Cowboys Open Season on the Road at Stanford, Surber Gets Nod at Heavy
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State wrestling is on parade this weekend. While thousands of Cowboy fans will be focused in on Barry Sanders returning for a statue unveiling and Mike Gundy’s No. 10 football team continuing to battle for Big 12 supremacy and perhaps, a College Football Playoff position; the No. 4 Oklahoma State wrestlers are going to be in California for the first time in years and will open their season with No. 14 Stanford. It is a big deal for the Cardinal as their program went from life support during the COVID-19 pandemic with administration threatening to cut the sport to being born again shortly after Shane Griffith won an individual national title at the NCAA Championships.
“I’m excited to take the team out there,” head coach and wrestling Hall of Famer John Smith said. “It’s been awhile, as you said, since we’ve been on the West Coast with our program.”
The Cowboys lineup will be a mix of primarily veterans and their own reigning national champion in 197-pounder A.J. Ferrari as well as World runner-up Daton Fix at 133-pounds.
An interesting wrestler will be at heavyweight where the Cowboys have been mostly off rather than on in recent seasons, but Smith is excited about going back to a strategy that has worked in the past with a lighter heavyweight in Oklahoma product Luke Surber of Tuttle. It was Surber and Ferrari that battled in the room last season at 197-pounds before Ferrari took control and went on to a championship. Surber is going to wrestle at heavyweight around 230-to-240-pounds.
“It’s going to require them to do a little bit more. When you are wrestling someone that is 15-pounds bigger than you, you’re going to feel it, and it requires you to be in better shape,” Smith said of what Surber will be up against. “For Surber, he is likely to start at Stanford, so let’s get his career started.”
Oklahoma State left for Stanford on Thursday evening and will have Friday to get ready for the 4 p.m. (central) dual on Saturday. The event will be streamed on Pac12live and we have been told it will be available for free. Oklahoma State will come home and then be back on the road on Nov. 20 to wrestle Minnesota. The Oklahoma State schedule is frontloaded with road tests and they will open at home in Gallagher-Iba Arena on Sunday, Nov. 28 with Drexel.
Projected Starters for Oklahoma State at Stanford
| Weight | Oklahoma State | Stanford | History |
| 125 | No. 19-Trevor Mastrogiovanni (0-0) | Logan Ashton (2-0) or Suhas Chundi (2-2_ | Never Met |
| 133 | No. 2-Daton Fix (0-0) | Jackson Disario (4-0) or Jason Miranda (3-1) | Never Met |
| 141 | No. 16-Dusty Hone (0-0) or Carter Young (0-0) | Jackson Disario (0-0) or Jason Miranda (0-0) | Never Met |
| 149 | No. 22-Kaden Gfeller (0-0) | No. 7-Jaden Abas (4-0) | Never Met |
| 157 | No. 14-Wyatt Sheets (0-0) | Charles Darracott (4-0) or Fabian Santillian (3-2) | Never Met |
| 165 | No. 6-Travis Wittlake (0-0) | No. 1-Shane Griffith (4-0) | Griffith leads 1-0 |
| 174 | No. 16-Dustin Plott (0-0) | No. 31-Tyler Eischens (4-0) or Colby Harlan (2-1) | Never Met |
| 184 | No. 7-Dakota Geer (0-0) | Ethan Woods (4-1) or Colby Harlan (0-0) | Never Met |
| 197 | No. 1-A.J. Ferrari (0-0) | No. 25-Nikolas Stimmet (4-0) | Never Met |
| HWY | Luke Surber (0-0) or No. 11-Austin Harris (0-0) | Peter Ming (4-1) or Seamus O’Malley (4-1) | Never Met |
