Almost Perfect Dual for the Oklahoma State Freshmen in 32-11 Win Over Iowa

STILLWATER – Freshmen, freshmen, freshmen, and freshmen.

The Cowboys beat Iowa 32-11 on Sunday at Gallagher-Iba Arena. It was the Hawkeyes’ most lopsided defeat since 1961 in the “greatest rivalry in college sports.”

All four of Oklahoma State’s first-year wrestlers: Sergio Vega, Jax Forrest, Landon Robideau and Dee Lockett were as good as advertised in the dual. The Cowboys also wrestled three redshirt freshman, making seven total freshmen in the lineup.

There is nothing quite like calling your shot. The Cowboys 141-pound No. 2-ranked freshman Sergio Vega did just that. When meeting with the media on Wednesday of this week, Vega was asked what he expected on Sunday for the rivalry dual with Iowa. 

“For it to be loud and fun,” Vega said. “And hopefully confetti.”

It was loud as 12,629 mostly Cowboy fans kept up the noise. After two periods of good action but no scoring with Iowa’s Kale Peterson, Vega hit the accelerator and escaped from bottom in the third period to break the deadlock. He got Peterson in a firm cradle and scored the takedown. Vega put on the tilt and the count started. It ended with Peterson’s shoulder on the mat and the fall to cue the confetti that Vega had hoped to see and up went six more team points for a 14-0 Oklahoma State lead.

“Sergio tried like four different cradles that didn’t work and then got the fifth one, that was good,” coach David Taylor said of one of his two unbeaten true freshmen. “He’s just a freshman and what, that was his 15th college match in his career. He is still learning. These guys are competitors. They get a pin and this place starts rocking.”

That was just part of the fun for Oklahoma State. The Cowboys also needed a pair of redshirt freshmen to come through in the back half of the dual. Zack Ryder returned at 184 and Cody Merrill got aggressive at 197 as part of the historic win inside the “Home of College Wrestling.”

“We have 10 guys and I love going to battle with these guys,” Taylor said. “It’s exciting and it’s entertaining. Sometimes you don’t know exactly what you are going to get but you know something cool is coming.”

Jax Forrest, the most recent national sensation to wear the orange singlet did not take long to introduce himself to Iowa. Forrest had no yet joined the team for the Paycom National Duals Invitational in November. The second semester enrollee made his presence known to the Hawkeyes and their No. 9-ranked 133 pounder Drake Ayala, along with coach Tom Brands on Sunday.

The place went nuts when Forrest came out to start and make it absolutely clear that his unbeaten record and quick rise to No. 6 in the rankings was no fluke. He and Ayala got tangled in a wild scramble that finished with no score. Then with just under a minute left in the first, Forrest got both Ayala’s legs and the takedown put the yound Cowboy on top. The period ended with Forrest up 3-0 and :50 seconds of riding time. 

Forrest started down in the second and escaped. With former coach John Smith looking on, Forrest scrambled his way out of what looked like a bad position on bottom to putting Ayala’s shoulders on the mat. It was a takedown and two near fall points. Forrest piled on more near fall points  and lead 16-3 at the end of the second.

Forrest finally got the final takedown he needed to finish his match in the third.  No riding time point awarded, even though Forrest had 2:06, and the tech fall final was 19-3, giving the Cowboys more bonus points on the team score.

“It was surreal, you know wrestling somebody that is that high caliber and just feeling in the flow state,” Forrest said in the match that officially ended any possibility of him redshirting and made his record 10-0. “Everything I’m doing is perfect timing, perfect amount of strength, really that was like the best version of myself.”

No. 5 Landon Robideau took on former Cowboy and Tulsa native No. 14 Jordan Williams at 157 pounds. Robideau started with a single leg that had Williams hopping around and trying to avoid the takedown to no avail. The first three minutes ended with Robideau up 3-1 and 1:22 in riding time. As Robideau wrestled, his personal mascot, the familiar face of Michael Myers from the “Halloween” movies stared out onto the mat from the corner.

Robideau started the second period down and got the escape to go up 4-1, but the riding time had slipped to :44. Robideau recovered his lost time Williams was on bottom to start the third and he stayed there. Robideau rode out the third and 2:44 of riding time secured a point for a 5-1 decision. OSU led 17-5 at the intermission.

The fourth true freshman for the Cowboys was No. 2 Dee Lockett at 165 pounds. Lockett was looking for a sweep of No. 4 Mikey Caliendo after Lockett beat the Hawkeye in their first meeting in Tulsa at the National Dual Invitational. Caliendo was careful with Lockett as he used a first period takedown and a second period escape to get a 4-2 decision. 

Lockett, who has had some late match heroics, did all he could in the final period but Caliendo stayed clear of Lockett and held him off for the win. 

The Hawkeyes Dean Peterson came out at 125 pounds with his own February salute to stamping out cancer as he had his hair dyed pink. It didn’t phase Troy Spratley who started with a quick single and a takedown. He collected 1:21 in riding time before Peterson escaped to make it 3-1 after one period. Spratley started down in the second period and escaped to make it 4-1. A Peterson escape and 1:41 of riding time for a point made it a 5-2 decision for Spratley.

Iowa got their first points in a big way as No. 18 Ryder Block at 149 pounds drew OSU redshirt freshman Kolter Burton. The starter and ninth-ranked Casey Swiderski did weigh in but did not go. Pokes Report learned that he should be back for the Big 12 Championships. Block took an early lead and would not let up against Burton. He beat the Cowboy backup with a 19-4 tech fall at 5:36. The team score was 14-5 Oklahoma State.

Iowa inched closer at 174 pounds. No. 3 Patrick Kennedy controlled his match with the Cowboys No. 7 Alex Facundo and won an 8-3 decision to make the team score the closest it had been since the first match at 17-11.

Next was one for the books as No. 8 Zack Ryder made his return from a shoulder injury to take on Gabe Arnold. The two wrestlers traded escapes and near takedowns to finish 1-1 after three periods. It was on to sudden victory and Ryder got a single leg and was trying to pull Arnold back on the mat when the official called them off. Ryder apparently did not hear the whistle and kept going. Arnold must have said something and a penalty point was accessed. Ryder won 2-1 in sudden victory.

“Great stall call, great stall call,” Taylor said when asked to explain what happened. “I was really proud of him and he has had an up and down season. I thought he had a good calm presence, fought off that takedown. It was a hard match. The way the call is on the edge, if you kick and turn out-of-bounds that is a stall. You look in the rule book.”

UFC Champion and former Cowboy All-American Daniel Cormier led the team in. Cody Merrill was Cormier’s student in California and Daniel stayed in the crowd to watch Merrill wrestle at 197 pounds. Merrill had not been overly aggressive early in his matches this season. He may have learned a lesson last week in a close loss at Virginia Tech.

Merrill scored fast and never let up as he finished with a fall at 4:47 of the match. It was his second pin of the season and it clinched the dual at 26-11. 

Konner Doucet, ranked No. 8 at heavyweight got the third Cowboy pin of the night over backup Hawkeye heavyweight Gage Marty to close the match. The historic margin of victory was a fitting way send the GIA crowd home.

Oklahoma State (15-1/7-0) has finished the regular season and will wrestle next in Tulsa on March 6-7 at the Big 12 Championships.