James Hackney
Oklahoma State had their lowest finish and worst back-to-back finish in team history in their home turf. The team had three big injury issues. Young was banged up coming in after a strong second half to the year. Witcraft had to default after a concussion in his second match. Then Gfeller appeared to have a significant shoulder issue that hampered him in his final two matches. Throw in wrestlers like Surber and Wittlake having brutal draws and it makes for a tough tournament.
The Cowboys had a good chance to make up for it with Fix and Plott, but both finished below their seeds. Plott was looking tough but dropped two matches to top four seeds Foca and Lewis. Then he got a surging Brands on the backside, and lost for the second time this year to him to finish 6th. It wasn’t a bad performance, but it did put Plott in a clear tier behind the top of 174lbs.
Fix’s initial loss was one of the most shocking to me, where he got dominated by Vito. Then he just got by Nagao, before another shocking loss to McGee on the backside. Fix struggled in his quarterfinals match and it just seemed to get worse in every match. That kind of summed up OK State’s weekend with many disappointing performances…
