Kendyll Ferrall
kferral1@uwyo.edu
The University of Wyoming wrestling team finished in second place last weekend at the Western Wrestling Conference Championship, coming up seven points shy of their fifth consecutive conference title.
Three Cowboys helped lead their team to a 66-point finish: redshirt freshman Benjamin Stroh, juniors Shane Woods and Tyler Cox were the only Wyoming wrestlers to take home WWC titles.
The Pokes finished eight points behind first place North Dakota State University.
Cox won his first WWC title after defeating Utah Valley University’s No. 1 seed and fourth-ranked Josh Martinez. Martinez is the highest ranked opponent Cox has beaten throughout his career. The title marked his 88th victory; he is now 20th in all-time career victories at the University of Wyoming.
“We had some guys who took care of business in some tough matches,” said head coach Mark Branch. “I thought Tyler was exceptional. He’s the bright spot, definitely, along with Ben and Woody, and Dakota had a nice tournament. But it’s disappointing. We had a lot of calls that didn’t go our way. But when the dust settles, I look at why we didn’t put ourselves in a position where those calls didn’t matter.”
The trip to the NCAA tournament later this month will be Woods’ second appearance. He secured his place at the tournament after winning back-to-back WWC titles. He finished last weekend with 6-3 win in the 197-pound final against NDSU’s Tyler Lehman.
Becoming the fifth Cowboy in school history to win a WWC title as a freshman, 184-pound Stroh will also make the trip to Oklahoma City, Okla. for the NCAA championships after his decision win over NDSU’s Kurtis Julson.
Junior Dakota Friesth qualified for a spot in the NCAA championships after his second-place finish after his fall in the 165-pound round against NDSU’s. Although Friesth did not win a title, the three automatic bids at his weight will send him to his first appearance at the championships.
Redshirt freshman Cole Mendenhall and junior Andrew McCulley both placed second in their weights.
Mendenhall lost a close contest to UVU’s Avery Garner. The two were tied at 8-8 with 15 seconds left but the officials overturned a call, ending the bout in Garner’s 8-7 decision win.
Sophomore Tanner Harms placed fourth after winning one of his three 285-pound matches.
“Our focus is on our qualifiers. The best is yet to come,” said Branch. “We have a great opportunity here in two weeks. We’re going to have to wait and see on a couple of guys for wild cards, and I don’t want to do that. But hopefully we can sneak a guy or two in.”
The NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Committee will announce the remaining 40 qualifiers on March 12. The NCAA Championships take place from March 20-22 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
