Jonathan Dickson
#28 Oklahoma (8th – 53.5 Points)
Oklahoma had mixed results after day one of Big 12’s but had four wrestlers automatically qualify with one left. There are a handful in the 7th place match as well, where a win would be significant in a competition for an At-Large. Three of their wrestlers didn’t place, and are unlikely to get an At-Large. Sitting in 8th place currently, the Sooners haven’t finished lower than 4th since the 2020 season and never below 6th. They’re currently two points behind Wyoming in 7th, but 19.5 points behind 6th place West Virginia and 31.5 points behind 5th place Northern Iowa.
125lbs: Conrad Hendriksen – DNP
- First Round: #27 Kysen Terukina (ISU) Dec. Conrad Hendriksen (6-2)
- Consi Round One: Yusief Lillie (UVU) Dec. Conrad Hendriksen (SV 4-1)
I thought Hendriksen had some upside coming into this tournament but it didn’t work out. The Terukina match was again close but Terukina went on to beat Stevo Poulin so it wasn’t bad by any means. The consolation match was not great, as Lillie was 1-10 coming into this tournament and not a match I would expect Hendriksen to drop. With this result and overall season, it’s unlikely that Hendriksen gets an At-Large.
133lbs: Jace Koelzer – Qualified
- First Round: #7 Evan Frost (ISU) Maj. Jace Koelzer (12-1)
- Consi Round One: Bye
- Consi Round Two: Jace Koelzer DQ Garrett Ricks (WYO)
- Consi Round Three: Jace Koelzer Dec. #24 Julian Farber (UNI) (3-2)
Next Match: Consi Semis – #14 Dom Serrano (UNCO)
Koelzer had a tough regular season but his draw for Big 12’s wasn’t completely unreasonable if multiple things went right. Go right it did as Koelzer qualified for his second ever NCAA tournament and first at 133lbs in his final season. After a one-sided loss to Frost he had a wild match against Wyoming on the backside. While I wasn’t able to see everything that happened, I do know that Koelzer had a sizable lead until a chippy match turned into Wyoming’s wrestler threw some strikes. Koelzer kept his cool and beat UNI’s Julian Farber for the second time this season.
Koelzer has an uphill battle tomorrow against Serrano, but at this point he’s playing with house money and could let it fly. Either way his….
