On Saturday and Sunday, the Cowboys made a road trip up to Iowa to wrestle Iowa State and Northern Iowa. Here’s what we learned about the Cowboys over those two Big 12 matchups.

A tale of two duals

On Saturday in their 19-15 loss to Northern Iowa, the Cowboys just looked flat and wrestled maybe as poorly as we’ve seen since the Christmas break. They lost six of the 10 bouts, and even in the matches they won, they really just didn’t look especially good either. At 125 Nick Piccininni had bonused Schwarm every time they wrestled before that match and Schwarm kept it close here. They only picked up the first takedown in a few matches and it really just wasn’t a top-notch outing.

Against ISU it was really just an entirely different dual. They were picking up takedowns late in matches, gassing other guys out, and in most matches got off to strong starts as well. 

If they wrestle like they did vs Iowa State they could win the Big 12; if they perform like they did vs UNI it may be a different story.

Montalvo continuing to grow & develop

In the preseason, and even to this point in the year, there has been a lot of discourse about what the lineup might be at 184 and 197. To start the year Dakota Geer indicated he would remain at 184, but as the season has gone, we’ve seen him up at 197 and Anthony Montalvo down at Geer’s former weight. Montalvo lost to Taylor Lujan 4-0 on Saturday but grabbed another ranked win on Sunday vs #22-ranked Marcus Coleman. With this being a bit of a rebuilding year for the Cowboys, you’re definitely looking for development in your younger guys and for them to win and grow against these top opponents. With Geer up at 197 and Montalvo in at 184, that seems to clearly be happening with a key freshman who will be a big piece of the future of this program.

Watch Montalvo take out Coleman here:

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Boo Lewallen the new #1

Boo picked up a solid win on Saturday over All-American Max Thomsen and now finds himself as the #1-ranked wrestler in the country. I think he’s definitely deserving of the spot, and it’s great for the Cowboys to have a clear title contender in their lineup. That ranking comes with some pressure, though. As he quickly goes into his incredibly tough schedule for the back half of the season, he’ll have a target on his back every time he steps out on the mat. On OSU’s remaining schedule, he’ll face #3, #6, and #9. He’ll also have #7, #9, #10, and #18 in his bracket at the Big 12 tournament.

New upper-weights in the fray 

On Tuesday it was announced that football players Malcolm Rodriguez and Brock Martin would be joining the wrestling team for the rest of the season. Martin was a three-time state champion in high school and Rodriguez a two-time champ. Both are incredible athletes and could definitely be in the conversation to take over the starting spot at heavyweight for the Cowboys. It will be very interesting to see if these two are able to make the lineup and score some points for the Cowboys at heavyweight at the Big 12 tournament.

Joe Smith’s return

Joe Smith got off to a bit of a rocky return on Saturday vs UNI as he was majored by #5-ranked Bryce Steiert. On Sunday, much like the rest of the team, it was a different story. He took out #14-ranked Sammy Colbray and picked up two third period takedowns in the process. He was injured at the Southern Scuffle and this is the first time we’ve seen the two-time All-American since. The version of Joe we saw on Sunday could make some noise at the NCAA tournament and be a big boost for the Cowboys moving forward. It will be interesting to follow what we see from Joe as he returns to form from his injury and what the Cowboys can expect from him in March.

Watch Joe Smith bounce back with a strong win over Colbray:

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Seth Duckworth is a Stillwater-based writer who covers Oklahoma State University wrestling for Pistols Firing Blog, the best OSU news and community site on the internet. Follow Seth on Twitter.