Oklahoma State wrestling: Daton Fix wins freestyle gold at 2019 Pan American Games

Oklahoma State sophomore Daton Fix allowed only one point in his senior-level international tournament debut en route to winning the 57 kilograms bracket in men’s freestyle at the Pan American Games on Friday in Lima, Peru.

Fix took a 6-0 lead just 47 seconds into the match thanks to a single-leg takedown and two gut wrenches against the Dominican Republic’s Juan Ramirez Beltre, who won the 2011 Pan Am Games. Fix then got a takedown right into a trapped-arm gut for the win, and earned another point after a failed challenge for a 11-0 technical fall in a little over a minute.

Fix advanced to the finals with a 10-0 tech fall against Brazil’s Daniel Alves Do Nascimento in 1:15 seconds of the quarterfinal match. In the semifinals, Fix took a 4-1 decision over Cuba’s Reineri Andreu Ortega, who was the 2017 under-23 World champion and reigning Pan Am champion. Ortega’s lone point against Fix was on a step out in the second period.

Fix earned the 57-kilogram spot on the United States’ World Championship team by defeating 2017 World silver medalist Thomas Gilman in a best-of-three series at Final X in June. Worlds is set for Sept. 14-22 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.