Jax Forrest Starts the NCAA Exactly How You'd Expect, Oklahoma State Advances

“Survive and advance” is never more relevant than in the first round of the other NCAA Championships starting this weekend in Cleveland at the wrestling tournament. Oklahoma State had nine of their wrestlers seeded to make All-American status and one, Jax Forrest at 133-pounds, seeded to be a champion. The freshman sensation in a bracket of five stellar first-year wrestlers did not disappoint. Forrest came out with his now signature move, the ball-and-chain and locked up an arm and a leg from OU’s pigtail match survivor Carter Schmidt. The same wrestler that Forrest opened his collegiate career with in Bedlam back in January, and Forrest had the same result, a first period fall. This time in 1:59 as he pulled Schmidt’s arm through and pinned him. Forrest goes to 14-0 and he will face T.K. Davis of Gardner-Webb (25-1) in the next round. 

Forrest had the only fall of the first session, but it was an unbeaten run for the Cowboys spiked with some bonus points. Just enough to be third after the first session. Penn State is first with 22.5 points, Iowa had a good morning and was second with 15 points, Oklahoma State and Ohio State tied for third with 14.5 points each.

One of those bonus wins was the first of the day as veteran and finalist from last season Troy Spratley (17-3) used a single leg for an opening takedown and he racked up 1:42 of first period riding time. He picked up two more takedowns in the third period to puch it to an 11-2 major decision with 2:26 in riding time. Spratley now gets a rival of his in No. 12 seed Vincent Robinson (16-4) of N.C. State.

No. 2 seed at 141 pounds Sergio Vega seemed a little sluggish as he went scoreless in his match with No. 31 Billy DeKraker of Northwestern. Vega used a single leg shot to get a second period takedown and went on to 6-0 decision. He will get Elijah Griffin (27-7) of Rider on Thursday night in session two. 

At 149 pounds, No. 8 Casey Swiderski was solid in his opener with No. 25 seed Michael Gioffre of Illinois with a pair of first period takedowns for a 6-1 lead after three minutes. Not much scoring after that as Swiderski (15-5) took a 7-2 decision. Next up for Swiderski is N.C. State’s No. 5 Koy Buesgens (22-3).

No. 5 Landon Robideau (17-2) did what he has done before this season after a loss as he dominated No. 28 Gavin Drexler of North Dakota State. He jumped out to a lead and finished a 5-1 decision with 1:25 riding time. He finished his first round match at 157 pounds with a 5-1 decision.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Lockett gets his arm raised in his first NCAA Championships match.

No. 5 seed Dee Lockett at 165 pounds was a quick starter with a pair of takedowns to go up on No. 28 Cody Goebel of Wisconsin. Lockett slowed down in the third period and finished just short of a bonus points verdict with a 9-2 decision. He moves on to face No. 12 Cesar Alvan (28-8) of Columbia, who scored a 12-2 major decision on No. 21 Borck Woodstock of SIU-Edwardsville. 

At 174 pounds, No. 8 Alex Facundo was in a tight match that he broke opne in the third period winning 12-6 over No. 25 Sergio Desiante of Virginia Tech

No. 22 Zack Ryder and his opponent Shane Cartagena-Walsh of Rutgers were scoreless in the first period at 184 pounds. Ryder, with his left shoulder heavily taped from the injury earlier this semester and then reinjured in the Big 12, started the second period down and got the escape for a 1-0 lead. They flipped spots to start the third period and Cartagena-Walsh escaped to even the score. Each wrestler tried to shoot but to no avail and it was on the sudden victory. 

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Head coach David Taylor hugs Zack Ryder after his overtime win in the first round of the NCAA.

Ryder worked his way around and had Gartagena-Walsh from the side and took him to the mat and slid on top for control for the takedown at 1:01 and a 4-1 decision in overtime.  Seeded No. 22 after fighting through his injury in Tulsa at the Big 12 Championships to win a consolation match and earn his spot in Cleveland, Ryder was one of three wrestlers seeded over No. 20 to win a first-round match. 

Cody Merrill came in seeded No. 7 at 197 pounds and Merrill was on fire getting three takedowns in the first period and he never let up romping to an 18-4 tech fall at 6:01 over No. 26 Ben Vanadia of Purdue. 

In the absolute last match of the first session at heavyweight, No. 7 Konner Doucet was scoreless with No. 26 Luke Luffman of Illinois through the first first period. Doucet was on top in the second period and rode it out for 2:00 of riding time. In the third, Doucet escaped in four seconds and fought off the charges by Luffman for a 2-0 decision. Doucet (18-3) a rematch with No. 10 David Szuba of Arizona State.