The Wyoming Cowboys headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma this past weekend to compete in the Big 12 Wrestling Championships. Garrett Ricks, Stockton O’Brien, Cole Brooks, Gabe Willochell, Jared Hill, Cooper Voorhees, Riley Davis, Eddie Neitenbach, Joey Novak, and Sam Mitchell all made the trip. The team took 10th place, with 3 wrestlers earning automatic bids to the NCAA Championships on March 20th.
The competition took place over two days, with a primary and consolation bracket, meaning each wrestler had at least two matches before being eliminated. If kicked to the consolation bracket early, a wrestler could still make a run and finish in 3rd place.
Unfortunately for Ricks and O’ Brien, their bids came to an early close on Saturday, both going 0-2 in Tulsa. Additionally, Voorhees and Davis were only able to pick up 1 win a piece, also bringing their seasons to an end.
“I don’t think we wrestled our best,” said head coach Mark Branch in an interview with Wyoming Athletics after Saturday’s slew of matches.
The 6 other Cowboys were able to move on to Sunday’s showdowns, with all 6 placing in the top ten in their respective weight classes.
Novak, Willochell, and Brooks each did enough to podium on Sunday, but their NCAA status is still up in the air. They will have to wait and see if they receive an at large bid to the tournament, not earning an automatic trip.
Mitchell, Hill, and Neitenbach won’t have to wait however, all punching tickets to the championships. Hill won two straight consolation matches and the fifth place match to secure his spot. Meanwhile, Neitenbach went on a run in the 184 weight class and finished in a comfortable 4th place. Finally, Sam Mitchell earned a gutsy victory in the consolation bracket to head to the 3rd place match, where he would also earn 4th place.
Coach Branch was happy for his qualifiers, but still believes that there is more for his team to give.
“We’ll see where the at-large bids come on Tuesday,” said Branch after the tournament wrapped up. “I think we got a chance to get a few of them.”
“We have to get better between now and the NCAAs,” he said. “It wasn’t consistent enough…we have to refocus on how we want to compete. We have to be on the attack.”
There is still some waiting for the Pokes to see how their NCAA Championship trip will look, but 3 Cowboys will definitely be representing the Brown and Gold in two weeks. The championship will kick off from Philadelphia on March 20th and run until the 22nd.
