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Oklahoma State wrestling alums Alex Dieringer and Jordan Oliver took silver in men’s freestyle Saturday at the Matteo Pellicone International in Rome, Italy.
Oliver lost 4-3 to India’s Barjrang Punia, a two-time World medalist, at 65 kilograms, and Dieringer fell 7-5 to Arizona State redshirt senior Zahid Valencia at 86 kilograms in the first United World Wrestling’s Ranking Series event of the year. Current OSU redshirt sophomore Daton Fix took fifth after a 3-2 loss to China’s Minghu Liu at 57 kg.
Oliver scored a takedown early with a low single then added a step out off another takedown attempt for a 3-0 lead at the break. In the second period, Bajrang slipped around the back for a push out off an Oliver shot attempt and tacked on another push out to cut Oliver’s lead to 3-2. Bajrang received two points for exposure in a scramble with 2:03 remaining, and Oliver wasn’t able to finish his two takedown attempts and finished with sliver.
Thought that exchange should have been 2 blue 2 red instead of just 2 for Bajrang.
— Christian Pyles (@CPyles8) January 18, 2020
Those types of sequences continue to create major confusion, at least for me. I thought JO initiated the roll that exposed Bajrang, then got held on his back for two.
JO initiated that move. Needed to throw the brick when they gave it to Bajrang. Should have been 5-4 JO when they finally got brought out of that scramble with 30 seconds left.
— Jarove Lo (@SpeyWrestle) January 18, 2020
Here's the exchange in the second period between Jordan Oliver and Bajrang in the 65kg gold-medal match at Matteo Pellicone. #WrestleRome #OKState pic.twitter.com/f0P2VinTwj
— Brandon Cain (@brandonmcain) January 18, 2020
Wasnt my night... but I got a lot of work to do to be where I want to be ! Hats off to @BajrangPunia dude is heck of a competitor! Until next time my friend!
— Jordan Oliver (@that_dude_JO) January 18, 2020
Dieringer trailed 5-0 early in the first after he was hit with passivity and was taken down then turned with a gut wrench. The Cowboy responded with a step out off a single-leg takedown to trail Valencia 5-1 at the break. In the second period, Dieringer cut the deficit to 5-3 with a throw-by for a takedown. Valencia scored another takedown to pull away before Dieringer pushed the pace in the closing seconds with two caution-and-ones for a 7-5 final.
Fix, who is taking an Olympic redshirt this season, took a 2-1 lead at the break with a takedown and was hit with a caution-and-one for going out fo bounds as he avoided being taken down. The Cowboy slipped out of two takedown attempts in the second period before Liu eventually took him to the mat in the final 10 seconds after Fix fought off the takedown while in a quad pod position.
Man, if you're Daton, you have to fight in that quad pod, but that fight didn't leave time for them to come back up after the eventual takedown. Would never coach a guy to give up the takedown though.
— David Bray (@_davidbray) January 18, 2020
Fix advanced to the bronze-medal match with wins over China’s Wanhao Zou and Venezuela’s Pedro Mejias Rodriguez, 7-1 and 11-0, respectively, before he fell 2-1 to American Thomas Gilman in the semifinals. Fix went up 1-0 on a passivity point, but before the first period ended, the former Iowa wrestler scored a takedown and held on in the second for the win in a rematch of their 2019 Final X bout.
OSU results at 2020 Matteo Pellicone International
57 kg: Daton Fix (Titan Mercury WC/Cowboy RTC)
- Fix def. Zou (China), 7-1
- Fix def. Mejias Rodriguez (Venezuela), 11-0
- Gilman (USA) def. Fix, 2-1
- Liu (China) def. Fix, 3-2
65 kg: Jordan Oliver (Sunkist Kids WC/TarHell WC)
- Oliver def. Talgat (Kazakhstan), 10-0
- Oliver def. Kilicsallayan (Turkey), 4-0
- Oliver def. Arushanian (Ukraine), 7-0
- Bajrang (India) def. Oliver, 4-3
86 kg: Alex Dieringer (Titan Mercury WC/Cowboy RTC)
- Dieringer def. Archaia (Ukraine), 9-0
- Dieringer def. Kurbanov (Uzbekistan), 8-4
- Dieringer def. Downey (USA), 3-2
- Valencia (USA) def. Dieringer, 7-5