Seven Oklahoma State wrestlers found themselves ranked among the top-25 of their respective weight classes in FloWrestling’s preseason rankings.
OSU is ranked No. 3 as a team behind Penn State and Iowa. Ohio State is No. 4 and Arizona State and Wisconsin are tied at No. 5. Northern Iowa (No. 10), Iowa State (No. 13) and Oklahoma (No. 19) also made the top 25.
Six of the seven ranked Cowboy wrestlers are in the top 10, with Wyatt Sheets being the lone outsider at No. 25 at 157 pounds.
Daton Fix is the highest ranked Cowboy at No. 2 at 133 pounds and No. 12 in the pound for pound rankings. Fix was the Big 12 champion and NCAA runner-up last season, but could opt to take an Olympic redshirt this season.
Nick Piccininni (No. 4 at 125 pounds) finished his first undefeated regular season and winning his third consecutive Big 12 title in 2018-19. He was fifth at NCAAs.
Kaden Gfeller (No. 10 at 141), Boo Lewallen (No. 7 at 149), Joe Smith (No. 6 at 174) and Dakota Geer (No. 7 at 197) are also ranked.
Gfeller moved up to 149 last season after Lewallen was sidelined with a season-ending injury. Gfeller repeated as Southern Scuffle champ, won his first Big 12 title and was a NCAA qualifier. Smith competed at 165 and 174 last season, winning the Reno Tournament of Champions and taking fifth place at Big 12s to qualify for NCAAs. Geer transferred from Edinboro and took third at Big 12s after being out a month then took seventh at NCAAs with the No. 26 seed.
Other Big 12 ranked wrestlers
125
11. Jacob Schwarm (Sr) of Northern Iowa
14. Alex Mackall (Jr) of Iowa State
15. Cole Verner (Sr) of Wyoming
18. Christian Moody (Sr) of Oklahoma
21. Sidney Flores (So) of Air Force
133
8. Austin Gomez (So) of ISU
11. Montorie Bridges (Jr) of Wyoming
13. Cam Sykora (Sr) of North Dakota State
23. Gary Joint (So) of Fresno State
141
- Dom Demas (So) of OU
12. Sam Turner (Jr) of Wyoming
14. Ian Parker (Jr) of ISU
149
3. Jarrett Degen (Jr) of ISU
8. Max Thomsen (Sr) of UNI
13. Matt Findlay (Jr) of Utah Valley
16. Khristian Olivas (Sr) of Fresno State
25. Alec Opsal (Sr) of Air Force
157
12. Justin Thomas (Jr) of OU
17. David Carr (Fr) of ISU
165
7. Bryce Steiert (Sr) of UNI
9. Demetrius Romero (Sr) of Utah Valley
12. Andrew Fogarty (Sr) of ND State
16. Austin Matthews (Sr) of Northern Colorado
174
11. Kimball Bastian (Sr) of Utah Valley
16. Hayden Hastings (So) of Wyoming
19. Lorenzo De La Riva (Sr) of ND State
22. Marcus Coleman (So) of ISU
25. Anthony Mantanona (So) of OU
184
4. Taylor Lujan (Sr) of UNI
5. Samuel Colbray (Jr) of ISU
17. Tate Samuelson (So) of Wyoming
18. Jackson Hemauer (So) of Fresno State
197
4. Jacob Holschlag (Sr) of UNI
5. Tanner Sloan (Fr) of South Dakota State
6. Josh Hokit (Sr) of Fresno State
17. Jake Woodley (So) of OU
20. Noah Adams (So) of West Virginia
23. Cale Davidson (So) of Wyoming
285
12. Tate Orndorff (So) of Utah Valley
15. Brian Andrews (Jr) of Wyoming
16. AJ Nevills (Jr) of Fresno State
17. Gannon Gremmel (Jr) of ISU
20. Carter Isley (Jr) of UNI
21. Brandon Metz (So) of ND State
24. Brandon Ngati (Sr) of WVU