David Taylor and John Smith Do Have a Lot in Common/OSU Prepares for WVU
STILLWATER – Since last May and the day that Oklahoma State Cowboy wrestling was turned over from world famous alum and USA wrestling’s most decorated competitor and Oklahoma State’s winningest coach John Smith to another of our nation’s most decorated wrestlers in David Taylor I’ve been asked this question often. How much do Smith and Taylor have in common?
The heart comes to mind right away. The two have the heart and courage of a great competitor. They also have a hunger to compete and test themselves as to how great they can be. Those characteristics are givens. The styles that we see on the mat are slightly different. John Smith loved to score points but also had the mindset of defending and limiting the opportunties to score of his opponents. Taylor doesn’t easily give up points, but his mindset and style is a little more aggressive and stresses scoring as many points as possible.
Both styles have their place in the sport and Oklahoma State fans are enjoying the Taylor-way this season and will do so again on Sunday afternoon when the Cowboys celebrate a black out and another possible season high crowd when they host West Virginia. The dual begins at 2 p.m. The Cowboys as you can see with the lineup below are favorites. Keep an eye on 165 where Cameron Amine faces No. 3 and unbeaten Peyton Hall.
| Weight | No. 3 Oklahoma State (8-0/5-0) | No. 22 West Virginia (8-3/2-2) |
| 125 | No. 4 Troy Spratley (12-2) | No. 17 Jett Strickenberger (9-5) |
| 133 | No. 15 Reece Witcraft (9-2) or Cael Hughes (7-0) | Tommy Maddox (1-5) |
| 141 | No. 4 Tagen Jamison (14-1) | No. 29 Jordan Titus (7-8) or Blake Boyers (2-3) |
| 149 | No. 14 Carter Young (9-6) or Cutter Sheets (15-8) | Sam Hillegas (2-6) or Kolter Burton (6-4) |
| 156 | No. 12 Caleb Fish (13-4) | Sasha Cavronsky (11-6) |
| 165 | No. 6 Cameron Amine (9-3) | No. 3 Peyton Hall (21-0) |
| 174 | No. 3 Dean Hamiti Jr. (13-0) | No. 29 Brody Conley (8-5) or Dylan Kohn (0-0) |
| 184 | No. 3 Dustin Plott (11-1) | No. 17 Dennis Robin (13-6) |
| 197 | No. 7 Luke Surber (14-1) | Ian Bush (7-5) |
| Hwt. | No. 3 Wyatt Hendrickson (12-0) | Michael Wolfgram (10-5) |
The women’s Division I wrestling, and just this week at the NCAA Convention they approved the women in wrestling as the 91st NCAA Championship sport, have a national duals competition. Wrestling is a team sport with a heavy individual makeup. The men held a national duals championship tournament for several seasons and John Smith was a huge proponent of it. He pushed for it. Oklahoma State hosted and you needed the fire marshall to kick out fans sitting int he aisles of Gallagher-Iba Arena when OSU hosted Penn State.
David Taylor would like to see it back again. Team competition in addition to the NCAA Championships in March. he talked about it this week.
“I think when you have a conference schedule, it’s hard to start balancing non-conference events,” Taylor explained of his desired format and place on the schedule. “So, I think you just pick a time at the beginning of the year and now you have two events. Dual meets are awesome, they’re easy to follow for the casual fan. You (put) it at the beginning of the year before the conference events start, and you get the best teams to come compete. You’re incentivized to wrestle your best lineup. You pick the projected best eight or 16 teams, you pick a date in November and people can prepare for it. Then you can alter your schedule and prepare for it as needed.”
Taylor sees it as another lightning rod to draw in fans. That has been a focal point for him in his first-year as coach at OSU. He’s succeeded as the Cowboys had their best crowd of the season for the 34-3 win Monday night over then No. 5 North Carolina State.
Taylor wants to set a season-high average attendance record and averaging 6,838 through five duals they are on pace to do so. The ‘black out” for West Virgina should help.