Cowboys primed to bounce back from previous season
STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s wrestling season begins with highlevel opponents and high-level expectations this weekend.
The Cowboys, ranked No. 4 nationally and coming off a disappointing season by their own standards, will be on the road to face a pair of ranked opponents: South Dakota State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Minnesota at 4 p.m. Sunday.
“I think we have a really good team, so I think the mindset is flipped,” said 125-pound junior Nick Piccininni, one of three returning All-Americans on the roster. “I think we’re gonna be on a warpath. We’re gonna be a team that’ll surprise a lot of people. We’re solid all the way through.”
The Cowboys also return All-Americans Kaid Brock at 141 and Boo Lewallen at 149, while Derek White is the highest ranked Cowboy in the national polls at No. 3 in the heavyweight class.
Redshirt freshman Daton Fix joins the lineup as well, bringing an instant pop at 133 pounds after spending the offseason focusing on international competition. He won gold at the 2017 Junior World Championships and has four consecutive top-three finishes in world competition.
“With 2020 closing in, he has hopes of making that Olympic team,” OSU coach John Smith said. “He spent a lot of the last year preparing for freestyle and wrestling free style, and still has high hopes of making that team.
“It’s not a long shot. It’s possible. Is it tough? Sure it is.”
Andrew Shomers and Dakota Geer, who transferred from Edinboro, will enter the lineup with returning wrestlers such as Preston Weigel, Chandler Rogers and Jacobe Smith, giving the Cowboys a blend of new faces and returning veterans.
“The guys stepping into the lineup, they’re looking good,” said Weigel, the 197-pounder. “The chemistry of our team is doing well. Now, we just gotta show up at duals and see how we’re doing.
“If we have any chance, it’ll be this year to go out and win it. But that’s a long ways from now.”