TULSA, Okla. (March 10, 2019) – The Wyoming wrestling team took seventh at the Big 12 Championships on Sunday night. Montorie Bridges competed in the first conference finals of his career and took second at 133 pounds following a tight loss to top-seeded Daton Fix of Oklahoma State.
 
"It's a tough tournament and we just didn't wrestle tough enough," head coach Mark Branch said. "We had a couple of matches where it seemed like our opponents wanted it more, especially today when you're wrestling for a guaranteed spot…I feel like we definitely underperformed overall and that is disappointing, but you look at how you can improve from here and what needs to change.
 
"I know our training and preparation was great. We've talked about this being a young team, and a lot of these guys haven't had this experience. That probably plays into it but that's really just an excuse if you let it be one. There's no reason to come here and wrestle young. You're going to come out here and see freshmen win it. We've wrestled better than that."
 
As a team, seven of 10 Cowboys placed on the weekend, with four locking up automatic qualifying for the NCAA Championships: Bridges, Sam Turner, Branson Ashworth and Brian Andrews. The Pokes recorded 58 team points. Oklahoma State took the team title to finish the night.
 
"I'm disappointed in how some guys wrestled, but we did have guys wrestle well," Branch said. "I thought Montorie wrestled as well as he has all year and that's good to see this time of year. Brian wrestled well, minus a 10-second fluff there at the end where he got lost. Sam had a pretty good tournament too, but ran into the champ in his second match and dropping right into the No. 1 seed in the back side was unfortunate.
 
"We'll evaluate this weekend and turn it around because I think a lot of it was we let anxiety or the atmosphere overcome us. That's why this tournament is good because it gives us a preview of what it's like at NCAA's. Hopefully these guys will settle in and perform better in two weeks."
 
Bridges came up just short in a 4-2 decision to Fix. Fix opened with a 2-1 lead thanks to a takedown with 30 seconds to go in the first and a locked hands call with a couple of seconds left in the frame. Fix took down to open the second and escaped to stretch his lead to 3-1.
 
In the third, Bridges chose bottom. Fix was able to ride over a minute and a half before Bridges nearly converted a reversal on the edge of the mat as he took Fix to his back, but the two were ruled out of bounds by the official. The Altus, Okla., native was able to escape with a few seconds left in the bout, but time ran out before he was able to score what would've been a match-tying takedown.
 
The match wrapped up a nice weekend for Bridges, who went 2-1 including a technical fall over Anthony Madrigal of Oklahoma in the quarterfinals and a 6-3 decision over the No. 2 seed Austin Gomez of Iowa State. Bridges will head to the NCAA Championships looking for his second career All-America honor.
 
Branson Ashworth and Brian Andrews finished the weekend in fourth place to clinch automatic qualifying berths. After advancing to the 165-pound championship semifinals on Saturday, Ashworth knocked off Oklahoma State's Joe Smith, 4-2, in the consolation semifinals before coming up short to third-seeded Bryce Steiert in the third-place bout. At heavyweight, Andrews started the day hot with a fall over No. 3 seed Gannon Gremmel of Iowa State in the consolation semis. In the third-place match, Andrews held a 4-3 lead over Utah Valley's Tate Orndorff late, but an Orndorff reversal with 10 seconds to go left Andrews on the losing end of a 5-4 decision.
 
After finishing seventh at 141 pounds, Cowboy Sam Turner faced off with West Virginia's Caleb Rea in a sixth-place challenge match for an NCAA qualification. Turner had pinned Rea in the first round of the tournament, and the challenge match went about the same way. Turner was able to deck Rea in under two minutes to claim his second career NCAA appearance.
 
Cowboys Tate Samuelson and Hayden Hastings came up just short of clinching the first NCAA qualifications of their young careers, finishing sixth at 184 and 174, respectively. Following a narrow consolation semifinal loss to North Dakota State's Lorenzo De La Riva, Hastings couldn't overcome an early 6-0 deficit to No. 4 Marcus Coleman of Iowa State in the fifth-place match, falling, 11-10. Samuelson dropped narrow decisions to Utah Valley's Will Sumner and Fresno State's Jackson Hemauer for his sixth-place finish.
 
At 149 pounds, redshirt sophomore Jaron Jensen finished eighth despite coming into the weekend unseeded, and came up one spot short of an automatic NCAA bid. Jensen dropped an 11-3 major decision to No. 2 seed Max Thomsen in the seventh-place match.
 
The remainder of the Cowboy lineup will await word on whether their seasons will continue, as the NCAA committee is set to release at-large bids on Tuesday.
 
Big 12 Championships Individual Results – Final
March 10, 2019  |  BOK Center  |  Tulsa, Okla.
 
Cole Verner – 125 pounds
Quarterfinals: No. 3 Jay Schwarm (UNI) fall No. 6 Cole Verner (WYO) 4:14
First Round Consolation: No. 6 Cole Verner (WYO) TF Devin Brown (WVU) 18-0
Second Round Consolation: No. 7 Christian Moody (OU) dec. No. 6 Cole Verner (WYO) 3-2
 
Montorie Bridges – 133 pounds
Quarterfinals: No. 3 Montorie Bridges (WYO) TF No. 6 Anthony Madrigal (OU) 16-1
Semifinals: No. 3 Montorie Bridges (WYO) dec. No. 2 Austin Gomez (ISU) 6-3
Finals: No. 1 Daton Fix (OSU) dec. No. 3 Montorie Bridges (WYO) 4-2
 
Sam Turner – 141 pounds
Preliminary: No. 6 Sam Turner (WYO) fall Caleb Rea (WVU) 2:07
Quarterfinals: No. 3 Dom Demas (OU) dec. No. 6 Sam Turner (WYO) 3-2
First Round Consolation: No. 6 Sam Turner (WYO) TF Aric Williams (SDSU) 17-2
Second Round Consolation: No. 1 Josh Alber (UNI) dec. No. 6 Sam Turner (WYO) 3-2
Seventh Place: No. 6 Sam Turner (WYO) dec. Garrett O'Shea (AF) 2-1
Challenge Match: No. 6 Sam Turner (WYO) fall Calen Rea (WVU) 1:56
 
Jaron Jensen – 149 pounds
Preliminary: No. 2 Max Thomsen (UNI) TF Jaron Jensen (WYO) 17-0
First Round Consolation: Jaron Jensen (WYO) MD No. 8 Jaden Van Maanen (NDSU) 14-6
Second Round Consolation: No. 4 Christian Monserrat (WVU) dec. Jaron Jensen (WYO) 6-2
Seventh Place: No. 2 Max Thomsen (UNI) MD Jaron Jensen (WYO) 11-3
 
Dewey Krueger – 157 pounds
Quarterfinals: No. 3 Chase Straw (ISU) dec. No. 6 Dewey Krueger (WYO) 9-5
First Round Consolation: No. 6 Dewey Krueger (WYO) dec. Kyler Rea (WVU) 4-1
Second Round Consolation: No. 7 Alex Mossing (AF) dec. No. 6 Dewey Krueger (WYO) 10-4
 
Branson Ashworth – 165 pounds
Quarterfinals: No. 1 Branson Ashworth (WYO) dec. Logan Schumacher (ISU) 7-2
Semifinals: No. 5 Andrew Fogarty (NDSU) dec. No. 1 Branson Ashworth (WYO) 3-2
Consolation Semifinals: No. 1 Branson Ashworth (WYO) dec. No. 7 Joe Smith (OSU) 4-2
Third Place: No. 3 Bryce Steiert (UNI) dec. No. 1 Branson Ashworth (WYO) 2-1
 
Hayden Hastings – 174 pounds
Preliminary: No. 5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) MD Samuel Grove (SDSU) 10-1
Quarterfinals: No. 5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) dec. Marcus Coleman (ISU) 9-3
Semifinals: No. 1 Jacobe Smith (OSU) MD No. 5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) 18-5
Consolation Semifinals: No. 6 Lorenzo De La Riva (NDSU) dec. No. 5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) 4-3
Fifth Place: No. 4 Marcus Coleman (ISU) dec. No. 5 Hayden Hastings (WYO) 11-10
 
Tate Samuelson – 184 pounds
Quarterfinals: No. 4 Tate Samuelson (WYO) dec. No. 5 Jackson Hemauer (FS) 5-2
Semifinals: No. 1 Sam Colbray (ISU) dec. No. 4 Tate Samuelson (WYO) 5-2
Consolation Semifinals: No. 6 Will Sumner (UVU) dec. No. 4 Tate Samuelson (WYO) 3-2
Fifth Place: No. 5 Jackson Hemauer (FS) dec. No. 4 Tate Samuelson (WYO) 4-2
 
Cale Davidson – 197 pounds
Quarterfinals: No. 1 Preston Weigel (OSU) dec. No. 8 Cale Davidson (WYO) 3-0
First Round Consolation: Anthony McLaughlin (AF) dec. No. 8 Cale Davidson (WYO) 4-3, TB2
 
Brian Andrews - Heavyweight
Preliminary: No. 5 Brian Andrews (WYO) MD Robert Winters (UNC) 14-0
Quarterfinals: No. 4 Tate Orndorff (UVU) dec. No. 5 Brian Andrews (WYO) 4-1
First Round Consolation: No. 5 Brian Andrews (WYO) dec. Brandon Metz (NDSU) 4-0
Second Round Consolation: No. 5 Brian Andrews (WYO) dec. Blake Wolters (SDSU) 1-0
Consolation Semifinals: No. 5 Brian Andrews (WYO) fall  No. 3 Gannon Gremmel (ISU) 4:14
Third Place: No. 4 Tate Orndorff (UVU) dec. No. 5 Brian Andrews (WYO) 5-4
 
Final Team Standings
1. Oklahoma State – 158
2. Iowa State – 114.5
3. Northern Iowa – 82
4. Oklahoma – 78
5. Fresno State – 59.5
6. Utah Valley – 59
7. Wyoming – 58
8. North Dakota State – 53.5
9. West Virginia  – 46
10. South Dakota State – 18.5
11. Air Force – 18
12. Northern Colorado – 17