Seth Duckworth
From Oklahoma State Sports Information
GENEVA, Ohio – Oklahoma State wrestler Dustin Plott won the U23 Freestyle National Championship for the second straight year on Sunday, clinching his spot on the Team USA U23 World Team.
With his spot secured, Plott will travel to Tampere, Finland to compete at the U23 World Championships from October 23-29.
Throughout the weekend, Plott compiled a perfect 7-0 record with three shutout victories. The two-time All-American squared off against Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla in the best-of-three final series and pulled out both matches in exciting fashion. In the first bout, Kharchla opened up a quick 9-0 lead, but Plott fired back with 20 consecutive points to win, 21-10. With the score tied at 10-10 in the second match, Plott put Kharchla on his back and picked up the fall to punch his ticket to Finland.
Following 2023 signee Christian Carroll’s U20 Freestyle National Championship on Saturday, Oklahoma State will be sending two wrestlers to the World Championships this fall.
At 92 kg, top-seeded Luke Surber came up just short of joining Plott at the World Championships, as he fell to Cornell’s Jacob Cardenas in the best-of-three final series to finish as U23 National Runner-Up. Surber exploded for a 10-0 win in the first bout, but Cardenas responded with back-to-back wins to pull out the series. In the second match, Cardenas narrowly extended the series with an 18-15 comeback win after Surber had built an early 12-6 advantage. Cardenas would go on to win the winner-take-all match, 10-0.
In all, six Cowboys reached the final series this weekend after four newcomers did so in the U20 Freestyle division yesterday.
Five other Cowboys were in action on Sunday, as Cutter Sheets (70 kg), Daniel Manibog (70 kg), Benjamin Mower (86 kg), Kyle Haas (92 kg) and Konner Doucet (125 kg) all fell at various points throughout wrestle backs with none reaching medal matches.
U20 Freestyle Division Medalists
Troy Spratley – 2nd, 57 kg
Cael Hughes – 2nd, 61 kg
Jordan Williams – 8th, 65 kg
Brayden Thompson – 2nd, 86 kg
Christian Carroll – 1st, 125 kg
Hayden Simpson – 8th, 125 kg
U23 Freestyle Division Medalists
Dustin Plott – 1st, 79 kg
Luke Surber – 2nd, 92 kg
U20 Greco-Roman Division Medalists
Hayden Simpson – 4th, 130 kg
Of note that Jared Hill(70 KG) and Josh Heindselman(125 KG) both finished as All-Americans as well taking 4th and 5th respectively.
Complete U20 results from Oklahoma wrestlers are available over on our Rokfin page.
Oklahoma Gets Nine All-Americans at U20 World Team Trials as the Cowboy RTC Wins Team Title | Rokfin
