Troy Spratley is Fourth Big 12 Wrestler of the Week from OSU, Plus Taylor on Line-Up
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State came away from the dual last Sunday at West Virginia with a commanding 34-3 win in a dual that shaped up to be a potential “barnburner” except the Mountaineers and head coach Tim Flynn sat five wrestlers that could have made a difference, three of those were ranked, including No. 1 Ty Watters, who would have faced No/ 2 and unbeaten Oklahoma State freshman Landon Robideau at 157 pounds.
Never happened.
“Nothing you can do about it except go wrestle,” Cowboys head coach David Taylor said when I ran into him on Tuesday of this week.
In the one of the two matches where West Virginia did put a stout competitor on the mat, at least one that matched up, OSU’s No. 8 125 pounder Troy Spratley evened his personal record with defending Big 12 champion and then No. 7-ranked Jett Strickenberger and that earned Spratley the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honor. He is now 5-2 on the season and has moved up to No. 7 in the Intermat NCAA Division I rankings. He flipped spots with Strickenberger.
Spratley joins teammates Zack Ryder (184), Sergio Vega (141), and Landon Robideau (157) as Oklahoma State's four Wrestler of the Week honorees this season, leading the conference in the award.
Most of the Cowboys stayed the same in the rankings including unbeaten freshmen Sergio Vega (133), Robideau (157), and Dee Lockett (165), who all remain at No. 2. At 174 pounds Alex Facundo moved up to No. 13. Also, Zack Ryder moved up to No. 10 at 184 pounds.
The No. 5 Cowboys will get some good competition this Sunday in Lincoln, Neb. as they visit No. 6 Nebraska. I’m betting that the Huskers will put their best on the mat for the scheduled Noon start on the Big Ten Network.
Last week, I asked Taylor about line-up changes and at what point he wants to start trying to put the same 10 out there each dual to prepare for the Big 12 Championships and the NCAA. Besides, many of the duals in 2026 portion of the schedule will be inside Gallagher-Iba Arena and those are cherished opportunities for Cowboy wrestlers.
“I think you have five dates (for each wrestler before they lose a redshirt) and I think you want to use all five dates,” Taylor said of allowing competition in the line-up. “You want to use them where guys are getting challenged. There are different tiers of competition. You have the tier that is competitive and then you have the tier of trying to win the national championship. We want to have 10 guys that are all competing to win the national championship (team and individual).”
Looking at this line-up critically, at this point, I think Oklahoma State can say they are there at eight-to-nine of the weights. Taylor is going to be looking to make that 10-of-10. Nebraska on Sunday will help that cause.
