2020 Big 12 Wrestling Championship: Oklahoma State lands 3 top pre-seeds

The Oklahoma State wrestling team received three No. 1 pre-seeds Wednesday for the upcoming weekend’s Big 12 Wrestling Championship at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

The pre-seeds were voted into their positions by the conference’s 12 head coaches and are subject to change. The final seeds will be confirmed during a pre-tournament coaches meeting Friday.

OSU led the way with three No. 1 seeds: Nick Piccininni (125 pounds), Boo Lewallen (149) and Travis Wittlake (165).

The Cowboys other seeds are No. 6 Reece Witcraft (133), No. 4 Dusty Hone (141), No. 3 Wyatt Sheets (157), No. 5 Joe Smith (174), No. 2 Anthony Montalvo (184) and No. 5 Dakota Geer (197). Heavyweight Austin Harris did not receive a seed.

OSU’s first-round matches

• No. 6 Witcraft vs. Air Force’s Jared VanVleet
• No. 5 Smith vs. North Dakota’s Luke Weber
• No. 2 Montalvo vs. Fresno State’s Hunter Cruz
• No. 5 Geer vs. Fresno State’s Isaiah Perez
• Harris vs. No. 5 Brian Andrews of Wyoming

The other No. 1 seeds are Wyoming’s Montorie Bridges (133), Oklahoma’s Dom Demas (141), Iowa State’s David Carr (157), Northern Iowa’s Bryce Steiert (174) and Taylor Lujan (184), West Virginia’s Noah Adams (197) and Utah Valley’s Tate Orndorff (285).

The breakdown of the 54 NCAA automatic bids per weight class for the Big 12 Wrestling Championship is as follows: 125 (4), 133 (8), 141 (5), 149 (5), 157 (5), 165 (4), 174 (5), 184 (5), 197 (6), 285 (7).

OSU will seek its eighth-straight conference championship for the first time since 1921-1928.

The tournament will be broadcasted on ESPN+ before the final round on Fox Sports Networks.

Oklahoma State pre-seeds

125: No. 1 Nick Piccininni, R-Sr. (23-2, 9-0 Big 12)

• Three-time Big 12 champ (2017-19), Two-time NCAA All-American (2017, ‘19)

133: No. 6 Reece Witcraft, Fr. (16-8, 7-2)

• First Big 12 Championship appearance

141: No. 4 Dusty Hone, R-Jr. (18-8, 5-4)

• First Big 12 Championship appearance

149: No. 1 Boo Lewallen, R-Jr. (18-2, 9-0)

• 2018 Big 12 champion, 2018 NCAA All-American

157: No. 3 Wyatt Sheets, R-So. (18-6, 7-3)

• Fourth place at Big 12 (2019)

165: No. 1 Travis Wittlake, R-Fr. (25-2, 11-0)

• First Big 12 Championship appearance

174: No. 5 Joe Smith, R-Sr. (8-5, 5-4)

• Two-time Big 12 champ (2016-17), Two-time NCAA All-American (16-17)

184: No. 2 Anthony Montalvo, R-Fr. (20-5, 11-1)

• First Big 12 Championship appearance

197: No. 5 Dakota Geer, R-Jr. (19-7, 8-3)

• Third place at Big 12 (2019), 2019 NCAA All-American

285: Austin Harris, R-Jr. (5-10, 3-3)

• First Big 12 Championship appearance

Big 12 Championship schedule

Session 1: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday

• Preliminary (40 matches — 4 mats)
• Quarterfinals (40 matches — 4 mats)

Session 2: 5-8 p.m., Saturday

• Semifinals (20 matches — 2 mats)
• First, second round consolations (40 matches — 2 mats; 20 matches — 4 mats)

Session 3: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday

• Consolation semifinals (20 matches — 4 mats)
• Third, fifth, seventh place matches (30 matches — 4 mats)

Session 4: 6 p.m., Sunday

• Championship finals (10 matches — 1 mat)