Fix and Dieringer Advance to USA Olympic Trials Semifinals
STILLWATER – Former Oklahoma State wrestlers Daton Fix and Alex Dieringer are still alive in the bracket and will wrestle in the semifinals on Friday night (April 19) in the USA Wrestling Olympic Trials. The event in State College, Pa. on the Penn State University campus will determine who will compete or have the chance to compete this summer in Paris at the Summer Olympics for what two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner and former Oklahoma State wrestling head coach John Smith calls the hardest Olympic sport to medal in. Two other wrestlers with OSU or Stillwater connections, Christian Carroll and Ladarian Lockett did themselves proud each winning a match in the tournament before bowing out.
Fix, who just finished up his Oklahoma State career as a five-time Big 12 Champion and four-time runner up at the NCAA Championships, won his only match of the morning. Fix received a bye and is the No. 3 seed at 57 kg. He defeated Nick Suriano, who beat him in the 2019 NCAA final. Fix is a better freestyle wrestler than folk style used in college. Fix will now take on Thomas Gilman, the No. 2 seed.
The native of Sand Springs, Okla. is by his own admission in the best shape of his career and was able to get down to his freestyle weight of 125 pounds from 133 in relative easy fashion.
“He is the most motivated that I’ve ever seen him,” Smith said of Fix, who never seemed to be anything other than motivated.
Fix or the winner at 57 kg will have to turn around and wrestle in May to qualify the United States at 57 kg. It is the only weight that the USA has not qualified to wrestle in the Paris Olympic Games.
Dieringer has been toiling in freestyle wrestling for a long time and was the four seed coming in, used two takedowns including one late to win a 5-2 match over Mark Hall in the quarterfinals. Diering will meet Aaron Brooks in the semifinals.
The winner of the 86 kg tournament will then need to win a two-out-of-three championship challenge against former Penn State NCAA Champion David Taylor, who qualified the weight for the Olympics.
Also on Friday morning Stillwater High School and Cowboy Wrestling Club representative Ladarian Lockett was eliminated at 74 kg by former Penn State wrestler Mitchell Mesenbrink. To qualify for the quarterfinal, Lockett had scored a 12-1 tech fall over NCAA third-place finisher Myles Shapiro.
Christian Carroll was eliminated at 97 kg by former Missouri standout and NCAA Champion J’den Cox 2-1. Each wrestler scored a pasivity point and Cox won the match that finished 1-1 on criteria. An impressive show for Carroll, who had beaten former Iowa heavyweight wrestler Tony Cassioppi 6-5 in the first round match.
Carroll, red-shirted this past year after coming in as the top-rated wrestling recruit in 2024. He has lost weight, re-shaped his body and is looking to wrestle at 197 pounds next season for the Cowboys.
Friday Night Schedule for Semifinals involving former Oklahoma State wrestlers
57 kg - Zane Richards vs Spencer Lee
57 kg - Thomas Gilman vs Daton Fix
86 kg - Aaron Brooks vs Alex Dieringer
86 kg - Zahid Valencia vs winner of Chance Marsteller/Trent Hidlay
The semifinals begin at 6 p.m. on Friday evening.