Spratley Pin for Fifth and Doucet Going for Third Highlight Medal Round for Oklahoma State
The Oklahoma State Cowboys added to what had been a strong 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships for them over the three days in Cleveland, Ohio. With four freshmen Cowboys; Jax Forrest (133), Sergio Vega (141), Landon Robideau (157), and Cody Merrill (197); all wrestling in Saturday night’s finals. By the way, all of those are true freshmen except Merrill, who is a redshirt freshman. The Saturday morning wrestling in the medal rounds was still a highlight. Four other Cowboys were alive to find a place on the All-American podium. The morning action did clinch 2nd-place in the team standings for Oklahoma State. Penn State wins their 5th consecutive National Championship.
Heavyweight Konner Doucet took a medical forfeit from Nebraska heavyweight and former Oklahoma State 197-pound national champion AJ Ferrari to move into the third-place match.
Doucet then took on No. 3 seed Taye Ghadaili of Michigan, the Big Ten Champion heavyweight, and then heavier Ghadaili proved to be too much. He scored a first period takedown to lead Doucet 3-0. Doucet reversed the riding time in the second period, but gave up an escape late to fall behind 4-0. In the third period, Ghadaili rode Doucet for most of it to gain the riding time advantage. Doucet got the escape but left little time for a chance. He lost the 3rd-place match 5-1. Doucet finishes 4th and technically became the 500th individual All-American in Oklahoma State history.
No. 5 seed Troy Spratley at 125 pounds ran back into his rival No. 12 seed Vincent Robinson in the consolation semifinals. Robinson, the defending national champion, defeated Spratley in the finals in 2025. On Thursday night Spratley beat Robinson in the quarterfinals of this tournament. They were back at it on Saturday morning and Robinson used a reversal in the tiebreaker in overtime to finish with a 3-2 OT tb2 decision.
That left Spratley wrestling Indiana’s No. 14 seed Jacob Moran for fifth. It could have been a let down moment for Spratley, but that is not his way. Spratley dominated Moran with two first period takedowns and then got a tilt in the second period and pushed to get the fall at 4:10. Spratley picks up more bonus points for his team and another place position into 5th-place and his second All-American selection.
NCAA Wrestling Championships Team Scores
Last Updated: 12:13 am CT Saturday Medal Session
1. Penn State - 164.0
2. Oklahoma State - 119.0
3. Nebraska - 101.5
4. Iowa - 92.5
5. Ohio State - 84.5
At 149 pounds No. 8 seed Casey Swiderski had to wait a long time through an injury time out with No. 3 seed Cross Wasilewski of Pennsylvania. Wasilewski had an early takedown in the first period but landed hard and required medical attention, maybe concussion protocol. he came back and the match got pretty fiesty with both wrestlers pushing each other after Wasilewski won a 4-2 decision to push Swiderski to 8th-place.
Then at 184 pounds the Cowboys very tough Zack Ryder, who battled a left shoulder injury during the season, fought through to win a consolation at the Big 12 Championships to earn the spot at the NCAA, finally succumbed to the injury and medically defaulted in his 7th-place match to take 8th-place.
Tonight the four Cowboys go for the top spot on the podium.
NCAA Wrestling Championships Finals - Saturday, March 21
125 lbs - No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) vs. No. 10 Marc-Anthony McGowan (Princeton)
133 lbs - No. 1 Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 2 Ben Davino (Ohio State)
141 lbs - No. 1 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) vs. No. 2 Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State)
149 lbs - No. 1 Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) vs. No. 10 Aden Valencia (Stanford)
157 lbs - No. 5 Landon Robideau (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 2 Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)
165 lbs - No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Mikey Caliendo (Iowa)
174 lbs - No. 1 Levi Haines (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Christopher Minto (Nebraska)
184 lbs - No. 1 Rocco Welsh (Penn State) vs. No. 3 Max McEnelly (Minnesota)
197 lbs - No. 1 Josh Barr (Penn State) vs. No. 7 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State)
285 lbs - No. 1 Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) vs. No. 2 Isaac Trumble (NC State)
