Oklahoma State Wrestling: Cowboys dominate Big 12 Championship

The Oklahoma State wrestling program flexed their muscles with eight of their 10 finalists bringing home Big 12 titles in Tulsa today.

The Oklahoma State wrestling program claimed their 15th Big 12 Conference Title today with an absolutely dominant performance. The Cowboys could not have responded any better to their loss to the no. 1 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in the NCWA Bowl Series match.

Eight of the ten Big 12 finalists for the Cowboys individually claimed Big 12 titles today. OK State got two falls today as they dominated the final standings, beating the second place Oklahoma Sooners by more than 80 points. It was also the 51st conference title claimed by the Cowboy wrestling program all-time.

The individual wrestlers that won Big 12 titles in their weight classes today included: Dean Heil, Nick Piccininni, Joe Smith, Nolan Boyd, Anthony Collica, Preston Weigel, Austin Schafer, and Kyle Crutchmer. Heil made history, claiming his third Big 12 title in his decorated OK State wrestling career.

This weekend’s record setting Big 12 Championship effort was exactly what the OK State wrestling program and head coach John Smith needed before they travel to St. Louis, MO, for the NCAA Wrestling Championships starting on March 16.

Moreover, this weekend should assure top 25 voters that the Cowboys belong in the top 2 spots in the country. Hopefully, they respond well and overcome teams like PSU, Iowa, and Ohio State.

Even with the Cowboys entering the weekend as overwhelming favorites, nobody could have expected them to dominate the way they did. There’s a big reason why the Cowboy wrestling program is the most dominant, by far, in NCAA history.

More impressively, the Cowboys finished yesterday 20-0, with all 10 OK State wrestlers going undefeated. That was the first time any Big 12 school had done that in history.

Chandler Rogers and Kaid Brock were the only two Cowboys not to claim Big 12 titles today. Yet, the fact that they made it all the way to the Big 12 Finals is crazy in and of itself.

OK State had already mathematically clinched the Big 12 title yesterday after going undefeated in the semi-finals. OU made a good run in day two that is definitely noteworthy but they still did not come anywhere close to OK State’s point total.

Great news for the Pokes comes out of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships. The Nittany Lions ended up finishing second, just weeks after defeating the Cowboys at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. For the Lions to defeat the Pokes in their own sold out arena in that setting has to motivate the Cowboys for the NCAA Championships. And both programs seem to be trending in opposite directions.

You can watch the NCAA Championships on the ESPN family of networks between March 16 and March 18 in St. Louis.

It’s impossible not to be proud of the legendary wrestling program that the OK State athletic program boasts. Saying that the National Wrestling Hall of Fame is right next to the arena your school wrestles in is just too crazy.

Next: Cowboys face Iowa State in Big 12 Tournament

This marks the eighth consecutive season that the Cowboys claimed either the Big 12 regular season title, Tournament title, or both. OU and Iowa State are the only programs that have more than one Big 12 wrestling title. OK State now has 15. That dominance in the Big 12 by an individual team in an individual sport can really only be matched by one other sport. And that team also resides in Stillwater with the Cowgirl Golf program.