Smith Believes Cowboys Need to Be Better for Bedlam
STILLWATER – Bedlam wrestling round two on Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena and after a 24-10 win by the Cowboys in Norman on Feb. 7 the expectation would be a win by a greater margin inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. It’s the final dual of a tough year with the COVID-19 pandemic and some brutal subzero artic weather. Oklahoma State has had their share of rough results this season and it culminated last weekend with only three individual championships in hosting the first ever Cowboy Challenge Tournament.
Head coach John Smith came up with a Cowboy hat as the first place trophy and the majority of those fine hats went home with wrestlers from Missouri, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Only top ranked and returning from suspension 133-pound dynamo Daton Fix, 165-pound and consistent Travis Wittlake, and heavyweight Austin Harris, who got a bye and then wrestled his back-up (Konner Doucet) in the final.
Here come the Sooners off two weeks of rest and practice as their two scheduled duals on the road at Oregon State and Fresno State were cancelled. Smith felt following the win in Norman where wrestling returned to the Lloyd Noble Center that Oklahoma had improved.
“I think as we competed against them a couple of weeks ago it’s a better team, pretty competitive team, so I’m going to guess that we’ll need to have our best match in order to get the win,” Smith said of Bedlam. “We’re maybe going to have to change the line-up. Not sure if everyone is going to be healthy and we’re going to have to have everyone do their part. We’ve been here before. This is not the first time we’ve been in this scenario. I look forward to seeing our team compete again after last weekend.”
That last line stems from a genuine disappointment over the way the Cowboys wrestled, yet Smith did say he has liked the response coming off of last Sunday. The Cowboys have some ailing wrestlers with Wyatt Sheets limping around at 157, Dustin Plott dealing with injured shoulders at 174-pounds, and Dakota Geer has struggled some. The worse situation is 141-pounds where Dusty Hone; who stepped in for injured Kaid Brock, who is out for the season; had to injury default in the finals of the Cowboy Challenge last Sunday.
“I don’t have an update, but his intention is to weigh in and wrestle, so that’s our plan with Dusty for the week,” Smith said of his second starter this season at 141-pounds.
The word is that Reece Witcraft coming up from 133-pounds might be the only option if Hone cannot go.
Here is an early look at the line-ups and the result from the first Bedlam. The rankings come from Intermat, which have Oklahoma State (9-0) ranked No. 3 and Oklahoma (5-4) is ranked No. 20.
| Weight | Oklahoma State | Oklahoma | Previous Result | |
| 125 | #17-Trevor Mastrogiovanni (9-2) | vs. | UR-Mason Naifeh (1-7) | Mastrogiovanni by 8-2 dec. |
| 133 | #1-Daton Fix (4-0) | vs. | UR-Tony Madrigal (3-6) | Madrigal lost to Reece Witcraft of OSU 7-4 dec. |
| 141 | UR-Dusty Hone (7-4) or UR-Reece Witcraft (7-4) | vs. | #6-Dom Demas (8-1) | Demas 11-3 MD over Hone |
| 149 | #4-Boo Lewallen (11-1) | vs. | #18-Mitch Moore (7-2) | Lewallen by 4-0 dec. |
| 157 | #19-Wyatt Sheets (5-3) | vs. | #11-Justin Thomas (7-2) | Thomas by TB-1 4-3 dec. |
| 165 | #3-Travis Wittlake (11-0) | vs. | UR-Troy Mantanona (2-1) | Wittlake by 27-11 TF at 6:15 |
| 174 | #13-Dustin Plott (10-1) | vs. | UR-Anthony Mantanona (4-5) | Plott by 11-6 dec. |
| 184 | #13-Dakota Geer (10-2) | vs. | UR-Darrien Roberts (6-3) | Geer by 18-4 MD |
| 197 | #12-A.J. Ferrari (11-1) | vs. | #15-Jake Woodley (5-4) | Ferrari by 3-2 dec. |
| HWT. | UR-Austin Harris (8-3) | vs. | UR-Josh Heindselman (6-3) | Heindselman by 3-2 dec. |
Bedlam is a showcase and ESPNU will be in Stillwater to televise it nationally. Oklahoma State’s Travis Wittlake will be wrestling his third Bedlam, his second in Gallagher-Iba.
“I’ve always been a nerd for wrestling since I got started,” Wittlake said of his interest in matches outside his and in Bedlam wrestling. “I’ve always been a big wrestling fan since I began competing. I’ve always paid attention to college wrestling and to high school wrestling since I began. My dad was a high school head coach, and I was on the bus with the guys going to tournaments. I paid attention to the NCAA (tournament).”
Wittlake said he has his routine and knows what he needs to do to be ready when it is his time, but he likes to watch.
“I’ve always loved watching wrestling and I love watching my team compete,” added Wittlake. “I will typically watch eight out of the 10 matches with my team. I start warming up at 141 and then I will break my sweat at 149 and 157 and then I’m up. I like watching most of the matches and I like watching my teammates compete. That helps me being a fan of the sport. If I am always watching it then I learn and I have my mind on it.”
Everybody in an orange singlet had better have their mind on it Sunday. Oklahoma State has won 12 in a row over Oklahoma. They haven’t lost to Oklahoma since 2013. Oklahoma has not won in Gallagher-Iba Arena since 1995.