James Hackney
While I thought the Sooners could be a sneaky contender in the Big 12, injuries and inconsistency have dropped them to barely in the rankings. Based on seeds Oklahoma is sitting in 6th behind ISU, OSU, Mizzou, SDSU, and UNI. There are some spots where I see potential upside, but a lot of their unseeded wrestlers have brutal draws. On paper they have five guys seeded to qualify, but some are on the bubble. At the same time I could see them sneaking in a few more to bring a solid crew to NCAA’s. With it being Roger Kish’s first year expectations aren’t necessarily to contend, but it would be good to make a statement with a good post season.
125lbs – 6 AQ’s: Unseeded; Conrad Hendriksen (12-10)
First Round Match: 6 Seed; #27 Kysen Terukina (Iowa State)
Hendriksen has wrestled tough all season and has good wins but comes in a brutal weight unseeded. He gets a first round match he could take advantage of however as he and Terukina had a 1-1 overtime match where Terukina had the overtime takedown. If Hendriksen can flip that result, that would be a big boon to his chance to qualify.
I think he can win that but if he were to drop it, I have him beating UVU’s Yusief Lillie to take on the loser of Jore Volk and Tanner Jordan. I think those are both tough matchups although Hendriksen’s defense can keep him in matches at times. While Hendriksen has some upside, this is a brutal weight and only six spots is going to make it hard to qualify.
Prediction: DNP
133lbs – 6 AQ’s: Unseeded; Jace Koelzer (13-10)
First Round Match: 2 Seed; #7 Evan Frost (Iowa State)
Being unseeded and randomly drawn in can go a lot of ways, but Koelzer drew the short stick facing the two seed early. These two wrestled in the dual earlier this year where Koelzer was majored 11-3. I expect him to drop that one again and take on the loser of Daton Fix vs Garrett Ricks. It will almost definitely be Ricks in the consolations, who beat Koelzer this season 4-2 at Reno.
While Koelzer could potentially flip that result he would be looking at a match against either Derrick Cardinal or Julian Farber. Koelzer did beat Cardinal this season…
