"It was a good effort tonight from start to finish," coach John Smith said. "We wrestled some complete matches, and that's what you hope to see. We were scoring not only on takedowns but also on nearfalls and hard rides. We did a good job of getting off bottom."
The dual began with a key matchup where All-American and fifth-ranked Eddie Klimara did not surrender a single point to 2015 NCAA runner-up and No. 12 Zeke Moisey. Klimara opened the match with a takedown and rode out Mosiey for the remainder of the period. The second period saw Klimara pick up an escape and a takedown. His riding time advantage gave him a 6-0 win over Moisey.
"Going into my match I thought to myself, 'just attack and put pressure on him,'" Klimara said. "It was nice avenging my loss to him at NCAAs, but I'm looking for more and want to continue with strong performances."
At 133 pounds, Gary Wayne Harding came back into the lineup for the Pokes, facing Oklahoma City native Keegan Moore. Harding found himself in trouble as Moore had a snake locked up tight, almost putting the Cowboy to his back, but Harding fought hard, not giving up any points and getting the takedown to open scoring. In the second period, Harding reversed Moore and started piling on the points. Harding led Moore 12-0 before the match was ended with an injury default by Moore, giving the Cowboys six points.
Top-ranked Dean Heil picked up a technical fall for the Pokes with a 17-2 win over Tony DeAngelo at 141 pounds. It was the second time this season the two met up, with Heil taking a 3-2 win in their last meeting. The Cowboy took down the Mountaineer four times and earned two sets of back points en route to his dominating win.
At 149 pounds, Anthony Collica followed Heil's lead, earning his own tech fall over Zachary Moore. The Cowboy earned an astounding 11 takedowns and gave up eight points only on escapes. With the 23-8 win, Collica improved to 15-5 on the season.
True freshman Joe Smith made his varsity debut on Friday night. Ranked No. 7 in the nation, the Cowboy took on No. 13 Dylan Cottrell at 157 pounds. The Mountaineer struck first with a takedown, but Smith tallied an escape and later a takedown to carry a 3-2 lead into the second period. Smith separated the score in the second with a reversal and a four-point nearfall. He picked up a takedown in the third to seal his win over the 13th-ranked wrestler, 11-4, just one point shy of a major decision.
"It was a good start for Joseph," John Smith said. "He wrestled one of their better wrestlers. Joe wasn't perfect, but he was awfully scrappy out there. He picked up some nearfall points as well so it was a good match for him."
Alex Dieringer continues to work his way up in the Oklahoma State history books as he picked up his 65th-consecutive win, putting him tied for fourth-best win streak in school history with Alan Fried. Dieringer had an exciting match that lasted only 2:39 as he scored 16 points to earn a win by tech fall over Connor Flynn.
"I got the tech for the team, which is the kind of match I'm looking for but I need to keep working on moving my hands more and when I do that my feet will come along with it. I'm going to really focus on that for my match coming up," Dieringer said. "It was a good win for the team to have on the road. We had a lot of bonus-point matches, and that's what you want to see out of a team contending for a title. I'm proud of the boys but we can always do better. Time to prep for Pitt and go out there and see even more improvement."
The bonus points kept coming as Kyle Crutchmer, ranked No. 3 at 174 pounds, earned a 12-4 major decision over Ross Renzi. Crutchmer came out strong, tallying two takedowns and a stalling point in the first period. He went on to pick up two more takedowns in the third period, in addition to an escape and another stalling point en route to his fifth bonus-point win of the season.
Nolan Boyd came up just short of a major decision at 184 pounds, but still put on a strong performance, defeating Bubba Scheffel, 11-4. Scheffel took down Boyd in the first period, but the Cowboy quickly responded with a reversal to tie it up, 2-2, at the end of the first period. Boyd earned one takedown in the second period and two more in the third period. He sits at 16-6 on the season.
At 197 pounds, redshirt freshman Preston Weigel also stepped into the lineup for the Pokes for the first time, facing No. 7 Jake A. Smith. After a scoreless first period, Weigel put up a solid ride, racking up 1:27 of riding time before Smith notched an escape to open scoring. In the third period, Weigel picked up an escape of his own to tie it up; however Weigel was hit with stalling with 30 seconds remaining in the match to give Smith a 2-1 advantage. Weigel's riding time took the match to sudden victory, where Smith earned the takedown and the Mountaineer's only win of the night.
Senior Austin Marsden rounded out the night for the Cowboys with a shutout victory over AJ Vizcarrondo. The Cowboy, ranked No. 5, picked up a takedown in the first period and tilted the Mountaineer for a two-point nearfall. He later earned an escape and a takedown along with a riding time point to win by an 8-0 major decision.
The Cowboys will be back in action on in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT as they face No. 18 Pittsburgh.
Results:
125: No. 5 Eddie Klimara (OSU) dec. No. 12 Zeke Moisey (WVU), 6-0
133: Gary Wayne Harding (OSU) wins by injury default over Keegan Moore (WVU)
141: No. 1 Dean Heil (OSU) TF5 Tony DeAngelo (WVU), 17-2; 7:00
149: No. 16 Anthony Collica (OSU) TF5 Zachary Moore (WVU), 23-8; 6:35
157: No. 7 Joe Smith (OSU) dec. No. 13 Dylan Cottrell (WVU), 11-4
165: No. 1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) TF5 Connor Flynn (WVU), 16-1; 2:39
174: No. 3 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) MD Ross Renzi (WVU), 12-4
184: No. 19 Nolan Boyd (OSU) dec. Bubba Scheffel (WVU), 11-4
197: No. 7 Jake A. Smith (WVU) dec. Preston Weigel (OSU), 4-2 SV1
285: No. 5 Austin Marsden (OSU) MD AJ Vizcarrondo (WVU), 8-0
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