Cowboys Wrestlers Head to Oklahoma State With A Debt to Call Due From 2017
From the desk of Harry Endicott
LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 20, 2018) – The 18th-ranked Wyoming wrestling team continues its dual season this weekend when it travels to Stillwater, Okla., for a showdown with No. 2 Oklahoma State. The teams will match up on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
“I watched (Oklahoma State) compete this weekend, and they look sharp for early in the season,” head coach Mark Branch said. “They have a super tough lineup. We’re a much different team than we were last year, but at the same time I know they remember that match and that performance, so I know they aren’t going to show up with their guard down. It’s an opportunity for us, this part of the schedule, to get experience and wrestle against some of the best guys in the country so we know exactly where we’re at.”
The Cowboys (2-1) got a handful of strong performances in its dual against No. 7 Nebraska, but came up short, 22-12, to the Huskers in their last time on the mat. Wyoming saw big wins from Brian Andrews, Cole Verner and Branson Ashworth in the match. Andrews scored the lone bonus point win for the Pokes with a big fall at heavyweight, while Ashworth and Verner both earned top-10 wins at their weights over No. 9 Isaiah White and No. 5 Zeke Moisey, respectively.
Oklahoma State won last year’s contest, edging out Wyoming in a narrow, 20-15, dual in Cheyenne. As a team, Wyoming would split matches with Oklahoma State at five apiece, but OSU's bonus points in a couple of the matches proved to be the difference in the battle.
Headlining the bill that night was the 141-pound bout between Wyoming's Bryce Meredith and Oklahoma State's Dean Heil—a rematch of the 2016 national title match that Heil would go on to win by a narrow, 3-2 margin. This night was a different story, however, as Meredith gutted his way to a 2-1 overtime victory over the two-time defending national champ who rode into the bout on a 55-match win streak. Wyoming wouldn't let the match get away without a few other highlights though, as Montorie Bridges, Sam Turner and Branson Ashworth each tallied wins over All-Americans while Archie Colgan came up with a big win at 157 as well.
Oklahoma State comes into Sunday’s matchup ranked No. 2 in the Intermat dual rankings after a 2-0 start to the season with convincing road wins at Big 12 rival No. 22 South Dakota State and No. 11 Minnesota last weekend. Only graduating two-time the national champion Heil from a season ago, OSU returns seven former All-Americans, while adding a pair of transfers and Junior World Champion Daton Fix to its lineup for 2018. Following up a 13-2 dual record, the Cowboys also claimed the Big 12 Conference title in 2018. Head coach John Smith is in his 28th year as head coach of the Cowboys, racking up a 413-62-6 overall record in dual matches.