Cowboys dominate No. 20 Missouri Tigers

STILLWATER — The No. 3 Oklahoma State wrestling team defeated No. 20 Missouri 36-3 on Sunday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in its final home dual of the 202425 season. With the win, the Cowboys improved to 12-0 for the second straight season, while Missouri dropped to 5-9.

Bonus points came to the Cowboys with ease, doing so in five of their nine wins on the afternoon. The performance also maintained OSU’s team bonus rate of 47.4 percent, which would be its best in more than 90 years, and improved its point differential to a plus-317, good for the program’s highest through 12 duals since 1996-97 (a plus-393). Prior to Sunday’s dual, 11 Cowboy wrestlers were honored for Senior Day, eight of whom secured victories throughout the contest.

In addition, Gallagher-Iba Arena played host its fifth-biggest wrestling crowd ever as 10,740 fans piled in to watch OSU secure its 45th undefeated home dual season inside the venue. The crowd marked OSU’s highest ever against any team other than rivals Oklahoma, Iowa or Penn State, while also securing a season attendance average of 7,597. Despite not hosting any of those three rivals for the first time since 1948, that average is the program’s highest amount on record and nearly a 30 percent increase over last season’s average, which was the previous record holder.

The Cowboys opened the dual with a pair of wins at 125 and 133 pounds. Troy Spratley took on 31st-ranked Gage Walker in the opening match and took over late, ripping off a takedown with 10 seconds remaining to secure a 10-1 major decision. Reece Witcraft then tacked on a 6-3 win over Kade Moore thanks to a takedown in each of the first two periods.

Missouri drew its lone victory at 141 pounds as Kolter Burton made his second career dual start, but OSU put its foot back on the pedal and didn’t surrender another bout.

Carter Young began the run as he wrestled Logan Gioffre at 149 pounds. The Stillwater native controlled the match throughout, denying Gioffre of any offensive points and winning by an 11-4 decision. Caleb Fish followed suit at 157 pounds, notching his 16th win of the year through a 5-1 victory over James Conway.

Coming out of intermission with a 13-3 team lead, Cameron Amine battled No. 15 Cam Steed in the closest bout of the dual. Neither wrestler recorded a takedown, but Amine used a stalling point and an escape to win 2-1.

A strength of the Cowboy line-up all season long, OSU then scored bonus points in all four of the remaining matches and improved those weight classes’ cumulative record to 47-1 in dual competition.

At 174 pounds, Dean Hamiti Jr. dismantled Joel Mylin in a 19-4 technical fall that didn’t reach the third period. Hamiti has now scored bonus points in 14 of his 17 wins this season. It was more of the same from Dustin Plott at 184 pounds, cruising past Aeoden Sinclair by an 18-7 major decision. One of the most accomplished Cowboy wrestlers in recent history, the senior lost just one match at Gallagher-Iba Arena over the final two seasons of his career.

Luke Surber needed just 4:21 to down Jesse Cassatt in the 197-pound match 194, thanks to a seven-takedown offensive barrage.

Heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson then closed the dual in style, pinning No. 24 Jarett Stoner in less than a minute and improving his record to 16-0.

The Cowboys will hit the road to face Arkansas-Little Rock at 3 p.m. Saturday.