Tonight coach John Smith’s #4 ranked Oklahoma State wrestling squad welcomes a familiar face back to Gallagher-Iba Arena. Across the mat from the orange and black coaching the opponents from Binhamton is former Oklahoma State wrestler Pat Popolizio. Popolizio was a two-time Big Eight runner-up, in 1998 and 2002, and had a career record of 88-38 as a Cowboy. Of course, that doesn’t quite compare to John Smith’s 154-7-2 mark in his time at OSU and his prolific six world championships and two gold medals. Noenetheless, Popolizio is sure to have gleaned a wealth of knowledge from his time at Oklahoma State and he looks to pass on even more to his young wrestlers from Binghamton.
This duel is the last for the Cowboys before a Bedlam matchup on Sunday that will end the regular season and lead up to the Big 12 Championships.
To start it off at 125 pounds #9 Chris Notte, a senior, is facing off against freshman James Inghram. Notte scores first of a quick double-leg takedown and begins amassing riding time quickly. Both wrestlers have multiple injury/blood timeouts that chop up the match and seem to make it a slower scoring bout. Though Notte remained in control for the entirety, Inghram gets a late takedown to make the final score 10-6 in favor of the senior Cowboy and putting the home team ahead after one match.
#3 Jordan Oliver continues his solid wrestling for Oklahoma State against Tyler Malmberg jumps out to a 4-1 lead after the first period and extends the lead to 15-4 after a reversal, 3-point nearfall and three takedowns in the second period. The third is no different as Oliver adds onther eight points and a riding time point to win his match 25-7. This marks Oliver’s 15th bonus point win on the season as the Cowboy redshirt freshman extends his record to 25-2 heading into Sunday’s Bedlam duel.
At 141 pounds, #7 Jamal Parks is wrestling Anwar Goeres in a closer contested match. The very tall Goeres has been trying to stay in the match by attempting very aggressive high scoring moves, to no avail. Rather, Parks has the upperhand in this entertaining match and grabs a major decision, 14-3 win. This stretches the Oklahoma State team lead to 12-0 on the night.
Luke Silver gets the call for Oklahoma State at 149 pounds against Donnie Vinson for Binghamton. Vinson gets on the board first with a 2-point takedown, but Silver knots it back up after a reversal and gains the lead after a fleeing the mat call. Vinson gets an escape to make the match all square going into the second period. Scoring is hard to come by in the second, as the only added points is an escape for Silver. The third sees both men score and the Gallagher-Iba crowd willing Silver to pull it out. Vinson is the recipient of stalling point with about 10 seconds to go, a late takedown with just five seconds on the clock and grabs the 9-7 win to put Binghamton on the board.
Cowboy wrestler #14 Neil Erisman is facing Justin Lister at 157 pounds. This match’s interest is for its oddities - OSU coach John Smith gets a warning in the first period after a questioning the referee and then a figure four technical violation point is awarded to Erisman in the second period. Indeed there was still wrestling, not just quirks and other points were had as Erisman got the decision over Lister 9-3 to set the duel score at 15-3 at the midway point.
Redshirt freshman #8 Alex Meade is up next for OSU, taking on Matt Kaylor at 165 pounds. The match is a bit more reserved and strategic for the most part and the scoring is certainly more spread out throughout the three periods. Meade ends with an 8-4 decision.
A quick change at 174 pounds sees Cowboy Alex Munoz taking on Josh Patterson. Munoz gives up 17 pounds to Patterson as he is typically the backup wrestler at 157 pounds. This size disadvantage is very evident as Patterson takes an 8-2 advantage after the first period and Munoz has to take injury time to give his left shoulder a break after getting some intense torquing during those first three minutes. At 3:59, Patterson gets the fall early in the second period to make the match 18-9 as #9 Mike Benefiel gets the evening off.
At 184 pounds, #9 Clayton Foster of Oklahoma State is matched up with Nate Scheidel. Foster gets a takedown at the buzzer of the first period for the first scoring in the match, the second has the appearance of domination by Foster until a late reversal gets the score to 7-3 and now it’s heading into the final period. Frenzied scoring in the third brings the final the 12-8 in favor of Foster and the Cowboys and extends the duel lead to 11 points with two matches remaining.
The fastest match of the evening was a quick fall just 59 seconds into the 197 pound match. #8 Alan “Z” Gelogaev made quick work of freshman Pat Walsh after a quick takedown led to a cradle which in turn led to the pin.
The final matchup pits two heavyweight senior men. #1 Jared Rosholt for OSU and Corey Waite for Binghamton. Rosholt, a two-time All American is seeking to move up the Cowboy record books and slip into a 10th place tie on OSU’s all-time list. In order to achieve that, he’ll have to not only win tonight, but also on Sunday against Oklahoma. Rosholt gets on the board first and stays in control for the duration, not allowing Waite to score a point until two late releases and ending the match at 18-2 and earning a technical fall. Rosholt now has an all-time record of 119-23 and the Cowboys earn the 32-9 duel victory over Binghamton.
