan Teague, and Vega. Then they added Jax Forrest who was ranked No. 1 overall in the class of 2026 before reclassifying to 2025.

The Douce(t) is loose
A familiar face for Cowboy fans, Konner Doucet is back in the lineup for the 2025 season after sitting behind Hodge Trophy winner Wyatt Hendrickson last season. Doucet started the season ranked ninth and has now climbed to seventh. The two-time NCAA qualifier hasn't looked back since re-gaining the reins, collecting the most dual points on the team this season with 63.

Serg-ical
True freshman Sergio Vega has been sensational for the Cowboys 19 bouts into his career. The Cowboy's 141 pounder has 10 ranked wins, tied for the most on the team. Vega has yet to give up a takedown in his collegiate career. At the National Duals Invitational back in November, Vega had arguably the most impressive weekend of anyone. The true freshman went 4-0 with wins over All-Americans in three of those bouts. The most impressive of those wins came over three-time All- American and NCAA finalist Brock Hardy. Vega picked up a 13-2 major decision over Hardy, who did not give up bonus points in any of his 31 contests last season. In his other three matches on the weekend, Vega took down All-Americans Nassir Bailey and Ryan Jack, and NCAA qualifier Josh Saunders. One month after Vega's standout weekend at the National Duals, the freshman pinned No. 3 Brock Hardy on the road in Lincoln, marking the first time in Hardy's collegiate career he'd been pinned.

The Power of the Pivot
The Cowboys brought in transfers Casey Swiderski, Alex Facundo, Zack Ryder and Gary Steen to bolster the lineup this season, and if last year's transfers are any indication of what they can do in David Taylor's program, the sky is the limit for those five. Last year's transfers that started for the Cowboys were Caleb Fish, Cam Amine, Dean Hamiti Jr. and Wyatt Hendrickson. All four of them earned All-America status and two of them went on to win national titles.

Famous Forrest
FloWrestling's top pound-for-pound recruit in the 2026 class, Jax Forrest, has taken the wrestling world by storm after he pinned Oklahoma's Carter Schmidt in the first period of his collegiate debut. The next weekend, Forrest went on to claim the 133-pound Cyclone Open title, with a signature win over 28-yearold Reineri Andreu Ortega. Ortega is a two-time U23 World Champion and Pan-American gold medalist. Forrest is now 14-0 in his young career after his statement wins against No. 6 Aaron Seidel at Virginia Tech and two-time NCAA finalist No. 8 Drake Ayala. In Forrest's technical fall win, it marked the first time in Ayala's career that he'd lost via tech.

Triple Threat
With the addition of Jax Forrest to the Cowboy lineup, the Cowboys now have one of, if not the, most dominant top of the lineups in the country. Spratley leads off this trio at 125 pounds. The returning NCAA finalist from last season is 16-3 with eight ranked wins. Forrest has put the country on notice just 14 bouts into his young career. FloWrestling's top pound-for-pound recruit in the 2026 class has 12 bonus-point wins in his 14 bouts. At 141 pounds, Vega has been one of the most dominant wrestlers in the country. going 19-0 tied for the team lead with 10 ranked wins.

Wrestling's House of Horrors
No venue in America has a richer wrestling tradition than Gallagher-Iba Arena, home of the
Oklahoma State wrestling program since 1939. In its beginning as Gallagher Hall, the gymnasium was named for Ed Gallagher, but when renovations were completed in January 1988, it was renamed Gallagher-Iba Arena to honor the late Mr. Henry P. Iba, Oklahoma State's legendary basketball coach. Alongside 54 NCAA championship banners, Gallagher
and Iba's names have looked over Oklahoma State's historic venue for nearly 40 years.
Since 1939, Oklahoma State has captured 25 NCAA team titles, completed 45 perfect campaigns at home and won more than 90% of its duals inside Gallagher- Iba Arena. The building's opening coincided with the longest home unbeaten streak in program history, as
the Pokes won their first 37 duals inside GIA as part of a 67-dual unbeaten streak at home. That stretch still stands as the program's longest home unbeaten streak, as OSU never suffered defeat from 1933 to February 1951. Oklahoma State's next-longest home unbeaten
streak occurred from the 1959 finale to the middle of the 1967 season, going undefeated for 57 duals in a row. Not far behind, the Cowboys won 51 consecutive duals inside Gallagher-Iba Arena from 1986-1993, good for the third-longest such streak in program history. More recently, John Smith guided the Cowboys to a 26-dual home winning streak from
2018-2022. Not long after the streak was snapped, Oklahoma State defeated South Dakota State on February 4, 2022, for the program's 500th victory inside the venue.

The Home of Wrestling
Oklahoma State is the gold standard in the college wrestling world. On the national level, the Cowboys have won 34 NCAA team titles, crowned 145 NCAA individual champions and earned 492 All-America honors. No other program comes close to those astounding numbers. It's a similar story on the conference level, with OSU winning 56 team titles and Cowboy wrestlers combining for 297 individual championships. From an individual perspective, any list of the greatest wrestlers in NCAA history must include Oklahoma State's Yojiro Uetake, who was a perfect 57-0 with three NCAA titles, and Pat Smith, the first four-time NCAA champion in history. Pat's older brother, John Smith, was a two-time NCAA champion for the Cowboys and went on to win six straight world gold medals from 1987-92. His OSU teammate, Kenny Monday, also won gold in 1988 and 1989 as part of his four world medals. That group is just part of Oklahoma State's consistent representation on
the Olympic stage every four years. Since 1924, 32 Oklahoma State wrestlers have fought their way to Olympic team membership a total of 41 times, with nine athletes winning 11 gold medals. All told, 40 members of the Cowboy wrestling family have been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the most in the country.

NCAA Team Championships
1. Oklahoma State 34
2. Iowa 24
3. Penn State 13

NCAA Individual Champions
1. Oklahoma State 145
2. Iowa 85
3. Iowa State 71

NCAA All-Americans
1. Oklahoma State 492
2. Iowa 367
3. Iowa State 310
Olympians
1. Oklahoma State 41
2. Iowa 23
3. Oklahoma 22