3 Cowboys earn top seeds in Big 12 Championship Tournament
STILLWATER – Three Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestlers earned their weight’s No. 1 seed for the Big 12 Championships, the conference announced Monday in its reveal of the tournament brackets.
STILLWATER – Three Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestlers earned their weight’s No. 1 seed for the Big 12 Championships, the conference announced Monday in its reveal of the tournament brackets.
OSU’s trio of No. 1 seeds, consisting of 174-pounder Dean Hamiti Jr., 197-pounder Luke Surber and heavyweight Wyatt Hendrickson, was the most in the league and part of nine topfour seeds throughout the line-up.
For the fourth consecutive season, Hendrickson heads to Tulsa holding the top spot at heavyweight. His path to a third Big 12 title begins against Air Force’s Antonio Ramos.
Hamiti lines up across from California Baptist’s Carter Schmidt in the opening round. Now 19-0 on the year, Hamiti received the No. 1 seed over two-time national champion Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, setting up a potential crash course in the championship match. Hamiti has never wrestled in the Big 12 Championships but made the 165-pound Big 10 finals in each of the past two seasons, taking first in 2023.
Meanwhile, Surber faces North Dakota State’s Tayshaun Glover in his fourth run at the conference tournament, this time beginning from the weight’s top line for the first time in his career. The senior from Tuttle is 19-2 thus far and undefeated in 11 bouts against conference opponents.
Caleb Fish and Dustin Plott both received the second seed at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively. A two-time Big 12 champion and finalist three years in a row, Plott will face in David Berkovich of California Baptist in his fifth conference tournament appearance. Fish competed three times at the Big 10 Championships while at Michigan State and awaits the winner of Missouri’s No. 7 James Conway and Arizona State’s Michial Kilic in the quarterfinals.
Seeded third at 165 pounds, Cameron Amine also received a bye into the quarterfinals and will face Arizona State’s No. 6 Nicco Ruiz or Air Force’s Logan Fowler. An Amine victory there would possibly set up a semifinal match with No. 2 Peyton Hall of West Virginia for the third time this season.
The lightest three weight classes all saw Cowboys secure the No. 4 seed in 125-pounder Troy Spratley, 133-pounder Reece Witcraft and 141-pounder Tagen Jamison.
After suffering a narrow defeat in the Big 12 finals last year, Spratley will have to navigate a tough field to wrestle on Sunday night once again. Tanner Jordan of South Dakota State, who defeated Spratley in the blood round at the 2024 NCAA Championships, and defending national champion Richard Figueroa of Arizona State both linger on the same side of the bracket, however, Spratley did major Figueroa in their lone career match-up.
This weekend marks Witcraft’s third appearance at the Big 12 Championships, most recently placing third at 125 pounds in 2023. Similar to Spratley, Jamison is tasked with a competitive field at 141 pounds that features eight nationally ranked wrestlers. If Jamison reaches the semifinals, he would likely meet top-seeded Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado, who won a national title two seasons ago.
The only unseeded wrestler for the Cowboys is 149-pounder Teague Travis, who is slated to battle No. 6 Paul Kelly of California Baptist in the first round. Travis started in OSU’s first two duals at 157 pounds but has missed most of the year due to injury. In 2024, Travis compiled a 23-8 record and placed fourth at the conference tournament.
The Big 12 Conference Tournament will take place Saturday and Sunday at the BoK Center in Tulsa.
