Vito Arujau Ends Daton Fix's Hometown Title Quest
(Robert Allen, publisher of Pokes Report contributed to the story written by Reid Romine of Oklahoma State University athletic media relations.)
TULSA, Okla. – Oklahoma State's Daton Fix and his goal of winning an NCAA individual championship near his hometown of Sand Springs ended in the BOK Center on Friday night. Fix was 29-0 and in the semifinal for the fourth time in his Cowboy career. Each time he won and moved on to the finals only to get beat. The hope was this would be the time and the place. Instead it will be the first NCAA Tournament where Fix won’t be in the finals.
Fix suffered his first loss of the season in an 11-3 major decision to Cornell's third-seeded Vito Arujau. The loss moved Fix to 29-1 this season and is only the fifth loss overall in his career. Arujau dominated the match as the score would indicate, but Fix did attempt to rally late in the second and early in the third period only to get taken down by Arujau.
This was already a program low for the Cowboys in the NCAA Wrestling Championships and now the Cowboys will move to the final day on Saturday with only two wrestlers competing and both in the consolation bracket.
On the bright side Dustin Plott joined Daton Fix in securing All-America honors for the second consecutive season in the fourth session of the NCAA Championships on Friday night.
Plott trailed early in his match against No. 15 Demetrius Romero of Utah Valley needing a win to make the podium, but battled back to send the match to sudden victory tied at 5. Five seconds into the overtime period, Plott countered a shot from Romero to clinch a takedown and the win. He would go on to meet No. 6 Ethan Smith in the consolation quarterfinals looking to advance in the wrestlebacks and defeat the Buckeye, 8-4.
With Fix having secured a spot on the 133-pound podium on Friday morning, the duo became Oklahoma State's 484th and 485th All-Americans in program history.
Fix and Plott will wrestle in Saturday morning's session as they will earn their placements. Fix will face No. 8 Aaron Nagao of Minnesota in the consolation semifinals, while Plott will take on No. 3 Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech.
Oklahoma State sits in 19th place in the team standings with 25.0 team points heading into the final day of competition. That represents a program worst standing in the event.
The final day of the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships will begin at 10 a.m. CT Saturday morning. Fans can watch the action live on ESPNU and can stream every match live ESPN.com or through the ESPN app. Cowboy fans can also follow along on Twitter through @CowboyWrestling.