Pairing and Seeds Announced for the Paycom National Duals Invitational
STILLWATER – David Taylor and Oklahoma State will start the first time event Paycom National Duals Invitational at the BOK Center in Tulsa as the No. 4 seed against Cornell of the Ivy League and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. The event will take place on Saturday Nov. 15 and Sunday Nov. 16. Matches will be streamed on FloWrestling with the finals on Sunday being televised on ESPN.
The Cowboys will be a new look team with Troy Spratley returning at 125 pounds, former NCAA champion transfer and Arizona State transfer Richard Figueroa at 133 pounds. Freshman Under 20 World Champion LaDarion Lockett is also going to be a huge factor.
The event sponsored by Paycom offers $1 million in prize money with $200,000 going to the winning team. The money will be split among the athletes, so this is a major event that creates a new tradition of “you eat what you kill.”
“Cornell’s got a great team, great for a long time,” Taylor said of the Cowboys first round opponent. “That’s what makes the National Duals concept so awesome, the randomness and the opportunity to wrestle all of these great programs, one match at a time, and we get Cornell right off the bat.”
Here are the first round matches to take place on Saturday along with second round matches. Session I is 8 am-1 pm and Session II will be 3 pm-9 pm.
No. 1 seed Iowa (4th in 2025 NCAA Championship) vs. Missouri
Illinois vs. Little Rock
No. 4 seed Oklahoma State (3rd in 2025 NCAA Championship) vs. Cornell
UNI vs. North Carolina State
No. 3 seed Ohio State (5th in 2025 NCAA Championship) vs. Wyoming
Virginia Tech vs. Minnesota
No. 2 seed Nebraska (2nd in 2025 NCAA Championship) vs. Lehigh
Arizona State vs. Michigan
The championship match will be at 6 pm on Sunday, Nov. 16. The winner collects the $200,000 and the losing team splits $150,000. Third place also gets $150,000.
4th place - $75,000
5th place - $50,000
6th place - $40,000
7th place - $25,000
8th place - $20,000
Oklahoma State has a lot of newcomers and transfers, like Figueroa and Lockett.
“We’re real excited and we have a lot of new talent on the team this year,” Taylor said. “That talent is blending with leadership and those guys are getting better every single day. Last year having a core group of seniors that moved on and now we have this young group and guys that have come from other programs. That is what makes it exciting to coach to see how this team is materializing.”
