First year coach David Taylor is taking his Third-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys (14-1) to his first Big 12 Conference Tournament Saturday and Sunday at the BOK Center in Tulsa, OK. The good news is that by seeding the Cowboys are picked to win the tournament pretty easily. The more difficult news is that the entire Big 12 is gunning for the Pokes and they will need to wrestle their best against some stiff competition. Further, the Cowboys have a surprise entry at 149, with Teague Travis getting the nod after spending almost the entire year rehabbing an injury.
The Cowboys ran away with the championship in the only other tournament they wrestled in this year (Cliff Keen Las Vegas), and several of the wrestlers and the teams they will face will be in Tulsa this weekend, chomping at the bit to get back at the Cowboys, both for CKLV and their dominating and undefeated run through their Big 12 dual schedule.
This will be a preview of the most likely matchups and path to the finals for each of our wrestlers. Records by Wrestlestat, rankings by Intermat.
125: (3) Troy Spratley (17-3): Although ranked 3rd nationally, Spratley drew the 4th seed for the tournament and drawing Gage Walker (Missouri) in the first round. His path to the finals, assuming he gets by Walker, is (18) Tanner Jordan (S. Dakota St.) in the Quarters and (2) Richard Figueroa (Arizona St.) in the Semis before potentially facing (6) Steve Poulin (N. Colorado) in the finals. Spratley majored Walker this year (10-1), has split 2-2 with Tanner Jordan with Jordan taking their most recent matchup 9-3. He has never faced Poulin, but is 24-9 against common opponents to Poulin’s 21-11. Finally, he majored Figueroa 13-5 the only time they wrestled a little over a year ago.
PREDICTION: Spratley can easily finish anywhere from 1st to 5th here as he has an absolute gauntlet and 125 is so unpredictable. I’m going to pick 3rd with one bonus point win.
133: (20) Reece Witcraft (9-4): After a year of platoon duty, Witcraft is the guy at 133 for the Pokes, also picking up the 4 seed, albeit in a much weaker overall bracket. He gets a bye in the first round, and is likely to face (22) Kyle Burwick (N. Dakota St.) in the quarters, (3) Evan Frost (Iowa St.) in the semis, and (17) Dom Serrano (N. Colorado) if he makes it to the finals. He’s never faced Burwick, who has a 7-11 record against common opponents to Witcraft’s 7-7. He lost 9-4 to Evan Frost in their only matchup, and he’s never faced Serrano, but is 10-4 to Serrano’s 15-7 vs. commons.
PREDICTION: Witcraft loses to Frost, but pulls out a 3rd on the backside.
141: (5) Tagen Jamison (15-3): Jamison ALSO picks up a 4 seed and faces Carter Nogle (Air Force) in the first round, then likely (15) Mosha Schwartz (Oklahoma) in quarters, (3) Andrew Alirez (N. Colorado) in semis and (4) Cael Happel (N. Iowa) in finals. Tagen teched Nogle in January (20-5), beat Schwartz 8-3 earlier this year, has never wrestled Alirez (10-8 vs. 14-4 common opponents) and is 0-4 (although all within 3 points) vs. Happel.
PREDICTION: After bonus points in first two rounds, loses to Alirez and finishes 3rd.
149: SURPRISE! As we are all aware (33) Teague Travis has been injured most of the year, causing Caleb Fish to pull his redshirt and wrestle at 157. Before he got injured Travis was 1-1 at 157, and in his career has wrestled 141, 157 and 149. Travis pulls Paul Kelly (Cal. Baptist) in round 1, and then potentially (17) Willie McDougald (Oklahoma) in quarters, (8) Paniro Johnson (Iowa St.) in semis and (10) Colin Realbuto (N. Iowa) in finals.
