Cowboys Head to Northern Colorado, Wyoming for Conference Bouts

PDF Notes | Watch: Reno Tournament of Champions | Watch: Wyoming

STILLWATER – The third-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team continues its extended early-season road trip this weekend as it heads into the Rocky Mountains for a pair of Big 12 bouts against Northern Colorado and Wyoming. The Cowboys will open the trip against the Bears in Greeley, Colo., on Monday at 7 p.m. MT, before heading to Cheyenne, Wyo., for a matchup with Wyoming Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT.

The Pokes will also be sending a handful of wrestlers to the Reno Tournament of Champions, which is set for this Sunday.

Watch the Cowboys
Fans can watch the Cowboys compete in Reno and Wyoming live on FloWrestling. No stream is available for Monday's dual at Northern Colorado.

Listen Live
Fans can listen to Monday's dual against Northern Colorado live on 93.7 FM and Tuesday's dual against Wyoming live on Pete 94.3 FM, with both duals also streaming on okstate.com. Rex Holt and Roger Moore will be on the call.

About the Cowboys
With a pair of NCAA individual titles under his belt, Oklahoma State senior 141-pounder Dean Heil leads a young, but talented Cowboy roster into the 2017-18 season. Facing the losses of Anthony Collica and Nolan Boyd, both multi-year staples in the OSU lineup and All-Americans in their own right, head coach John Smith returns Heil along with All-Americans Nick Piccininni, Kaid Brock, Joe Smith, Chandler Rogers and Preston Weigel from the 2017 NCAA Championships.

The Pokes will look to build on a 2016-17 season that saw them tally a third-place finish at the national tournament. Following up an impressive 14-1 dual record, the Cowboys also claimed the program's 51st conference title, shattering Big 12 Championship records for team points and margin of victory.

Smith also brings a new-look coaching staff into the upcoming season. After elevating Zack Esposito to the associate head coach post prior to the 2017 season, Smith made more moves this past summer. Chris Perry was promoted to assistant coach from his previous volunteer assistant position, while Wisconsin standout Isaac Jordan made the move to Stillwater to assume Perry's former role. Four-time All-American Tyler Caldwell was also added to the staff as a recruiting coordinator.

The Cowboy wrestling program enjoyed a number of firsts and record-breaking performances during the 2016-17 season, and they look to continue that trend into 2018. While Dean Heil sets his sights on title No. 3, a slew of other Cowboys and returning All-Americans look to make their mark on program history as well come March.

In the Polls
The Cowboys enter next week's duals with eight wrestlers ranked at their respective weights. Unsurprisingly, reigning two-time NCAA Champion Dean Heil leads the way for the Pokes, coming in at No. 1 unanimously at 141 pounds.

Four other Cowboys enter this weekend's dual ranked inside the top five after All-American performances a season ago. Nick Piccininni is ranked as high as No. 3 (Amateur Wrestling News), while 133-pounder Kaid Brock is ranked No. 3 and 165-pounder Chandler Rogers is ranked No. 4 by The Open Mat. At 197 pounds, Preston Weigel is ranked as high as No. 4.

A couple of newcomers to the OSU lineup currently hold rankings as well. Heavyweight Derek White is slotted at No. 8 by Intermat and FloWrestling. Geo Martinez is also ranked as high as No. 8 at 149 pounds (FloWrestling and Trackwrestling). Meanwhile, Jacobe Smith comes in at No. 10 at 174, according to Intermat.

Cowboy Connections – Wyoming
The Wyoming Cowboys' coaching staff includes a couple of familiar faces for Cowboy fans of the Oklahoma State variety, including head coach Mark Branch and associate head coach Ethan Kyle.

As a wrestler, Branch was a two-time NCAA Champion and four-time NCAA finalist at Oklahoma State from 1994-97. In 1997, he was named the Big XII Athlete of the Year, OSU Student-Athlete of the Year and the top graduating senior for OSU wrestling. He was a four-time NWCA Academic All-American, received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and a Big XII Post-Graduate Scholarship. After graduation, he served as associate head coach in Stillwater for six years, helping the Pokes to titles in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Kyle wrestled at Oklahoma State from 2003-07. He was a member of OSU's four national championship teams from 2003-06 and was a team captain in 2007 as a senior.

The Series: Northern Colorado
- Monday's dual will be the first meeting in the series between the Cowboys and Bears since 2013, and the 14th all-time meeting.
- The Cowboys have never lost in the series, winning 13 of the previous duals and tying the Bears once in 1963.
- The Pokes have won eight-straight duals over the Bears since 1964.
- OSU won the last dual between the two teams, 48-0, in Greeley. The Cowboys have shut out the Bears in the last two meetings, winning by a combined score of 92-0.
- The Cowboys are 5-0-1 against the Bears in Greeley.
- John Smith is 4-0 in his head coaching career against Northern Colorado.

The Series: Wyoming
- Tuesday's dual will be the 23rd contest in the series between Oklahoma State and Wyoming. OSU has dominated the series, holding a 21-0-1 edge.
- The lone tie in the series came in a 12-12 dual in Laramie in 1957.
- OSU won the last contest in the series, coming up with a 32-3 victory in Stillwater last season.
- OSU is 2-0 over Wyoming in neutral site contests and 8-0-1 in Laramie; however, Tuesday's dual will officially count as a neutral bout.
- Facing Wyoming each of the last nine seasons, John Smith is 14-0 in his head coaching career against the Wyoming Cowboys.

400 and Counting
With the retirement of former Rider head coach Gary Taylor during the offseason, Oklahoma State head coach John Smith assumed the title of winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I wrestling.

After last month's win over Minnesota, Smith reached dual win No. 400 for his career, becoming the seventh head coach in DI history to reach that benchmark. He is also only the fifth coach to win all of his duals at the same school. Currently sitting at 401 career wins, Smith is 20 wins away from tying Jack Childs and T.J. Kerr for fifth on the list. Impressively, of his 401 wins, 140 have come over top-10 teams.

A look at the full list:

All-Time Wrestling Coaching Wins* (400+)
1.             616         Dale Thomas        Oregon State                                        1957-90
2.             493         Harold Nichols     Iowa State /Arkansas St.                    1948-85
3.             442         Gary Taylor           Rider                                                      1977-2017
3.             440         J Robinson            Minnesota                                             1986-2016
4.             424         Bobby Douglas     Iowa St./Arizona St.                             1975-2006
5.             421         Jack Childs           Drexel                                                    1975-2010
                                T.J. Kerr                 CSU-Bakersfield/San Jose State      1984-2013
7.             401         John Smith          Oklahoma State 1992-Pres.
* Includes only DI wins

"Way Out in Reno, Nevada"
The Cowboys will have a handul of reserves and redshirts competing out West at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Sunday. Among those competing will be Boo Lewallen, Tristan Moran, Andrew Marsden, Gary Wayne Harding and Joe Smith, among others. Fans will also get a look at freshman Daton Fix, who will be competing in his first collegiate action unattached.

The field in Reno includes Cal Poly, Campbell, CSU Bakersfield, Fresno State, Missouri, North Carolina State, North Dakota State, Oregon State, Stanford, The Citadel, Utah Valley and Wyoming.

Last season, three Cowboys took home titles in Reno: Boo Lewallen, Jordan Rogers and Derek White. Lewallen, who won Most Outstanding Wrestler, will look to repeat that effort this year.

Weigel's Return
2017 All-American Preston Weigel will open his redshirt junior season against Northern Colorado and Wyoming as he returns from an injury that sat him out the first month of the season. Weigel will hold down the 197-pound starting spot for the Pokes, which was maintained by Andrew Marsden in his absence.

Weigel went 22-8 overall at 197 pounds with a 7-4 dual record last season on his way to his second-straight Big 12 Championship and a sixth-place finish at the national tournament.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboys Head to Northern Colorado, Wyoming for Conference Bouts

Next Event

Related Videos