Daton Fix Becomes First Ever 5-Time Big 12 Champ as Cowboys Battle for Championship
TULSA – Unfortunately for Oklahoma State trying to win their first Big 12 team wrestling championship in three years the eventual verdict did not come down to the matches they wrestled in the finals, but to the matches Iowa State wrestled against others. A great example was at 133-pounds where Daton Fix did something nobody had ever accomplished and beat the Cyclones Evan Frost. That was more than countered in the next final at 141-pounds where the Cowboys Tagen Jamison had finished fourth. Iowa State’s Anthony Echemendia won the 141-pound championship over Cael Happle of Northern Iowa.
The Cowboys so badly needed another champion among their other three finalists. They didn;t get one.
Oklahoma State’s last hope to close the gap came at 184-pounds and Dustin Plott was not able to knock off top seed Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Iowa State had secured their first Big 12 championship with a lead of 148.5 points-to-141.5 points for Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were done and Iowa State had one more wrestler at heavyweight in Yonger Bastida. Bastida scored the upset over defending Big 12 and NCAA champion Wyatt Hendrickson of Air Force with a 10-7 decision.
Daton Fix made good on his individual bid to become the first ever five-time Bog 12 champion. Fix was a must win for the Cowboys as he wrestled Iowa State’s Evan Frost in the only head-t-head competition between the top two schools in the finals. Fix started the scoring after a couple of minutes of feeling each other out as he got Frost’s leg and had it up high allowing him to use a sweep to trip Frost to the mat. The first period ended with Fix up 3-0 on the single takedown.
Fix started period two down and got an escape fairly quick to go up 4-0. Frost tried to make a shot and Fix countered and pulled Frost across his body for another takedown and a 7-0 lead. Frost did get the escape and the period ended 7-1.
In the third period, Frost got an escape to make it 7-2 and then was able to scramble and work a single leg into a takedown to close the score to 7-5. Fix had the riding time guaranteed and the match finished with Fix winning an 8-5 decision. The first-ever five-time Big 12 champion, something that happened with Fix taking an Olympic training year in conjuction with the COVID season.
Later at 165-pounds, Iowa State’s David Carr had a chance to be a five-time Big 12 champion and wasn’t able to beat top seed Keegan O’Toole.
“I’m not anything without the Lord, so all the credit goes to him,” Fix said with sincere emotion. “I love being a Cowboy. I love Tulsa. I love Oklahoma State. I love my team. Yes, I thought about this being the last time. This will probably be the last match I wrestle in Tulsa. It’s been an honor. I love Oklahoma.”
The biggest disappointment for Oklahoma State may have been at 125-pounds in the first championship contested. Troy Spratley of the Cowboys had been wrestling well throughout the two days and for the season for that matter. The two seed got into the final with five seed Jore Volk of Wyoming. Volk had decisioned Spratley in the dual this season, but Spratley had come a long way since then.
After a scoreless first period, Spratley worked a reverse in the second period from the down position. Spratley was holding a 2-0 lead with a chance to get riding time in the third period. Volk was battling Spratley and with both wrestlers on the mat, Spratley pushed off of Volk and appeared to wipe his face. With his hands up in his face, Volk quickly seized the opportunity and took Spratley in the midsection and gained control for a takedown with 30 seconds left. He kept Spratley from escaping and won a bizarre 3-2 decision.
Spratley was roughly 30 seconds away from a championship and a absent-minded move seemed to cost him the title.
Oklahoma State was compromised with their finalist at 149-pounds as Jordan Williams had injured his shoulder in his 8-7 semifinal decision over Casey Swiderski of Iowa State. It was obvious that Williams wasn’t himself as he was taken down by Ty Watters of West Virginia in the first minute of the first period and Watters rode out the period with 2:13 in riding time.
In the second period Watters started down and got a quick escape and then just tackled Williams for a takedown. Williams screamed in pain and the official stopped the match. Oklahoma State coaches conceded and Watters won the 149 by injury default as Williams was crying likely both in pain and disappointment.
“He was hurt. I don’t know where, somewhere,” Watters said after the match. “It is what it is. I just wrestled my match.”
| Weight class | Wrestler, School, Points for the Tournament |
| 125 | Troy Spratley, Oklahoma State, 15.0 (2nd) |
| 133 |
Daton Fix, Oklahoma State, 23.5 (1st) Evan Frost, Iowa State, 18.0 (2nd) |
| 141 | Anthony Echemedia, Iowa State, 24.0 (1st) |
| 149 | Jordan Williams, Oklahoma State, 15.0 (2nd) |
| 157 | Cody Chittum, Iowa State, 16.5 (2nd) |
| 165 | David Carr, Iowa State, 18.5 (2nd) |
| 184 | Dustin Plott, Oklahoma State, 20.0 (2nd) |
| Hwt. | Yonger Bastida, Iowa State, 24.0 (1st) |
Dustin Plott had won the Big 12 Championship individually the past two years at 174 pounds and Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen had won 184 the last three seasons. Plott moved up and something had to give as Keckheisen put an exclamation point on his win in the dual season.
Right from the start Keckeisen attacked and got a double leg and put Plott down for a 3-0 lead. Then when Plott tried to escape, Keckeisen used an ankle pick to keep control. It was a creative ride and he had the riding time advantage. Plott tried to get back into it, but Keckeisen was able to get four takedowns in all and won by a 14-5 major decision. Plott’s record fell to 27-3.
“I got the legs. I wanted to get to his legs and I was able to do that,” Keckeisen said afterwards.
The Oklahoma State wrestling team finished the third session of the 2024 Big 12 Wrestling Championships in second place Sunday morning and trails Iowa State by just 7.0 points entering Sunday night's finals.
At 137.5 points for OSU and 144.5 points for Iowa State, they were the only two teams that remained in contention for the team title. The best news was the results of the final consolation rounds insured that Oklahoma State would send all 10 wrestlers at all weights to the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City, March 21-23. Oklahoma State is the only BIg 12 team that has accomplished that at this stage without wildcard entries.
"We're closing the gap, and credit to Iowa State with the bonus wins," coach John Smith said. "We're going to have to win hard matches tonight. I think we still have a shot at (the team championship). For us to win, we're going to have to have some upsets."
The Cowboys completed Sunday's early session with two third-place finishers in Izzak Olejnik (165 pounds) and Brayden Thompson (174 pounds), two fourth-place finishers in Tagen Jamison (141 pounds) and Teague Travis (157 pounds), a fifth-place finisher in Konner Doucet (HWT) and a sixth-place finisher in Luke Surber (197 pounds).
Sunday's action started with the consolation semifinals, where the Cowboys went 4-0 in matches they were favored in and fell short in upset bids at the two highest weight classes.
From there, No. 4 seed Olejnik upset third-seeded Peyton Hall of West Virginia, 5-1, and No. 3 seed Thompson upset second-seeded MJ Gaitan of Iowa State, 8-2, to claim their third-place finishes, while Jamison and Travis dropped decisions to finish fourth. Olejnik's and Thompson's wins avenged regular season losses to their respective opponents.
Doucet then won his fifth-place match over West Virginia's Michael Wolfgram to finish fifth, while Surber fell to higher-seeded Wyatt Voelker of Northern Iowa to finish sixth.