After a mostly exciting kick off to the 2025-26 season that saw Oklahoma State dominate Stanford, the Cowboys turn their attention to the the National Duals Invitational at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend. First round matchups, which includes OSU vs. Cornell, start at 9 a.m. CST. Oklahoma State is ranked 5th by Intermat, but is the 4th seed here by virtue of #1 ranked Penn State foregoing the potential big payday-$200,000 to the winner.
This dual has some very intriguing, and potentially tough, matchups, and the five OSU true and redshirt freshmen that showed out last Friday against Stanford will have their work cut out for them Saturday morning. Cornell has not had a dual yet, but did send most of their team to the Clarion Open. Four Cornell wrestlers (Tyler Ferrera, Jaxon Joy, Benny Rodgers, Louis Cerchio) finished 2nd and three (Marcelo Milani, Christian Hanson and Ashton Davis) finished 3rd. Interestingly, because of Ivy League rules, several of Cornell’s best wrestlers are not attending school for the first semester (but are with the RTC), so they may have a very different team come Spring.
One interesting twist in this early season tournament will be seeing how teams treat their lineups after a dual is won or lost. Will they pull guys from tough matches if the dual is already decided, or will they give the fans a show? Lots still to know and find out.
Let’s get to the likely matchups and predictions. As usual, rankings are taken from (Flo/Intermat).
125 (2/2) Troy Spratley (1-0) vs. (25/UR) Marcello Milani (4-1)
Milani had a good weekend at Clarion finishing 3rd only losing to Brendan McCrone (Ohio State) 1-0 after beating a very good Vincent Kilkeary (Ohio State) in the semis. Spratley is a different animal, however, and looked the part of a national runner up and potential champion last weekend with the easy tech fall. Against common opponents, Spratley is 13-2 to Milani’s 1-10. PREDICTION: Spratley by decision, but potential for bonus. OSU 3-0.
