James Hackney
The Sooners finished in second at the Scuffle, just 17 points behind Stanford. They were without Mosha Schwartz and Willie McDougald, both who could have won their weights. They put 13 wrestlers on the podium, including two champs. Some wrestlers outperformed their seeds and impressed, while others continue to have an up and down year. With so many matches I decided to focus on the tournament as a whole before the team competes at the Virginia Duals.
The Good:
Stephen Buchanan was dominant at 197, scoring bonus throughout his title run. He didn’t beat anyone too significant (Kyle Haas is OK State’s backup and was the 3 seed), but it was good to see him putting up so many points and has an absurd 89% bonus rate this year. Josh Heindselman also won, including two techs. His most impressive win was in the finals where he beat #27 Dorian Crosby with multiple takedowns.
Jared Hill didn’t win, but came close to making the finals. He started by avenging a major decision loss to Alejandro Herrera-Rondon of Clarion from earlier this year, beating him 4-2 in the quarterfinals. He dropped a one point loss to Vinny Zerban, the eventual champ. Hill also beat teammate John Wiley in the consi semis before taking out 4 seed Nathan Lukez. After a rough start to the year this looked more like the Hill that was expected and could contend in the Big 12.
No KJ Evans at 141, and it’s looking like he may stay in redshirt. Instead there was Kaden Smith and Carter Schmidt sent to potentially compete for the spot. Smith looked solid in the Bedlam dual with a close loss but missed the podium here, going 2-2. Schmidt finished 5th with a 5-2 record. He didn’t get any significant wins, but looked like someone who could be serviceable at the weight.
Gabe Vidlak was unseeded and made the podium in 8th, while Juan Mora finished above his seed. While not starters currently, it’s always a good sign to have depth at multiple weights.
The Bad:
I thought Conrad Hendriksen could have an opportunity to get an upset somewhere, but he was majored by both ranked opponents. He looked solid in his wins, getting a fall and multiple takedowns in his matches. Still young, Hendriksen is still developing and not someone I’m ruling out to make an impact in the postseason. He wrestled to seed so it wasn’t a “bad” loss, just a slightly missed opportunity….
