Oklahoma State is one of six programs bringing its full lineup to this week’s NCAA Championships. 

All 10 Cowboys qualified for Cleveland, putting Oklahoma State in a category with Big 12 rival Iowa State, ACC champion Virginia Tech and Big Ten powers Penn State, Ohio State and Nebraska. 

Nine Cowboys are seeded in the top eight, led by top-seeded 133-pounder Jax Forrest, who outscored his opponents by a combined 70-12 margin at the Big 12 Championships, where he bonused his way through the tournament without allowing a takedown. Had Forrest tacked on one more takedown in his 15-2 victory in the finals against Arizona State’s Kyler Larkin, he would’ve teched his way through the bracket. 

Forrest’s dominant showing in Tulsa, coupled with a victory from Ohio State’s Ben Davino over previously unbeaten Marcus Blaze of Penn State, helped the undefeated Oklahoma State freshman earn the #1 seed in Cleveland. 

“It’s just wrestling,” Forrest said after his Big 12 finals win. “It’s what I train every day, multiple times a day, early mornings, late nights, is for times like this. I wasn’t thinking about Big 12s until a few weeks ago. In my mind, this is just a stepping stone to nationals.”

Oklahoma State put eight into the Big 12 finals, with four emerging as champions. Troy Spratley (125), Casey Swiderski (149), Sergio Vega (141), and Forrest all won their first Big 12 titles.

Landon Robideau (157), LaDarion Lockett (165), Alex Facundo (174), and Konner Doucet (HWT) finished as runners-up. OSU’s 197-pounder Cody Merrill placed third, and 184-pounder Zack Ryder finished eighth. 

It didn’t take Oklahoma State coach David Taylor long to shift his attention to the national tournament after the Cowboys claimed their second straight Big 12 title. 

“This is great, but we’ve never one time talked about winning this tournament,” Taylor said. “We’re focused on being our best version at the end of the year. I think we had a good tournament; we just got to keep making improvements. We’ve got 10 guys going to the national tournament, believing they can win nationals. Just gotta keep helping them get a little bit better.”

Forrest gave a rather candid answer on what he feels he and his teammates need to improve on before heading to Cleveland.

“We came in here kind of overlooking it,” he said. “I feel like a couple of us, we’re so focused on the nationals and, ‘What’s my seed gonna be when I win?’ Instead of, ‘I need to go take care of business, and then my seed will take care of itself.’ I think just regrouping, some of us are a little banged up, just getting healthy, and just get on top of it, making sure we’re in the best shape of our lives for Thursday.”

Ryder Ready?

On the first day of Big 12s, Zack Ryder dislocated his shoulder four times. After falling to Iowa State’s Isaac Dean in the quarterfinals, Ryder needed to win one consolation match to qualify for NCAAs. A decision win against Arizona State’s Shay Addison, Ryder booked his ticket to Cleveland. Taylor said Ryder’s gutsy effort is a reflection of Cowboy wrestling. 

“He’s a tough dude, man,” Taylor said. “Sometimes you wonder what kids are gonna be like when they really face adversity. Every year, there’s guys with that kind of injury, and they take an easy reason to not keep wrestling. He had to win that match to qualify for the nationals, and he did that. Now he’s got some time to refocus and get ready for the national tournament.

“I just think he did a good job, man, for a young kid going through that. He’s emotional, you’ve seen that.  Really proud of him, just really proud of him today. I don’t care what happens the rest of the season, but really proud of that fight he showed, just resilience. I hope that’s what our program is built on: fight and resilience. He showed that today, which is awesome.”

Oklahoma State Seeds And First-Round Matchups

125 — #5 Troy Spratley vs. # 28 Andrew Binni (Navy)

133 — #1 Jax Forrest vs. #32 Andrew Austin (Central Michigan) or #33 Carter Schmidt (Oklahoma)

141 — #2 Sergio Vega vs. #31 Billy DeKraker (Northwestern)

149 — #8Casey Swiderski vs. #25 Michael Gioffre (Illinois)

157 — #5 Landon Robideau vs. #28 Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State)

165 — #5 LaDarion Lockett vs. #28 Cody Goebel (Wisconsin)

174 — #8 Alex Facundo vs. #25 Sergio Desiante (Virginia Tech)

184 — #22 Zach Ryder vs. #11 Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers)

197 — #7 Cody Merrill vs. #26 Ben Vanadia (Purdue)

285 — #7 Konner Doucet vs. #26 Luke Luffman (Illinois)