Can its young talent help Big 12 close the gap on the Big Ten as the dominant wrestling conference?
Share:
by Roger Moore, Special to TheMat.com
Photo of Iowa State's David Carr by Mark Lundy, LutteLens
NCAA allocations show that college wrestling is still dominated by the Big Ten Conference. So, the question? Is the gap with other conferences closing or widening?
The Big 12 Conference, dominated by Oklahoma State since its inception, has major name recognition with the Cowboys, Iowa State, and Oklahoma and formerly Nebraska and Missouri. But the league’s last national title came in 2006, the final year of a four-year run by OSU.
So how does a league – formerly the Big Eight – that dominated the twentieth century get back to the top of the heap? Or, better yet, how does the new Big 12 close that gap with the Big Ten?
Young talent that develops into All-Americans and national champions.
This season’s Big 12, a league which received 54 NCAA allocations, has a solid group of possible stars, among them Iowa State’s David Carr, OSU’s Travis Wittlake, and Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez. That trio, among others, is expected to compete for top honors at the 2020 Big 12 Conference Championships in Tulsa this Saturday and Sunday.
Wittlake (25-2, 165) is one of five first-year starters – three freshmen – for OSU. Anthony Montalvo (20-5, 184) and 133-pounder Reece Witcraft (16-8) have been good and bad as freshmen tend to do. Wittlake appeared to turn an offensive corner at the Southern Scuffle where he suffered a loss to Stanford’s Shane Griffith. Wittlake’s second defeat came two weekends ago at Iowa to Alex Marinelli, a 3-2 match.
“I was really tentative early this year,” said Wittlake, a native of Oregon. “Since (the Scuffle) I’ve really wrestled a lot more aggressively, worked to get my offense going. Part of that is the confidence I’ve continued to build, knowing and proving that I can compete at this level.
“None of that really matters; what matters is what happens in March.”
“He’s continued to improve offensively,” said OSU head coach John Smith, in his 29th season in Stillwater. “After you’ve been through a redshirt, wrestled a full season, going into that first postseason is big.”
Iowa State’s Carr brings a 16-1 mark into the weekend. The son of legendary Cyclone Nate Carr is among the nation’s top 157-pounders, his only loss coming in Las Vegas to Northwestern All-American Ryan Deakin. Carr, a 2019 Junior World champion in freestyle, is as athletic as his father and has plenty of work to do to reach that status.
“He’s shown what he can do,” said ISU boss Kevin Dresser after his 157-pounder’s dismantling of OSU’s Wyatt Sheets earlier this season. “David is about one-minute away from being really good, being able to keep that same pace for seven minutes; we are getting there.”
Northern Colorado head coach Troy Nickerson has a trio of solid rookies in Jace Koelzer (15-7, 125), Mosha Schwartz (20-9, 133), and Alirez (20-2, 149). Alirez, a highly-touted recruit from Colorado, has losses to Lewallen and Stanford’s redshirt Jaden Abas and is part of perhaps the toughest bracket in Tulsa with OSU’s Boo Lewallen (18-2), Iowa State’s Jarrett Degen (13-4), Northern Iowa’s Max Thomsen (19-7), and South Dakota State’s Henry Pohlmeyer (19-4).
“He’s a special kid,” Nickerson said of Alirez. “Keeping him in Colorado was big for our program. And he has bought into what we are trying to do at UNC.
“It’s a long season. That adjustment freshmen have to make is not easy, but we’ve got a group of young guys buying into the work that it takes to succeed at this level.”
More young talent
● SDSU’s Tanner Cook (20-3, 165) is building a reputation as a pinner. The rookie has 12 in 2019-20, and joins another first-year man, 197-pounder Tanner Sloan (18-5), to give the Jackrabbits a solid 1-2 punch in the upper half of the lineup. SDSU also features rookie 141-pounder Clay Carlson, a rookie with 19 wins, and Zach Carlson, a senior 184-pounder who is 24-5.
● Who is the only undefeated Big 12 wrestler with more than 20 matches? West Virginia sophomore Noah Adams, who is 29-0 entering the postseason. The Coal City, W.V., native pinned All-Americans Nathan Traxler (at the Southern Scuffle) and OSU’s Geer in Gallagher-Iba Arena this season.
Eight straight?
Oklahoma State won the 2019 Big 12 Conference Championship title by 43 ½ points. In 2017 the margin of victory was 83. Over the last seven conference meets, all won by the Cowboys, only one – 2015 – saw a margin of less than 35. A once powerful league that included Missouri and Nebraska dropped to four teams in 2015, but expanded to 12 a year later. Since that expansion, OSU has won by an average of 57 points.
Could the 2019 Big 12 meet inside Tulsa’s BOK Center actually include a team race? All indications point to yes.
Oklahoma State, at No. 11 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll, is expected to battle No. 16 Northern Iowa and No. 21 Iowa State for top honors. If this Saturday and Sunday’s tournament is anything like the 2019-20 dual campaign, it could be a fun couple of days. The Cowboys are coming off an ugly loss at No. 1 Iowa, one of three setbacks in 16 duals. Northern Iowa beat OSU in Cedar Falls, but OSU beat Iowa State a day later in Ames. UNI dropped a dual to South Dakota State, who beat Oklahoma; North Dakota State, who lost to Wyoming, beat SDSU. Iowa State edged UNI and Roger Kish’s NDSU squad.
Get the picture? Duals and tournaments, however, are different animals.
“We beat (Oklahoma State) in a dual meet, now we have to do it at the Big 12 Tournament,” said UNI senior 174-pounder Bryce Steiert after the Panthers beat OSU. “To do it in January or February is one thing; to do it in March is what matters. We have the team to win the Big 12s this year.”
UNI boss Doug Schwab concurred.
“To do it in a dual, to end that long streak (against OSU) is nice, but we have to do it in the postseason,” said Schwab after UNI’s late January win over the Cowboys, the first since 1991. “This team has the potential to do that.”
Oklahoma State has won 17 Big 12 titles since the first meet in 1997. Iowa State and Nebraska tied for top honors in 2009; the Cyclones, under then-coach Cael Sanderson, won in 2007 and 2008. Oklahoma was champion in 1999 and 2002 with Missouri, in its last year in the league, winning in 2012.
Conference titles bring hardware to trophy cases, but, all will admit, the goal of a conference meet is to earn a qualification spot for the March 19-21 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis. The Big 12 received 54 allocations, the second most of the seven qualifiers this weekend – the Big Ten received 79 bids.
UNI has a strong core with seniors Steiert (23-3), Jacob Schwarm (18-8, 125), Thomsen, and Taylor Lujan (24-2, 184), a Big 12 champ at 174 pounds in 2018. Rookie Michael Blockhus (19-8, 141) and heavyweight Carter Isley (17-8, 285) will be key to Panther hopes.
For ISU, Alex Mackall (17-6, 125), Todd Small (17-9, 133), Ian Parker (18-3, 141), Degen, Carr, Sam Colbray (16-7, 174), and Gannon Gremmel (23-7, 285) hold the keys. Chase Straw (11-13, 165) won the Big 12 crown at 157 last March.
They will have to contend with OSU’s Nick Piccininni (23-2, 125), who seeks his fourth conference title, Lewallen, a 2018 Big 12 champ, rising Wyatt Sheets (18-6, 157), rookies Wittlake and Montalvo, along with Dakota Geer (19-7, 197). Senior Joe Smith (8-5) is a two-time league champion (2016 and 2017) and, if on task, could factor into the Cowboys’ results this weekend.
North Dakota State could be a factor as well with veterans Cam Sykora (14-4, 133) and Andrew Fogarty (19-3, 165). Plus 157-pounder Jared Franek (24-6).
Dom Demas won the 141-pound title as a rookie in 2019. He brings a 23-3 mark into the postseason for a Sooner program fighting to get back into the national conversation. Anthony Mantanona (18-6, 174) and Jake Woodley (19-7, 197) are two underclassmen head coach Lou Rosselli is pinning his hopes on. Justin Thomas, a junior, has 19 wins at 157 pounds.
Big and small
● Utah Valley has a pair of strong contenders in 133-pound Taylor LaMont (14-5) and heavyweight Tate Orndorff (16-2), while Wyoming has All-American Montorie Bridges (28-5) at 133 and Brian Andrews (26-7) at heavyweight.
“The preparation is really the usual, just go out and wrestle my match, wrestle the best I can and everything else will take care of itself,” said Bridges, a native of Oklahoma. “I just have to stay relaxed because I know what I can do; I just have to put it all together and make it happen.”
Heavyweight, with seven allocations, will be a fun bracket to follow. Along with Orndorff, Andrews, Gremmel, Isley, NDSU’s Brandon Metz (20-8) and UNC’s Dalton Roberson (16-5), a finalist at the Scuffle, is Fresno State two-sport athlete Josh Hokit, who is 19-3 this season and was an All-American last year.
NCAA allocations show that college wrestling is still dominated by the Big Ten Conference. So, the question? Is the gap with other conferences closing or widening?
The Big 12 Conference, dominated by Oklahoma State since its inception, has major name recognition with the Cowboys, Iowa State, and Oklahoma and formerly Nebraska and Missouri. But the league’s last national title came in 2006, the final year of a four-year run by OSU.
So how does a league – formerly the Big Eight – that dominated the twentieth century get back to the top of the heap? Or, better yet, how does the new Big 12 close that gap with the Big Ten?
Young talent that develops into All-Americans and national champions.
This season’s Big 12, a league which received 54 NCAA allocations, has a solid group of possible stars, among them Iowa State’s David Carr, OSU’s Travis Wittlake, and Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez. That trio, among others, is expected to compete for top honors at the 2020 Big 12 Conference Championships in Tulsa this Saturday and Sunday.
Wittlake (25-2, 165) is one of five first-year starters – three freshmen – for OSU. Anthony Montalvo (20-5, 184) and 133-pounder Reece Witcraft (16-8) have been good and bad as freshmen tend to do. Wittlake appeared to turn an offensive corner at the Southern Scuffle where he suffered a loss to Stanford’s Shane Griffith. Wittlake’s second defeat came two weekends ago at Iowa to Alex Marinelli, a 3-2 match.
“I was really tentative early this year,” said Wittlake, a native of Oregon. “Since (the Scuffle) I’ve really wrestled a lot more aggressively, worked to get my offense going. Part of that is the confidence I’ve continued to build, knowing and proving that I can compete at this level.
“None of that really matters; what matters is what happens in March.”
“He’s continued to improve offensively,” said OSU head coach John Smith, in his 29th season in Stillwater. “After you’ve been through a redshirt, wrestled a full season, going into that first postseason is big.”
Iowa State’s Carr brings a 16-1 mark into the weekend. The son of legendary Cyclone Nate Carr is among the nation’s top 157-pounders, his only loss coming in Las Vegas to Northwestern All-American Ryan Deakin. Carr, a 2019 Junior World champion in freestyle, is as athletic as his father and has plenty of work to do to reach that status.
“He’s shown what he can do,” said ISU boss Kevin Dresser after his 157-pounder’s dismantling of OSU’s Wyatt Sheets earlier this season. “David is about one-minute away from being really good, being able to keep that same pace for seven minutes; we are getting there.”
Northern Colorado head coach Troy Nickerson has a trio of solid rookies in Jace Koelzer (15-7, 125), Mosha Schwartz (20-9, 133), and Alirez (20-2, 149). Alirez, a highly-touted recruit from Colorado, has losses to Lewallen and Stanford’s redshirt Jaden Abas and is part of perhaps the toughest bracket in Tulsa with OSU’s Boo Lewallen (18-2), Iowa State’s Jarrett Degen (13-4), Northern Iowa’s Max Thomsen (19-7), and South Dakota State’s Henry Pohlmeyer (19-4).
“He’s a special kid,” Nickerson said of Alirez. “Keeping him in Colorado was big for our program. And he has bought into what we are trying to do at UNC.
“It’s a long season. That adjustment freshmen have to make is not easy, but we’ve got a group of young guys buying into the work that it takes to succeed at this level.”
More young talent
● SDSU’s Tanner Cook (20-3, 165) is building a reputation as a pinner. The rookie has 12 in 2019-20, and joins another first-year man, 197-pounder Tanner Sloan (18-5), to give the Jackrabbits a solid 1-2 punch in the upper half of the lineup. SDSU also features rookie 141-pounder Clay Carlson, a rookie with 19 wins, and Zach Carlson, a senior 184-pounder who is 24-5.
● Who is the only undefeated Big 12 wrestler with more than 20 matches? West Virginia sophomore Noah Adams, who is 29-0 entering the postseason. The Coal City, W.V., native pinned All-Americans Nathan Traxler (at the Southern Scuffle) and OSU’s Geer in Gallagher-Iba Arena this season.
Eight straight?
Oklahoma State won the 2019 Big 12 Conference Championship title by 43 ½ points. In 2017 the margin of victory was 83. Over the last seven conference meets, all won by the Cowboys, only one – 2015 – saw a margin of less than 35. A once powerful league that included Missouri and Nebraska dropped to four teams in 2015, but expanded to 12 a year later. Since that expansion, OSU has won by an average of 57 points.
Could the 2019 Big 12 meet inside Tulsa’s BOK Center actually include a team race? All indications point to yes.
Oklahoma State, at No. 11 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll, is expected to battle No. 16 Northern Iowa and No. 21 Iowa State for top honors. If this Saturday and Sunday’s tournament is anything like the 2019-20 dual campaign, it could be a fun couple of days. The Cowboys are coming off an ugly loss at No. 1 Iowa, one of three setbacks in 16 duals. Northern Iowa beat OSU in Cedar Falls, but OSU beat Iowa State a day later in Ames. UNI dropped a dual to South Dakota State, who beat Oklahoma; North Dakota State, who lost to Wyoming, beat SDSU. Iowa State edged UNI and Roger Kish’s NDSU squad.
Get the picture? Duals and tournaments, however, are different animals.
“We beat (Oklahoma State) in a dual meet, now we have to do it at the Big 12 Tournament,” said UNI senior 174-pounder Bryce Steiert after the Panthers beat OSU. “To do it in January or February is one thing; to do it in March is what matters. We have the team to win the Big 12s this year.”
UNI boss Doug Schwab concurred.
“To do it in a dual, to end that long streak (against OSU) is nice, but we have to do it in the postseason,” said Schwab after UNI’s late January win over the Cowboys, the first since 1991. “This team has the potential to do that.”
Oklahoma State has won 17 Big 12 titles since the first meet in 1997. Iowa State and Nebraska tied for top honors in 2009; the Cyclones, under then-coach Cael Sanderson, won in 2007 and 2008. Oklahoma was champion in 1999 and 2002 with Missouri, in its last year in the league, winning in 2012.
Conference titles bring hardware to trophy cases, but, all will admit, the goal of a conference meet is to earn a qualification spot for the March 19-21 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis. The Big 12 received 54 allocations, the second most of the seven qualifiers this weekend – the Big Ten received 79 bids.
UNI has a strong core with seniors Steiert (23-3), Jacob Schwarm (18-8, 125), Thomsen, and Taylor Lujan (24-2, 184), a Big 12 champ at 174 pounds in 2018. Rookie Michael Blockhus (19-8, 141) and heavyweight Carter Isley (17-8, 285) will be key to Panther hopes.
For ISU, Alex Mackall (17-6, 125), Todd Small (17-9, 133), Ian Parker (18-3, 141), Degen, Carr, Sam Colbray (16-7, 174), and Gannon Gremmel (23-7, 285) hold the keys. Chase Straw (11-13, 165) won the Big 12 crown at 157 last March.
They will have to contend with OSU’s Nick Piccininni (23-2, 125), who seeks his fourth conference title, Lewallen, a 2018 Big 12 champ, rising Wyatt Sheets (18-6, 157), rookies Wittlake and Montalvo, along with Dakota Geer (19-7, 197). Senior Joe Smith (8-5) is a two-time league champion (2016 and 2017) and, if on task, could factor into the Cowboys’ results this weekend.
North Dakota State could be a factor as well with veterans Cam Sykora (14-4, 133) and Andrew Fogarty (19-3, 165). Plus 157-pounder Jared Franek (24-6).
Dom Demas won the 141-pound title as a rookie in 2019. He brings a 23-3 mark into the postseason for a Sooner program fighting to get back into the national conversation. Anthony Mantanona (18-6, 174) and Jake Woodley (19-7, 197) are two underclassmen head coach Lou Rosselli is pinning his hopes on. Justin Thomas, a junior, has 19 wins at 157 pounds.
Big and small
● Utah Valley has a pair of strong contenders in 133-pound Taylor LaMont (14-5) and heavyweight Tate Orndorff (16-2), while Wyoming has All-American Montorie Bridges (28-5) at 133 and Brian Andrews (26-7) at heavyweight.
“The preparation is really the usual, just go out and wrestle my match, wrestle the best I can and everything else will take care of itself,” said Bridges, a native of Oklahoma. “I just have to stay relaxed because I know what I can do; I just have to put it all together and make it happen.”
Heavyweight, with seven allocations, will be a fun bracket to follow. Along with Orndorff, Andrews, Gremmel, Isley, NDSU’s Brandon Metz (20-8) and UNC’s Dalton Roberson (16-5), a finalist at the Scuffle, is Fresno State two-sport athlete Josh Hokit, who is 19-3 this season and was an All-American last year.
Ali (Bernard) Sprenger named Augsburg head women's wrestling coach
USA wins U20 Pan American Greco-Roman title with eight champions and two runners-up
Cook, Box, plus three Stanford wrestlers to compete in UWW Beach World Series in France, June 30
FINAL DAY: Elections to be held for USA Wrestling Standing Committees Positions; Nomination...
