STILLWATER, Okla. (Nov. 25, 2018) – The Wyoming wrestling team dropped a 27-6 dual at No. 2 Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
 
The Cowboys (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) got impressive wins from Branson Ashworth and Cale Davidson in the dual, with Ashworth knocking off No. 5 Chandler Rogers and Davidson defeating Andrew Marsden. The rest of the team hung tough, despite going toe to toe with a team that fielded a lineup that featured top-12 grapplers in all but two weights.
 
"We saw a lot of improvement on what we worked on over the week since the Nebraska dual, so that was good," head coach Mark Branch said. "I thought we were a little bit more confident in our pace and our handfighting. Some of our guys didn't sustain it, but I thought most of us came out and looked a lot better than we did previously.
 
"We should walk away knowing—even in the loss—that we're capable of a lot more," Branch said. "We should feel confident that we can compete against the best in the country. Our schedule this semester is so tough, so maybe we won't walk away with a win, but we can walk away knowing we're better than we gave ourselves credit for in some instances and our kids need to develop that. They need to have a sick feeling in their stomachs of letting one get away. It was frustrating, but at the same time there was a lot of encouragement for us moving forward."
 
Oklahoma State struck first, as sixth-ranked Kaid Brock edged Sam Turner for a 14-10 decision, followed by a 9-1 Kaden Gfeller major decision over Wyoming's Jaron Jensen to take a 7-0 lead early. At 157, Wyoming's Dewey Krueger came up short in a 3-1 decision to No. 17 Andrew Shomers.
 
Ashworth got the Cowboys on the board with a big, 4-1, decision over fifth-ranked Chandler Rogers. After a scoreless first period, Rogers elected to open the second on bottom. Ashworth was able to ride out the entirety of the second, followed by a quick escape to open the third. With under a minute to go in the match, Ashworth all but sealed the victory with a takedown to quiet the Stillwater crowd. It pushed Ashworth's record in the series against Rogers to 2-1.
 
"I thought Branson wrestled exceptionally well," Branch said. "He needs to have confidence when he has guys that he's dominating on top and turn them. There is some improvement that he can make there, and we just talked about that."
 
Redshirt freshman Hayden Hastings faced a tough test at 174 pounds, matching up against eighth-ranked All-American Jacobe Smith. Smith got on the board first with a quick takedown to go up, 2-1, after the Hastings escape, and his lead was stretched to 4-1 as he was able to reverse Hastings from the down position in the second period. Heading into the final frame, Hastings picked up a point on the escape before scoring a takedown to knot up the score at four late. The Cowboy freshman rode hard on top, nearly completing the ride-out; however, Smith added another reversal with six seconds on the clock to hold on to the 6-5 decision.
 
OSU stretched its lead to 17-3 at 184 pounds as No. 12 Dakota Geer defeated Wyoming's Carless Looney by way of 14-4 major decision.
 
Wyoming snagged another win at 197 pounds as redshirt freshman Cale Davidson knocked off Andrew Marsden in an 8-5 decision. It was a bout filled with scrambles, as the two wrestlers combined for three takedowns and a couple of reversals. Davidson was able to come out on top of most of the madness, opening with a takedown early, followed by a reversal after Marsden was able to escape and score what would be the OSU Cowboy's only offensive score of the match. Davidson added another takedown in the second and a reversal from the down position in the third to lock up the second dual win of his career.
 
"Cale did some good things, and got in some scary positions, but there was a strategy there," Branch said. "I told all of the guys that we need to develop our confidence to where we're not strategizing in the middle of a match about what's going to work best for us instead of just going out and scoring."
 
At heavyweight, Wyoming sophomore held his own with OSU's third-ranked Derek White, but ultimately came up short in an 8-2 loss. OSU added another four points to its lead with a 12-4 major decision over Cole Verner by third-ranked Nick Piccininni at 125 pounds.
 
In the final bout of the afternoon, Montorie Bridges matched up with No. 6 Daton Fix at 133. After a couple of early stall warnings on Bridges in the first and a Fix rideout in the second, Fix was able to escape from bottom in the third to win by a 3-0 decision despite being held without an offensive score in the bout.
 
The Cowboys will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Las Vegas for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, which begins on Friday.
 
 
No. 2 Oklahoma State 27, No. 20 Wyoming 6
Nov. 25, 2018  |  Gallagher-Iba Arena  |  Stillwater, Okla.
141: No. 6 Kaid Brock (OSU) dec. Sam Turner (WYO) 14-10
149: No. 12 Kaden Gfeller (OSU) MD Jaron Jensen (WYO) 9-1
157: No. 17 Andrew Shomers (OSU) dec. No. 19 Dewey Krueger (WYO) 3-1
165: No. 9 Branson Ashworth (WYO) dec. No. 5 Chandler Rogers (OSU) 4-1
174: No. 8 Jacobe Smith (OSU) dec. Hayden Hastings (WYO) 6-5
184: No. 12 Dakota Geer (OSU) MD Carless Looney (WYO) 14-4
197: Cale Davidson (WYO) dec. Andrew Marsden (OSU) 8-5
HWT: No. 3 Derek White (OSU) dec. Brian Andrews (WYO) 8-2
125: No. 4 Nick Piccininni (OSU) MD Cole Verner (WYO) 12-4
133: No. 6 Daton Fix (OSU) dec. No. 11 Montorie Bridges (WYO) 3-0