I have not seen and do not believe OSU wrestling has issued a statement about who will be attending the OCU Open this Saturday. Does anyone have any information on this for those of us who are itching to see some OK State wrestlers in action?
OCU Open
- Thread starter oberebo
- Start date
This information should already be out. The OCU open wrestling site says they will not release the registrants until the school does. Fans are kind of left out in the cold.
I guess there's some reason for the secrecy. I was a little tempted to come up for the tournament. Much more-so if there was any attempt by OCU to promote this event. In fact, I wouldn't mind having some kind of OSU Sports Information release of which guys from my team I could expect to see if I went up there. Oh well, I've made other plans now. You guys that are going tomorrow, have a safe and fun tournament.
I glanced at the Open results and saw Boo won by pin at 49, Wittlake won by tech fall at 65, Witcraft won 17 to 7 at 33,and Geer won 8 to 4 over Heath Gray. So it seems Wittlake will wrestle 65 and Smith 74.
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Reece Witcraft hurt his knee in his match and still won his match by major. Hopefully nothing major with the knee.
G & Joe only certified last week and they didn't make scratch weight, so they are probably still working their way down to 141/174.
Anyone know why Austin Harris MFF'd his 2nd match?
Piccinini won by Major in the finals, Hone won at 41, Sheets beat Harper 6 to 0 to win 57, Kaufman won 3 to 2 against Bear to win 97 and Boo won by a major at 49 to take 1st.. Some good wrestle offs coming up with Shomers against Wittlake at 65, Montalvo against Geer at 84 in the finals. Wittcraft must be okay because he is in the 33 finals.
Wittlake won 5 to 3 against Shomers to take 1st at 65. Stika wins at 74 by decision to take 1st. Witcraft wins at 33 with a major in the finals. Montalvo won by default over Geer at 84 in the finals.
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A double FF usually means that John already knows the result, same with Jacobe & Joe at Reno last year. Montalvo said the other day that his goal is just to push Geer in the room.
We had several winners in the frosh/soph division, including Balmeceda. Looking forward to Obe's writeup.
We had several winners in the frosh/soph division, including Balmeceda. Looking forward to Obe's writeup.
This writeup doesn't include it, but Manibog won the 3rd place match in the frosh/soph division.
https://okstate.com/news/2019/11/9/wrestling-cowboys-collect-13-titles-at-ocu-open.aspx
https://okstate.com/news/2019/11/9/wrestling-cowboys-collect-13-titles-at-ocu-open.aspx
Thanks for the info. Sounds like we had a pretty good day. I'm curious to see what Gfeller looks like at 41. Lehigh always has a few studs. Should be a good test for us next week.
After a long summer of discontent glad to see collegiate wrestling. The good, the bad and the ugly all took place in one arena. I will get the "Ugly" and "bad" out of the way first.
After watching Hughes and Kaufman in all of their matches Saturday I can not see either winning matches during the year. Both appear to be woefully inept. They both barely made it through what appeared to me to be a very weak bracket and I could not pick a favorite during the finals match. I am sure they are fine individuals or they would not be Cowboys but fine wrestlers they are not.
At 125 I do not think you have in the country a better person and wrestler combined than Nick Pic. On the ability side he looked very good but he also looked more pumped than any of the younger wrestlers on the team before the matches. He started his warmups for the most part 15-20 minutes before his matches, he was there for the wrestlers getting them ready for their matches and giving them direction and advice in an enthusiastic manner and showing great leadership qualities. He will be a success at whatever he undertakes in his career.
At 133 Witcraft stood out. He will be fun to watch for the next four years and he will be successful. He dominated his matches with the exception of the quarters where he was taken down and turned for back points 3-4 times and at one point in the initial period he was behind 14-4 (It also should be said that he had a knee injury flair up in two matches where he had to stop the match). He came back from this and in the 14-4 match he doggedly came back and ended the match with a final takedown to win 18-16. He showed guts and skill and to me he was the high light of the tournament.
Dusty Hone looked good at 141 but I anticipate G will get his weight down and be ready for our first dual. Boo looked solid and showed no signs of favoring his shoulder. I think we all were fearful of having one of his matches stopped with another injury but it did not happen. He was a little rusty but was never in danger and the future looks bright.
Wyatt Sheets looked solid but not overly dominant at 157. Andrew Shomers and Travis Witlake fought it out at 165 and in this match in particular you could see the "room familiarity" take over. Shomers never gives up and is determined but Witlake had the only two takedowns in the match. Witlake did not take down against Shomers which I believe is telling. On ability I go with Witlake but Shomers will always be in the match against him. Either will be more than adequate at this weight.
Stika looked impressive at 174. He has great reach and when he gets stronger he will be a factor in coming years. Geer and Montalvo looked good at 184. I believe Montalvo will help Geer to be a two year All-American and would be an important and solid replacement if Anything happened to Dakota.
Finally, I do not know what caused Austyn Harris to default/forfeit at heavyweight. Talked to him briefly before the matches started. He weighs 223 and is trying to get bigger. The only other heavyweight is injured.
UCO has a strong team this year and provided most of the competition but The Arkansas team under coach Erisman also showed promise.
Great writeup Obe (again).
Did you catch any of the new guys? I don't think Balmeceda gave up a point all tournament, including escapes. Also, any word on Conner Wilson's injury?
Do you think Taco takes over at 197. He would be undersized (as would Kaufman) but he has some solid skill and is a tireless worker.
Thanks for the recap!
Balmeceda looks very good but hard to tell since he was in the freshman/Sophomore tourney. Conner Wilson is good at making Counters but he also needs strength and he needs to be aggressive on his feet. He shot only a few times and relied on counter moves most of the time. Do not know what his injury was. John is going to have a tough decision to make at 133 as Witcraft is clearly the better wrestler but do you waste a redshirt year if Kaid is returning andBTW everyone I talked to said Kaid will be back this year. Balmeceda and Jalin Harper both looked good.
I think that you let him wrestle at 33 because after this year the next 3 years you have Daton Fix at 33 and maybe the next 3 years counting this year you have G at 41. Also Balmeceda maybe at 41 if G goes to 49 in the future. Also as you indicated 97 will be very weak and I think HWT will be very weak this year. 157 May not qualify for Nationals also. Pic, G, Boo, Smith, Geer are good chances to all American. Wittlake's year is very important for our future and he needs to all American and jump levels this year. Wrestling this year could really help Witcraft develop this year. I do wonder if he will be able to stay healthy this year.
I hope Wittcraft wrestles immediately for us, but it does really concern me that he always happens to get hurt as the match gets tough. Been like that for awhile..
Conner's injury seemed a little strange. He had a cramp in his adbdomen during that match. Used all his injury time up getting it worked out. Then on mat return got what seemed like a stinger and lost feeling in his arm and neck. Should be OK quickly.
