Cowboy Wrestling Rings in New Year at the Southern Scuffle

Brackets
Notes

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Oklahoma State wrestling is back in action this week beginning on Wednesday at the Southern Scuffle. Wrestling in Tennessee begins at 9 a.m. CST. The Pokes will have a full lineup at the two-day event with 16 wrestlers competing in all. Check all the details below for more information on the 2020 Southern Scuffle.

Southern Scuffle Details
Date/Time: Jan. 1-2, 2020/All Day beginning at Wednesday at 9 a.m. CST
Location: McKenzie Arena, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Watch: FloWrestling.org
Listen: Hot 93.7 KSPI-FM
Live Stats: FloArena

The Basics
The ninth-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team (4-1 overall; 1-0 Big 12) travels to Chattanooga, Tenn. to begin the 2020 calendar year at the Southern Scuffle, Jan. 1-2. It marks the second consecutive year in which the Pokes have sent their full starting lineup to the two-day event. In 2019, OSU finished second at the tournament crowning four champions with 188.5 team points.

Scuffle Seeding
The field at this year's Southern Scuffle consists of 27 NCAA Division I programs, including seven lineups or partial lineups from top-25 tournament teams (Intermat). Cowboys own five top seeds at various weights including Nick Piccininni (125), Kaden Gfeller (141), Boo Lewallen (149), Joe Smith (174) and Dakota Geer (197).

Cowboys at the Southern Scuffle
• This marks the second consecutive year in which OSU has sent its full lineup to the Southern Scuffle
• In 2019, the Cowboys brought home four Scuffle titles
• Five additional Pokes finished the 2019 Scuffle on the podium
• Cowboy wrestling has sent at least a partial lineup to Chattanooga every year since 2013
• The Cowboys best finish at the Scuffle came in 2017 when the team set a tournament record with 198 points to finish first
• Piccininni will seek a second straight Scuffle title, and Kaden Gfeller looks to three-peat at the event

Cowboys in the Polls
This week, the Oklahoma State lineup features eight wrestlers ranked in various polls. Undefeated freshman Travis Wittlake maintained his Intermat ranking coming in again at No. 14 this week. Wittlake picked up win No. 9 against OU in the Cowboys' most recent outing. Wittlake has one ranked win on the year and is competing for the first time at the Southern Scuffle. Senior 125-pounder Piccininni comes in across Intermatand The Open Mat rankings at No. 4 this week. Flo and Winposition the senior at No. 4 as well. This week, returning All-American Lewallen maintains his spot at No. 4. The redshirt junior comes in as high as No. 3 and made the move to No. 4 in Flo's rankings. For the first time in his Cowboy career, freshman Reece Witcraft landed in the rankings after knocking off OU's Anthony Madrigal in Norman a couple of weeks ago. The true freshman is No. 19 according to Intermat's poll this week. All-American Dakota Geer held steady at No. 5 among Intermat's 197-pounders this week. Geer took out OU's ninth-ranked Jake Woodley in the Pokes Bedlam dual two weeks ago. He looks to improve on a fourth-place Scuffle finish from a year ago. Redshirt sophomore Kaden Gfeller holds on to the No. 11 spot at 141 in the Intermatpoll this week and will make his season debut in Chattanooga. Freshman Anthony Montalvo landed at No. 25 in Flo's rankings this week after dropping out of the 184-pound polls following the Princeton dual. Senior Joe Smith retained the seventh-ranked spot at 174 pounds this week and will begin his season at the Scuffle as well.

Cowboy Wrestling Nearing 500th Win in GIA
Since becoming the home of Cowboy Wrestling in 1939, Gallagher-Iba Arena has hosted 543 dual meets. The program has won an impressive 497 of those and tied in six. That means the Cowboys have won 92 percent of their home matches in the building. With seven home duals slated for the 2019-20 season, the Pokes have ample opportunity to reach the 500-win milestone on their home mat.

Chasing 100
Senior Nick Piccininni sits only nine wins away from notching his 100th victory in the OSU orange singlet. In 2019 the Cowboy earned 34 victories over the course of the 2018-19 season, including a perfect regular season, and a 10-2 mark against ranked opponents. The milestone would add Piccininni to a list of only 43 wrestlers to reach the milestone including current Poke, Kaid Brock, who has exactly 100 wins to his name.

Fans can follow along with the Cowboys over the next two days on FloWrestling.org where the event is being live streamed. Brackets will be available at the link below when they're announced, and the Cowboy Wrestling Twitter and Instagram accounts will provide updates throughout the day at the Scuffle.

Cowboy Wrestling Rings in New Year at the Southern Scuffle

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kaid Brock

Dakota Geer

Kaden Gfeller

Boo Lewallen

Anthony Montalvo

Nick Piccininni

Joe Smith

Reece Witcraft

Travis Wittlake

Oklahoma State University Athletics