Nick Piccininni selected as USA Wrestling Athlete of the Week

Photo of Nick Piccininni by Bruce Waterfield, OSU Athletics.

Nick Piccininni (East Setauket, N.Y. /Oklahoma State) has been selected as TheMat.com Athlete of the Week on Feb. 26, 2019.

A junior for Oklahoma State, Piccininni led the Cowboys to a hot start in a dual against biggest and long-time rival Iowa in Stillwater, Okla.

Piccininni, a 2017 All-American and ranked No. 4 in the country, took on returning NCAA champion and No. 2 Spencer Lee in the opening bout at 125 pounds. Lee held a series advantage of 2-0 against Piccininni going into the match.

The bout was scoreless after the first period, but the Cowboy was on the board first with an escape to start the second. Late in the period, Piccininni chased Lee’s leg and eventually locked him up in a cradle.

A pin was called in favor of Piccininni at the 4:55 mark and the home crowd of nearly 14,000 erupted.

The Cowboys held on to that momentum and defeated the No. 3 and then-undefeated Hawkeyes with a 27-12 win. OSU finished the dual season with a perfect record for the first time since 2005, going 15-0.

Piccininni heads into the postseason with an unblemished 27-0 record and a No. 2 ranking.

Each week USA Wrestling will select an Athlete of the Week based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling from youth programs through the senior level. Twitter fan votes also play a part in decision.

To nominate a wrestler for this honor please send the athlete's name, wrestling program, weekly accomplishments and career accolades to USA Wrestling Communications Coordinator Taylor Miller at tmiller@usawrestling.org.