The 9-2 OSU Grapplers head to Dallas to wrestle The 6th ranked Wolverines (9-2) of Michigan at Globe Life Field Friday night at 7:00 p.m. If you can't make it down to Dallas, you can watch it on Rokfin.com (with subscription). While you can join Rokfin for Free, you don't get access to the premium features liek live streaming this match without a premium subscription. 14.99 a month or 149 a year. If you do decide to sign up, sign up under "Owrestle" because they get a cut of the fee and do lots of good Oklahoma wrestling reporting.
While Michigan is highly ranked, they have some guys that are beaten up that we probably won't see, so it will be a real disappointment if we don't win this dual pretty easily. In the last two weeks Michigan has lost to #1 Penn State 30-8 and #5 Ohio State 23-15, but dominated Maryland and Rutgers. Oklahoma State picked up a good win over Northern Iowa last week, but lost a very winnable dual against Iowa State, mostly due to us being down 3 starters. Here are the expected lineups against Michigan
125: Reece Witcraft (v. (20) Jack Medley: No one knows where our typical starter Trevor Mastrogiovanni has been, he just has not been wrestling for the last three weeks. Coach says it is a "health" issue, whatever that means, but there are rumors abound, which I won't repeat here. In his place, Zach Blankenship has been overmatched by ranked wrestlers (lacks size and strength as a true freshman), so Reece Witcraft has cut the weight and is expected to get the start. Witncraft is a solid wrestler, and has a 45-20 record and was a starter back in 2020. He is 14-4 at 133 this year wrestling in tournaments. Medley is 16-7 but has not faced a bunch of top notch guys this year and when he does, he usually loses. While Witcraft could win this one, Medley is definitely the favorite, so lets call it Medley by decision. Michigan 0-3
133: (2) Daton Fix (16-0) v. (12) Dylan Ragusin (12-5): Fix and RBY are really heads and shoulders above everyone else at 133, so a loss here would be a huge upset. Fix has been sort of disappointing (for being 16-0) in that he has been content to ride guys for 4 minutes rather than go for major decisions, so while he is certainly capable of it, I don't see a major or fall here especially since Ragusin has found a way to keep it close against other top 5 guys. Fix by decision Tied 3-3.
141: (22) Carter Young v. (25) Cole Mattin: Young had a very good weekend last weekend and was named Big 12 wrestler of the week after knocking off #8 Cole Happel and #19 Casey Swiderski. He has been inconsistent this year, but last week showed a lot of promise. He constantly gets in on shots, he just has a tough time finishing on occasion. This is a true tossup, but let's give it to Young by decision. OSU 6-3.
149: (20) Victor Voinovich (11-5) v. (21) Chance Lamer (10-3): Vic had a tough weekend last weekend dropping both matches (to higher ranked wrestlers, at least). It doesn't get much easier Friday against Lamer, but he really should win this one, if he wrestles to his ability. However, Lamer did tech fall one of the guys that beat Vic last weekend, for what that is worth, and his only 3 losses are to top 10-15 guys. Lamer has been banged up though, and his replacement Fidel Mayora isnt any good. OSU 9-3 (If Lamer wrestles). 10-3 if Mayora Wrestles.
157: (14) Kaden Gfeller (13-4) v. (10) Will Lewan (13-4): This match comes down to which G decides to wrestle. It is a winnable match for him, but he just sometimes has brain farts that stop him from being an AA guy year in year out. Lewan has lost to every good guy he has wrestled this year, but he finished 5th in NCAA's last year. so its a real toss up. Im going to go with Lewan by decision. OSU 9-6.
165: (24) Wyatt Sheets (10-8) v. (5) Cam Amine (9-2): Unless Sheets pulls off a big move, he's probably going to get beat by Amine. Amine is a solid wrestler, but for every pin of a guy like Carson Kharchla (in OT), his two losses were to very good but not elite guys. Wyatt is a good but not very good wrestler. HOWEVER, theres a decent chance Amine is still banged up form last weekend where he appeared to hurt his knee. If he can't go, Sheets easily beats the backup. Tied 9-9 (If Amine goes).
174: (6) Dustin Plott (15-1) v. (28) Max Maylor (15-5): Whether Plott can get bonus points here could be the difference in the dual. He is certainly capable, and his opponent, while not terrible, is not to his caliber. Outside of one stinker, Plott has been excellent this year, so Im going to call this a major decision for Plott. OSU 13-9
184: (11) Travis Wittlake (12-2) v. (9) Matt Finesilver (16-5): Wittlake did not wrestle last weekend for what coach said were "precautionary reasons" but expected him to be ready to go. IF he is healthy, I predict a win here. But if he is not, or Stika goes, its a loss for OSU. Finesilver may have more losses, but all of his losses were to top 10 guys and he has a win over a top 10 Trey Munoz (Injury) who Wittlake lsot to 4-3. He tech falled the very good Tate Picklo from OU, and beat two other guys in the top 20, so he's definitely got some talent. Wittlake on the other hand, has not wrestled that many good guys, especially since he ducked Keckeisen and Coleman last weekend, so I don't really know where he is. Maybe my pick is nostalgia (or wishful thinking)...anyway decision for Wittlake. OSU 16-9.
197: (18) Luke Surber (13-5) v. Benin Yatooma (5-10): Barring something crazy, Surber is gonna get bonus points here. Yatooma is terrible and Surber is very good. Major decision. 20-9.
HWT: (24) Konner Doucet (13-4) v. (1) Mason Parris (21-0). If Doucet does not give up a tech a pin here, it will be a "win" for him. The good news is that he does nto give up a lot of points, but on the other hand, he does not score many either. Parris is a machine with a 71% bonus rate and 11 pins. I say pin. OSU 20-15.
Clearly some really good matchups here, so it should be entertaining, and really give us a chance to move up a little in the rankings.
While Michigan is highly ranked, they have some guys that are beaten up that we probably won't see, so it will be a real disappointment if we don't win this dual pretty easily. In the last two weeks Michigan has lost to #1 Penn State 30-8 and #5 Ohio State 23-15, but dominated Maryland and Rutgers. Oklahoma State picked up a good win over Northern Iowa last week, but lost a very winnable dual against Iowa State, mostly due to us being down 3 starters. Here are the expected lineups against Michigan
125: Reece Witcraft (v. (20) Jack Medley: No one knows where our typical starter Trevor Mastrogiovanni has been, he just has not been wrestling for the last three weeks. Coach says it is a "health" issue, whatever that means, but there are rumors abound, which I won't repeat here. In his place, Zach Blankenship has been overmatched by ranked wrestlers (lacks size and strength as a true freshman), so Reece Witcraft has cut the weight and is expected to get the start. Witncraft is a solid wrestler, and has a 45-20 record and was a starter back in 2020. He is 14-4 at 133 this year wrestling in tournaments. Medley is 16-7 but has not faced a bunch of top notch guys this year and when he does, he usually loses. While Witcraft could win this one, Medley is definitely the favorite, so lets call it Medley by decision. Michigan 0-3
133: (2) Daton Fix (16-0) v. (12) Dylan Ragusin (12-5): Fix and RBY are really heads and shoulders above everyone else at 133, so a loss here would be a huge upset. Fix has been sort of disappointing (for being 16-0) in that he has been content to ride guys for 4 minutes rather than go for major decisions, so while he is certainly capable of it, I don't see a major or fall here especially since Ragusin has found a way to keep it close against other top 5 guys. Fix by decision Tied 3-3.
141: (22) Carter Young v. (25) Cole Mattin: Young had a very good weekend last weekend and was named Big 12 wrestler of the week after knocking off #8 Cole Happel and #19 Casey Swiderski. He has been inconsistent this year, but last week showed a lot of promise. He constantly gets in on shots, he just has a tough time finishing on occasion. This is a true tossup, but let's give it to Young by decision. OSU 6-3.
149: (20) Victor Voinovich (11-5) v. (21) Chance Lamer (10-3): Vic had a tough weekend last weekend dropping both matches (to higher ranked wrestlers, at least). It doesn't get much easier Friday against Lamer, but he really should win this one, if he wrestles to his ability. However, Lamer did tech fall one of the guys that beat Vic last weekend, for what that is worth, and his only 3 losses are to top 10-15 guys. Lamer has been banged up though, and his replacement Fidel Mayora isnt any good. OSU 9-3 (If Lamer wrestles). 10-3 if Mayora Wrestles.
157: (14) Kaden Gfeller (13-4) v. (10) Will Lewan (13-4): This match comes down to which G decides to wrestle. It is a winnable match for him, but he just sometimes has brain farts that stop him from being an AA guy year in year out. Lewan has lost to every good guy he has wrestled this year, but he finished 5th in NCAA's last year. so its a real toss up. Im going to go with Lewan by decision. OSU 9-6.
165: (24) Wyatt Sheets (10-8) v. (5) Cam Amine (9-2): Unless Sheets pulls off a big move, he's probably going to get beat by Amine. Amine is a solid wrestler, but for every pin of a guy like Carson Kharchla (in OT), his two losses were to very good but not elite guys. Wyatt is a good but not very good wrestler. HOWEVER, theres a decent chance Amine is still banged up form last weekend where he appeared to hurt his knee. If he can't go, Sheets easily beats the backup. Tied 9-9 (If Amine goes).
174: (6) Dustin Plott (15-1) v. (28) Max Maylor (15-5): Whether Plott can get bonus points here could be the difference in the dual. He is certainly capable, and his opponent, while not terrible, is not to his caliber. Outside of one stinker, Plott has been excellent this year, so Im going to call this a major decision for Plott. OSU 13-9
184: (11) Travis Wittlake (12-2) v. (9) Matt Finesilver (16-5): Wittlake did not wrestle last weekend for what coach said were "precautionary reasons" but expected him to be ready to go. IF he is healthy, I predict a win here. But if he is not, or Stika goes, its a loss for OSU. Finesilver may have more losses, but all of his losses were to top 10 guys and he has a win over a top 10 Trey Munoz (Injury) who Wittlake lsot to 4-3. He tech falled the very good Tate Picklo from OU, and beat two other guys in the top 20, so he's definitely got some talent. Wittlake on the other hand, has not wrestled that many good guys, especially since he ducked Keckeisen and Coleman last weekend, so I don't really know where he is. Maybe my pick is nostalgia (or wishful thinking)...anyway decision for Wittlake. OSU 16-9.
197: (18) Luke Surber (13-5) v. Benin Yatooma (5-10): Barring something crazy, Surber is gonna get bonus points here. Yatooma is terrible and Surber is very good. Major decision. 20-9.
HWT: (24) Konner Doucet (13-4) v. (1) Mason Parris (21-0). If Doucet does not give up a tech a pin here, it will be a "win" for him. The good news is that he does nto give up a lot of points, but on the other hand, he does not score many either. Parris is a machine with a 71% bonus rate and 11 pins. I say pin. OSU 20-15.
Clearly some really good matchups here, so it should be entertaining, and really give us a chance to move up a little in the rankings.
OT we go. 