Cowboys Open Seven-Dual Homestand with West Virginia, Kent State

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STILLWATER – The fifth-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team opens a seven-dual homestand this weekend as it hosts West Virginia and Kent State at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The weekend starts on Friday at 7 p.m. with a showdown against the Mountaineers. The Golden Flash will roll into Stillwater on Sunday for a 1 p.m. contest.

Watch the Cowboys
Fans can watch the Cowboys compete on both Friday and Sunday live on FloWrestling.org.

Listen to the Cowboys
Fans can listen to the duals live on 93.7 KSPI-FM or okstate.com with Rex Holt and Roger Moore on the call.

Live Stats and Play-by-Play
Fans can follow the action online through live results and play-by-play on trackwrestling.com. Simply go to the site and the link to live results and play-by-play will be prominently displayed.

In the Polls
The Cowboys enter this weekend's duals with eight wrestlers ranked at their respective weights.

Three Cowboys enter this weekend's dual ranked inside the top five after All-American performances a season ago. Two-time NCAA Champion Dean Heil is ranked No. 3 by Trackwrestling, while Kaid Brock is also ranked as high as No. 3 by a number of publications as well. At 197 pounds, Preston Weigel is ranked as high as No. 2 by WIN Magazine. Returning All-American Nick Piccininni is ranked No. 6 by Amateur Wrestling News at 125. Chandler Rogers is ranked No. 7 at 165 ppunds by WIN Magazine.

A couple of newcomers to the OSU lineup currently hold rankings as well. Heavyweight Derek White is slotted at No. 8 by Amateur Wrestling News. Boo Lewallen is also ranked as high as No. 12 at 149 pounds (WIN Magazine). Meanwhile, Jacobe Smith comes in at No. 10 at 174, according to The Open Mat.

The Series: West Virginia
?Friday's dual will mark the 14th meeting in the all-time series between the Cowboys and Mountaineers.
?The series dates back to 1927.
?OSU has been perfect in the series thus far, taking each of the previous 13 meetings between the two teams.
?The Cowboys took the last meeting between the two programs, winning, 38-3, at Gallagher-Iba Arena last season.
?Head Coach John Smith has posted a perfect 8-0 record against the Mountaineers during his tenure at OSU.
?OSU is 8-0 against West Virginia in Stillwater.

The Series: Kent State
?Sunday's dual will mark the fourth meeting in the series between the Cowboys and Golden Flash, which dates back to 2006.
?OSU is 3-0 in the previous three meetings.
?The Cowboys won the last meeting between the two programs, 36-6, last season in Kent.
?Sunday's matchup will be the first time the two teams have met in Stillwater.

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 the Cowboys' win over Minnesota in November, 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 404 career wins, Smith is 17 wins away from tying Jack Childs and T.J. Kerr for fifth on the list. Impressively, of his 404 wins, 141 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.             404         John Smith            Oklahoma State                                   1992-Pres.
* Includes only DI wins

1-2-3 Punch
While the Cowboys' lineup is littered with elite talent from top to bottom, one would have a hard time finding many more devastating stretches for opponents in any lineup than the one-two-three punch packed by Nick Piccininni (125), Kaid Brock (133) and Dean Heil (141).

The three Cowboys not only combine for two NCAA Championships, five All-America honors and four Big 12 titles, but also a 206-31 career record. This season, the trio has combined to go 42-7 overall thus far.

Weigel's Return
2017 All-American Preston Weigel made his return to the OSU lineup on the Cowboys' December road trip to Wyoming and Northern Colorado last month. Weigel was impressive in his first weekend back, defeating Cody Vigoren and Jacob Seeley by a combined score of 22-0.

Weigel has continued his impressive return since. In the Pokes' win over No. 5 NC State in Italy, the junior knocked off No. 7 Mike Macchiavello, 5-4, to help OSU snag the win. At Iowa, Weigel shut out No. 5 Cash Wilcke, 6-0.

HeavyWHITE
Moving up from 197 pounds this season, Derek White has proven himself a formidable answer for the Cowboys at heavyweight for the 2017-18 campaign.

White is 12-3 so far for his redshirt junior season to go along with six dual wins, three tech falls and a team-leading six major decisons. He has already racked up a couple of top-20 wins as well. Last month at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic, White notched a 12-1 major decision over No. 9 Thomas Haines of Lock Haven and a 3-2 decision over No. 20 Jordan Wood of Lehigh. In fact, the Edmond, Okla., product's only two losses came in narrow defeats to No. 3 Sam Stoll of Iowa and No. 11 Mike Hughes of Hofstra.

Dual Threats
With 1,098 dual wins to its credit, and over 34 wins more than the second-winningest team, the Oklahoma State wrestling program has by far the most dual wins of any DI wrestling program. The Cowboys are one of three programs that have surpassed 1,000 total victories, with the others being Iowa State (1,064) and Oregon State (1,030).

A look at the top five:

All-Time Dual Wins Leaders
1.             Oklahoma State   1,098-127-23
2.             Iowa State             1,064-322-20
3.             Oregon State        1,030-344-28
4.             Iowa                       996-228-31
5.             Minnesota             955-445-24
*As of matches on Jan. 10, 2017

OSU Statistical Leaders
Overall Wins: 17, Boo Lewallen and Tristan Moran
Dual Wins: 6, Derek White
Ranked Wins: 3, Preston Weigel
Bonus Point Wins: 11, three wrestlers
Wins by Fall: 11, Ethan Andersen
Wins by Technical Fall: 7, Boo Lewallen
Wins by Major Decision: 6, Derek White
Dual Takedowns: 26, Kaid Brock
Dual Nearfalls: 7, Nick Piccininni
* Does not include redshirt athletes

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboys Open Seven-Dual Homestand with West Virginia, Kent State

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