It’s rivalry weekend for the Oklahoma State wrestling group.
In a singular scheduling twist for the Cowboys, this system will face two of its most storied rivalries in back-to-back duals to shut out the common season – first with a house dual Thursday evening against Oklahoma, then a visit to Iowa City to face No. 2-ranked Iowa.
“I think it’s always fun to wrestle both of those teams,” tremendous senior Wyatt Sheets mentioned. “Bedlam, of course, but Iowa is really close to our least favorite, if not our least favorite – it’s them and OU. It’s always exciting.”
Obviously, the largest query surrounding the Bedlam dual isn’t about this explicit assembly, however the standing of future schedules with Oklahoma’s athletic division shifting to the SEC following the 2023-24 athletic season.
However, with the SEC not having NCAA sanctioned wrestling inside its convention – with the lone program being Missouri, which lately rejoined the Big 12 Conference as a wrestling affiliate – there may be hope that it received’t be as impactful for the game through which the Bedlam rivalry was based in.
“I think we’ll hopefully have Oklahoma wrestling in the Big 12 following next year,” Cowboy coach John Smith mentioned. “I think that’s what they’re hoping, I think that’s definitely what Oklahoma State and the Big 12 hopes. We’re gonna come out of this, I think, better than most.”
Beyond the importance of the rivalry among the many packages themselves, the Cowboy wrestlers expressed how a lot of an influence it has on the whole state of wrestling throughout the border of Oklahoma.
Many of the Oklahoma natives on roster recall going to many Bedlam duals – each in Gallagher-Iba Arena and in Norman – and with the surge of ladies wrestling at the highschool stage, and youthful, in Oklahoma, the assembly between the one Division I packages within the state can have a rippling impact.
“It would be bad for the sport, especially in Oklahoma, if you take that dual away,” senior Kaden Gfeller mentioned. “… Even a lot of OU fans come to the Bedlam dual, and if you take us out of their schedule, I don’t know who comes to their duals.”
The earlier assembly between the 2 earlier this season actually introduced the environment that may produce future faculty wrestlers who took it in at a younger age.
With the dual tied heading into the ultimate match – which featured a former Oklahoma State wrestler competing for the Sooners in Keegan Moore – Luke Surber pinned Moore in 34 seconds to ship the Cowboys in attendance right into a frenzy.
“You embrace it, it’s fun,” Sheets mentioned in regards to the Bedlam environment. “The bigger the crowd, the more fun it is.”
While Bedlam has been a bit of extra aggressive of late, the identical can’t be mentioned in regards to the collection with Iowa.
Smith lives by the motto used recurrently by the nationwide media when speaking about one-sided rivalries that each groups must win each occasionally for it to be a rivalry.
And for Oklahoma State, it hasn’t been simple to knock off their rivals to the north.
The Hawkeyes have received the previous two duals by a mixed rating of 57-15, with the Cowboys profitable simply twice previously eight conferences. It goes a bit of deeper even nonetheless since Oklahoma State had its profitable streak of nine-straight duals snapped in 2009, with Iowa holding a 8-4-1 document against the Cowboys over the previous decade.
“I don’t think it is right now, unless we go up there and whip them,” Smith mentioned. “A rivalry is a team that’s winning more than once every five years. It’s not much of a rivalry. We’ve got to do our part.”
For Gfeller, who has been in this system since 2017, this assembly with the Hawkeyes will probably be a bit of extra distinctive.
Though he has confronted off with Iowa in a dual setting earlier than – together with final yr’s Bout on the Ballpark in Arlington, Texas – he has by no means earlier than tussled with Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which has a capability of over 15,000.
“I’m looking forward to that. That should be exciting,” Gfeller mentioned.
The final time Oklahoma State wrestled in Iowa City was just some quick weeks previous to COVID-19 shutting down sports activities globally. In that 2019 dual, Iowa rolled to a 34-6 victory in entrance of 13,109 followers.
There are solely three holdovers from OSU who wrestled in that dual – Reece Witcraft, who lately returned to the beginning lineup for Oklahoma State although he’s down at 125 kilos, together with Sheets and Travis Wittlake.
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