Cowboy grapplers roll Bucknell in season opener
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State wrestling team opened the 2023-24 campaign with a dominant 38-6 victory against Bucknell on Friday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State wrestling team opened the 2023-24 campaign with a dominant 38-6 victory against Bucknell on Friday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Cowboys won nine of 10 matches, over half of which earned bonus points from No. 24 Troy Spratley, No. 2 Daton Fix, No. 6 Izzak Olejnik, No. 4 Dustin Plott and No. 11 Luke Surber. In all, OSU recorded 23 takedowns on the night and allowed just two.
Spratley, a redshirt freshman who competed at Minnesota last season, was one of five Cowboys to make their first dual start for OSU and started his season in emphatic fashion. He used a strong second period to build a 14-2 lead and put the match away in the third to earn a 22-3 technical fall (5:31) over Owen Bell.
In the following match, Fix continued the Cowboys’ stellar start with a fall over No. 16 Kurt Phipps in 5:31. It was Fix’s 21st career fall and marked a stark improvement over his 4-1 decision against Phipps in last season’s matchup in Lewisburg, Pa.
Tagen Jamison, another transfer from Minnesota, and Teague Travis each made their first dual starts at 141 and 149 pounds, respectively. Jamison trailed 3-0 following the first period, but controlled the final four minutes, leading to his first career win after missing all of last season with injury. Travis’ 6-1 decision over Aiden Davis was his first career dual win after going 17-2 last year in open tournaments.
Following Jalin Harper’s tight 5-4 win over Nick Delp, Izzak Olejnik made his highly-anticipated debut at 165 pounds. Olejnik rode his 8-1 opening period to a 10-2 major decision over No. 33 Noah Mulvaney, his first win in an orange singlet and 93rd of his career.
Returning starters Dustin Plott, Luke Surber and Konner Doucet closed out the dual with three victories. Plott, who started his first career match at 184 pounds, put Nolan Springer on his back for a fall after 3:25, while Surber found his offense in the first and third periods to pick up a 21-5 technical fall (6:21) over No. 22 Logan Deacetis. Doucet capped off the night with a ranked win over No. 32 Dorian Crosby thanks to a third period ride out.
The Cowboys (1-0) will go nearly a month before returning to dual action on Dec. 8 against Lehigh at Gallagher-Iba Arena. In the meantime, OSU will see action at a handful of open tournaments, including the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 1-2.
