Stillwater High grad, Oklahoma State freshman wrestler Joe Smith to make debut this week
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Jason Elmquist
Cowboy freshman Joe Smith
Former Stillwater High wrestler Joe Smith, who won three state titles for the Pioneers, will make his Oklahoma State debut this Friday when the Cowboys travel to West Virginia.
Posted: Monday, January 11, 2016 5:07 pm
By Jason Elmquist/Stillwater News Press
For the past two months, Joe Smith has been wearing a neutral uniform while competing in college wrestling tournaments.
But come Friday, the Stillwater High graduate and Oklahoma State true freshman, will get to sport the orange and black as he makes his official college debut for the Cowboys when they travel to West Virginia and Pittsburgh, which will be Sunday.
A pair of unfortunate circumstances has led to inserting the hometown wrestler – who this past summer won a Junior Nationals title in Fargo, North Dakota – at 157 pounds.
According to Cowboy coach John Smith, redshirt freshman Chance Marsteller, who has been OSU’s regular wrestler at the weight, will be out for the rest of the year after violating team rules – same with 197-pounder Austin Schafer, which led to freshman Andrew Marsden having his redshirt pulled at the Southern Scuffle.
The only other wrestler listed at 157 pounds for Oklahoma State is redshirt freshman Ryan Blees, who John Smith said is sidelined with an injury.
“Joe will wrestle this weekend in both dual meets, unless there is any major changes,” said John Smith, who is also the father of the former Stillwater wrestler who won three state titles at the high school level. “It kind of puts us in a position where we need Joseph, and we need him in the lineup.”
The OSU freshman that also goes by the name Jo Jo has been wrestling in college tournaments this year, but did so unattached as to preserve his redshirt status.
He made the finals of three tournaments, winning the Joe Parisi Open in November and taking runner-up honors at the Reno Tournament of Champions in late December and the Southern Scuffle two weeks ago. The loss in Reno came at the hands of 2015 NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez, who won the match 11-5, while the loss at the Scuffle was to Penn State’s Jason Nolf, who is ranked No. 3 in the country by
InterMat.com, by 7-3 decision.
“The college level is so much different from high school, it’s such a higher pace. Guys are so much more physical and stronger than the kids in high school,” Smith said. “Going through a full five months of lifting before the college season really helped me.”