Meredith leads Brown and Gold on First Day of Big 12 Championship

Wrestling 3/4/2017 10:39:00 PM

TULSA, Okla. (March 4, 2017) -- Junior Bryce Meredith headlined the Brown and Gold on the first day of the 2017 Big 12 Championship on Saturday. The All-American picked up two wins to advance to tomorrow's final with top-ranked Dean Heil of Oklahoma State. The final will be a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship and will also be the fourth overall bout between the two wrestlers.

"Today was a mixture of both good and bad," UW head coach Mark Branch said. "You clearly want to win them all, but there is always going to be a number of different things that make for tough matches. We had our hands full and some guys answered the call today. Obviously, we know this is when it matters the most. Bryce (Meredith) didn't have an easy path. Really nobody does, but he did what he needed to do."

UW is in fifth place in the team standings with 50 points, just behind Oklahoma with 63. Oklahoma State is alone in the front with 155.5, as North Dakota State is second with 70.5 and South Dakota State is close behind with 64.5 points.

Drew Templeman, Meredith, Cole Mendenhall, Archie Colgan and Lucas Lovvorn all opened the Big 12 Championship with a victory at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. Furthermore, Templeman, Meredith, Mendenhall and Colgan all advanced to the semifinals in their respective weight class.

Templeman earned a 12-2 major over Trey Andrews of Northern Colorado. He totaled three takedowns, plus a four-point nearfall in the second period for the easy quarterfinal victory. Oklahoma State's Nick Piccininni, the tenth-ranked wrestler according to InterMat, handed Templeman his first and only loss on Saturday as Templeman fell by a score of 4-0 in the semifinal.

In what was the very first match of the day for Wyoming, Ronnie Stevens fell to Dylan Hyder of Air Force, 10-1. Stevens then faced Jacob Rubio of Oklahoma in the second session of the championship. It came down to the wire as Stevens scored two escapes in the final period, but dropped a 3-2 decision to close out his season.

Meredith began the day with another bonus-point win for the Brown and Gold. His 12-2 win included five takedowns of West Virginia's Joe Wheeling. In the semifinals, Meredith came away with a 13-7 victory over Oklahoma's Mike Longo to setup a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship final. Meredith used two reversals and a takedown late in the match to carry his momentum on to tomorrow.

In the quarterfinals, Mendenhall used a penalty point in the middle period and a riding time point for his 4-3 decision over Grant LaMont of Utah Valley. In the 149 semifinals, Intermat's second-ranked wrestler, Anthony Collica, ran away with a 16-4 major of Mendenhall. Mendenhall was able to score four escapes against the OSU opponent.

Colgan and Alex Mossing of Air Force didn't have much action through the first three periods in the quarterfinal bout between the two. Colgan ultimately broke away from Mossing by way of a takedown and two-point nearfall to help secure a 7-2 decision TB2. During the second session, the sixth-ranked wrestler in the nation, Joe Smith, used an 8-0 major over Colgan in the semifinal matchup.

In nothing short of a hard-fought bout, Branson Ashworth dropped a 5-3 decision to NDSU's Andrew Fogarty to begin his day. Ashworth couldn't get past a third period takedown that led to the defeat. Ashowrth redeemed himself in the second session of the championship. He brought home a 11-2 victory over UVU's Koy Wilkinson to advance to tomorrow's consolation semifinals.

Kyle Pope came just short in his first match of the Big 12 Championship. Pope faced the third-seeded Lelund Weatherspoon in the quarterfinals and dropped the match 3-2. Pope scored an escape in both the first and third periods. Pope worked his way to a 10-3 decision of Air Force's Michael Billingsley in the afternoon session of the tournament. Four takedowns was the highlight for Pope during his Saturday evening match.

With two escape points and a takedown, Lovvorn earned a 4-2 decision over Able Gomez of Utah Valley in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals. He then met up with Dylan Gabel of Northern Colorado. Lovvorn was unable to get much momentum as he fell 13-1. Although Lovvorn was able to score a 1-0 lead with an escape early in the second period, the redshirt freshman dropped a 3-1 decision to close out his season for the Brown and Gold.

Luke Paine was making his 197 Big 12 Championship debut in Tulsa. Despite falling behind 0-2 to Marcus Harrington of Iowa State, Paine recorded two escape points to bring it to a tie at two. He then recorded a couple more escapes but fell 7-5 in the Round of 16. On the consolation side of the bracket, Paine dropped a 3-2 nail biter to Cordell Eaton of NDSU to close his season.

In the heavyweight class, Brandon Tribble faced the No. 3 seed in Utah Valley's Dustin Dennison. Tribble got on the board first but gave up two takedowns in the second period, which proved to be enough for defeat of Tribble. On the consolation side of the bracket, Tribble worked his way to a 4-1 decision over Alex Macki of SDSU to close out the day for UW.

"The wins from Branson (Ashworth), Kyle (Pope) and Brandon (Tribble) sort of picked us back up and hopefully will help us feel good about tomorrow," Branch added. "We still have seven guys competing and we know there is a lot of work to do."

The Pokes will be back in action tomorrow morning for the consolation semifinals at 7 a.m. MT. The championship matches will begin at 12 p.m.

Wyoming's Big 12 Championship Results

125: Drew Templeman, 1-1

Templeman maj. dec. Trey Andrews (UNC), 12-2

Semi: #10 Nick Piccininni (OSU) dec. Templeman, 4-0

133: Ronnie Stevens, 0-2

Dylan Hyder (Air Force) dec. over Stevens, 10-1

Jacob Rubio (OU) dec. Stevens, 3-2

141: Bryce Meredith, 2-0

Meredith maj. dec. Joe Wheeling (WVU), 12-2

Semi: Meredith dec. Mike Longo (OU), 13-7

149: Cole Mendenhall, 1-1