Defending Champions from Oklahoma State Too Much for Nebraska, But Freshmen Were Too
STILLWATER – No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Nebraska in front of a packed out Gallagher-Iba Arena. Former Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden led the team out. Weeden is a true superstar in Cowboy football history and we all know that second-year 133 pound wrestler Jax Forrest is a superstar already in OSU wrestling. Forrest loves to set the tone and he did it again in the Cowboys 27-6 dual win over the Huskers.
“This place is amazing, the fan support we have is so important,” head coach David Taylor said adding that he dreamed of selling out the arean when he arrived. “What we did tonight is the standard.”
It was a great standard for the team in performance and the crowd of 12,537, a sellout with some no shows was impressive on a Friday night.
“We know we are going to go out there and dominate people,” 125 pound freshman Rocklin Zinkin added. “We are going out there to whoop these guys, no matter who they are. That was a really good team, but we showed our training paid off. We train really hard everytime we go in the wrestling room.”
No. 1 Forrest going against the Huskers No. 8-ranked Jacob Van Dee and it was no contest. Forrest used a counter to Van Dee’s first move for a takedown and then flipped Van Dee over for the second three-pointer.
After Forrest had a takedown following his escape to start the second period, he led 13-3 before Van Dee found a way to reverse Forrest. That seemed to ignit Forrest and he scored in a third period flurry to finish the tech fall at 6:00 with a 21-6 final score and Oklahoma State led 8-0.
“Just momentum, he got off to a good start. He started off well,” Taylor said of the lone tech fall of the night. “In the very first situation, the guy was on his leg and all of a sudden he was in on a fireman’s carry. It’s like what just happened. In a match that seemed so much slower he scores 21 points. He has so many ways that he can score.”
The dual started off with a surprise as freshman 125 pounder Rocklin Zinkin came out to the theme from “Rocky” to face veteran and No. 4 Vincent Robinson of Nebraska. Robinson figured out quickly that he wasn’t quick enough to get around Zinkin and get a takedown. The two wrestlers traded escapes to lock up at 1-1. Then it was on to sudden victory. The two wrestlers each had a leg of the other and Zinkin looked so close to a takedown, but couldn’t finish it.
It was onto the tiebreaker and Zinkin on top first rode out the 30 seconds on an obviously tired Robinson. Then Robinson opted to start neutral, knowing he could not ride out Zinkin.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Zinkin said. “I think he knew he couldn’t ride me out, so I expected we’d be in neutral.”
He also couldn’t take him down and the freshman will be ranked now taking down No. 4 in the weight class 2-1 tb1.
“These kids came here to do special things,” Taylor said of Zinkin and all of the other freshmen. “These kids came here to kick some butt.”
Nebraska had to have it figured out after the bout at 141 pounds as another Cowboy freshman Jayden Raney had his way with the Huskers freshman Lincoln Sledzianowski. Rayney scored quickly getting behind the Husker and scoring a takedown from a sitting position. After the first period he led 3-0. Starting down, Raaney got the escape and another takedown. Sledzianowski got an escape and Raney another takedown. Leading 9-2 with 1:03 in riding time, Raney with choice started the third period in neutral and finished the match with a 10-2 major decision. Oklahoma State led 12-0.
Two wrestlers from Tuscon, Ariz, both from Sunnyside High School and a rematch from a year ago when the Cowboys Sergio Vega beat Anthony Echemendia. Echemendia is 27-years-old and Vega is 20. Vega scored first with a takedown and then proceeded to dominate the eventual 4-2 decision. Vega seemed to outshoot Echemendia eight-to-one. There probably should have been a stall call. Vega stays unbeaten at 4-0. Oklahoma State led 15-0.
“I think just a good bounce back from last week,” Vega said of wrestling Echemendia again. “I didn’t wrestle my best last week and I was excited to get back out there. I didn’t score a lot of points, but I was enjoying everything I did. I felt like I was bigger and stronger.”
The Cowboys third defending national champion, 157 pounder Landon Robideau took on No. 3 Antrell Taylor, the same wrestler he beat 4-2 for the NCAA individual championship. You could tell the match was emotional but lacked action. Again, the Cowboys dominated the attempt to score. Two escapes left the pair tied in the third period. However, the difference was Taylor had been warned for stalling. He kept feeling the mat and earned the point. That is what Robideau used as the winner in the 2-1 decision. He’ll stay No. 1 and the Cowboys ran their lead at intermission to 18-0.
After intermission it was the Cowboys No. 5-ranked Casey Swiderski and Nebraska’s talented transfer from Cornell Meyer Shapiro. The two were tied 1-1 with 15 seconds left in the third when Swiderski had Shapiro’s right leg and the Husker hoping up and down. It didn’t exactly go as planned but int he scramble Swiderski wound up with the takedown and a 4-2 decision as Swiderski let Shapiro go in the final seconds. The Cowboys led 21-0.
Cowboys head coach David Taylor sent sophomore Lorenzo Norman out to face No. 2 Christopher Minto at 174 pounds. Norman kept it close as it was tied in the third period, but Minto got a takedown and then added riding time for a 5-1 decison and Nebraska was on the board trailing 21-3.
Mikey White at 184 for the Cowboys wastes no time. He scored his first takedown in the Drexel dual in eight seconds, against Nebraska’s No. 18 Lucas Cochran he took him down in 10 seconds. The problem was that was his only takedown until deep in the third period.
It was 3-3 with 1:44 left and White working hard got the three. Nebraska head coach Mark Manning, already in a foul mood threw his brick and asked for a review. The officials looked at it and ruled it a takedown. For good measure, White took him down again just before the buzzer and with Cochran having riding time at 1:05, White had a 9-5 decision moving his record to 4-0. It was 24-3 on the scoreboard - Oklahoma State.
One of the most exciting finishes of the night came at 197 with No. 2 Cody Merrill and No. 5 Camden McDanel of Nebraska. Tied at 1-1 going to sudden victory and Merrill took a deep shot and looked like he had a takedown but the two wrestlers engaged in a wild scramble that last 38 seconds with each looking like they were going to get the win. In the end it was Merrill that chest down on the mat had control for the takedown at :59. The 4-1 decision moved the team score to 27-to-3 heading to heavyweight.
Two athletic and talented heavyweights in the Cowboys Dreshaun Ross, a freshman and Nebraska’s No. 14 redshirt-freshman Cade Ziola. It was 1-1 right down to the final second of regularion when Ziola finished a move that Ross actually started for a takedown and a 4-1 decision. That was Ross’ first loss and he dropped to 4-1 on the new season.
Oklahoma State is now 2-0 on duals and the No. 2 Cowboys will take their act to the desert and Tempe, Ariz. next Friday to wrestle No. 14 Arizona State (8 p.m.) the night before the two schools play football with a late night 9:15 central kick.
No. 2 Oklahoma State 27 No. 3 Nebraska 6
Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, Okla. - Attendance: 12,537
125: Rocklin Zinkin, OSU (6-0) dec. (TB-1) 2-1 over No. 4 Vincent Robinson, Neb. (1-1) - OSU led 3-0
134: No. 1 Jax Forrest, OSU (5-0) TF 21-6 (6:00) over No. 8 Jacob Van dee, Neb. (0-2) - OSU led 8-0
141: No. 15 Jayden Raney, OSU (4-0) MD 10-2 over Lincoln Sledzianowski, Neb. (1-1) - OSU led 12-0
149: No. 2 Sergio Vega, OSU (4-0) dec. 4-2 over No. 5 Anthony Echemendia, Neb. (1-1) - OSU led 15-0
157: No. 1 Landon Robideau, OSU (4-0) dec. 3-1 over No. 3 Antrell Taylor, Neb. (1-1) - OSU led 18-0
165: No. 3 Casey Swiderski, OSU (4-0) dec. 4-2 over Meyer Shapiro, Neb. (1-1) - OSU led 21-0
174: No. 2 Christopher Minto, Neb. (2-0) dec. 5-1 over Lorenzo Norman, OSU (5-2) - OSU led 21-3
184: No. 11 Mikey White, OSU (4-0) dec. 9-5 over No. 18 Lucas Cochran, Neb. (0-1) - OSU led 24-3
197: No. 2 Cody Merrill, OSU (4-1) dec. (SV-1) 4-1 over No. 5 Camden McDanel, Neb. (0-2) - OSU led 27-3
Hwy: No. 14 Cade Ziola, Neb. (2-0) dec. 4-1 over Dreshaun Ross, OSU (4-1) - OSU won 27-6
