Cowboys Move Fix and Plott into NCAA Quarterfinals, OSU is 15th in Team Scores

DETROIT - Oklahoma State wrestlers Daton Fix and Dustin Plott each went 2-0 on the first day of the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships Thursday to earn spots in Friday morning’s quarterfinal round.

In addition to the two quarterfinalists, five other wrestlers are still competing in the consolation brackets for the Cowboys, who wrapped up the first day in 15th place in the team standings with 11 points.

"There was some good and some bad," coach John Smith said. "Mostly good, but I wish we could change a few things as I think every coach here would. … Overall, tough and tight matches. I feel good about taking seven into tomorrow and we're going to have to fight to win matches."

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Fix working on a takedown in his win over Kai Orine of NC State.

Fix, who started his day with a major decision in the first round, kept his momentum going with a 7-4 win over No. 15 Kai Orine of NC State at 133 pounds. In a match that featured multiple reviews, Fix was able to fend off a late charge from Orine to advance to his third NCAA quarterfinals and move to 23-0 on the year. He’ll face No. 10 Chris Cannon of Northwestern Friday morning for a spot in the semifinal round.

Plott punched his ticket to his first NCAA quarterfinal round with a comfortable 8-2 win over No. 22 Mason Kauffman of Northern Illinois. Plott, who is now 19-3 on the year, recorded a takedown in each of the first and second periods and then added two more stalling points in the third advance. His next matchup Friday morning will be against No. 3 Logan Massa of Michigan for a spot in the semifinals.

"It's awesome, you know," Plott said. "I used to come to (the NCAA Wrestling Championships) as a kid and always dreamed about wrestling on this stage. I'm just excited and grateful for this opportunity to compete and even more grateful I am doing so healthy. You can kind of take that for granted when there are a lot of guys here who are beat up … I'm just being myself. I'm wrestling hard and telling myself to score the next point, hustle to the center and good things will happen. There at the end I needed one more takedown for a major and I went too straight-on, I needed a better angle."

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Gfeller’s loss in the second round came to Iowa’s Max Murin in an 8-4 decision.

Trevor Mastrogiovanni (125 pounds), Kaden Gfeller (149 pounds) and Dakota Geer (184 pounds) reached the second round with Fix and Plott but were unable to advance as they all fell in decisions to top-10 opponents.

All three are still competing in the tournament and will wrestle their next matches in the second round of the consolation bracket Friday morning.

They’ll be joined in the round by Wyatt Sheets, who upset No. 18 Andrew Cerniglia of Navy, 9-5, in the first consolation round of the 157-pound bracket, and Luke Surber, who capped the first day with an 8-2 Bedlam win over Oklahoma’s Josh Heindselman in the first consolation round of the heavyweight bracket.

Only one of the Cowboys’ eight wrestlers at the event was eliminated from competition Thursday, as 141-pounder Carter Young lost to two higher seeds on the day to bow out of the tournament.

The Cowboys wrapped up the second session with a 4-4 record in individual matches and were 9-7 on the day.

The third session of the NCAA Wrestling Championships will begin Friday morning at 10 a.m. CT, followed by the fourth session at 7 p.m. CT Friday night. Fans can watch Session III live on ESPNU and Session IV live on ESPN. Every match on every mat can also be streamed live on ESPN.com or through the ESPN app, and Cowboy fans can follow along on Twitter through @CowboyWrestling.

2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships
March 17, 2022 | Little Caesars Arena | Detroit, Mich.
Session I (Thursday Morning)

Team Standings After Session III (Top 15)

1. Penn State - 27.5

2. Arizona State - 22

3. NC State - 21.5

4. Michigan - 21

5. Iowa - 20.5

6. Northern Iowa - 15

7. Nebraska - 14.5

    Virginia Tech - 14.5

9. Cornell - 14

    Oregon State - 14

11. Northwestern - 13.5

     Ohio State - 13.5

13. Wisconsin - 12.5

14. Missouri - 11.5

15. Oklahoma State - 11

     Pennsylvania - 11

Championship Second Round

125: No. 10 Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) dec. No. 7 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OSU), 3-2

133: No. 2 Daton Fix (OSU) dec. No. 15 Kai Orine (NC State), 7-4

149: No. 8 Max Murin (Iowa) dec. No. 9 Kaden Gfeller (OSU), 8-4

174: No. 6 Dustin Plott (OSU) dec. No. 22 Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois), 8-2

184: No. 1 Myles Amine (Michigan) dec. No. 16 Dakota Geer (OSU), 5-1

Consolation First Round

141: No. 24 Stevan Micic (Michigan) dec. No. 25 Carter Young (OSU), 7-4

157: No. 31 Wyatt Sheets (OSU) dec. No. 18 Andrew Cerniglia (Navy), 9-5

HWT: No. 19 Luke Surber (OSU) dec. No. 30 Josh Heindselman (Oklahoma), 8-2

Quarterfinals Schedule (Friday Morning)

133: No. 2 Daton Fix (OSU) vs. No. 10 Chris Cannon (Northwestern)

174: No. 6 Dustin Plott (OSU) vs. No. 3 Logan Massa (Michigan)

Consolation Second Round Schedule (Friday Morning)

125: No. 7 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (OSU) vs. No. 8 Patrick McKee (Minnesota)

149: No. 9 Kaden Gfeller (OSU) vs. No. 23 Jaden Abas (Stanford)

157: No. 31 Wyatt Sheets (OSU) vs. No. 1 David Carr (Iowa State)

184: No. 16 Dakota Geer (OSU) vs. No. 18 Abe Assad (Iowa)

HWT: No. 19 Luke Surber (OSU) vs. No. 13 Tate Orndorff (Ohio State)