The Cowboys finished with 135.5 points, behind Penn State's 165 points and Missouri's 150 points.
"It was good to see the three victories in tonight's finals," coach John Smith said. "It's nice to see us score takedowns to win those types of matches. Overall, it wasn't a bad tournament for us. It tells us how far away we are, which is a little further than I hoped. We can take good things out of this tournament as we head into next week. I'm looking forward to competing against Iowa."
Kindig, the first champ for the Cowboys, started the day with a defensive fall in the third period of the quarterfinals over Luke Frey of Penn State to send him to the semifinals. There, he edged Pittsburgh's Edgar Bright, 3-2, to earn his spot in the 149-pound finals, where he took on No. 4 Drake Houdashelt of Missouri. The two finished with a scoreless first period, and the Tiger was the first to put points on the board with a second-period escape. Kindig tied it up with his own escape in the third. Houdashelt got in on a shot, but it was Kindig who ended up with the takedown early in the third period. An escape from Houdashelt and a trio of penalty points between the two made the final score 5-3 and gave Kindig his first Southern Scuffle title.
"That match was a great win for me after losing to him last year more than once," Kindig said. "However, I have a lot of work to do to get where I want to be when it comes time for nationals. I need to focus on putting more points on the board against guys like him."
Dieringer sailed to the finals in his second day of action, notching two technical falls and giving up a total of two points. The first came over Dakota Friesth of Wyoming in the quarterfinals, where he ended the match almost a minute early, 18-1. In the semifinals, he was just as dominant, taking out Peyton Walsh of Navy, 17-1. In the finals, Dieringer took out No. 2 Nick Sulzer of Virginia, 8-2. Dieringer tallied up three takedowns with an escape and riding time advantage to seal his second-consecutive Southern Scuffle title. The win was his second victory over the Cavalier this season, with the first coming at the NWCA All-Star Classic in November.
"I feel good about my performance," Dieringer said. "I didn't give up an offensive point, and I got five bonus matches so I feel good about that. Also to wrestle the No. 2 guy, Sulzer, was good to see where I am at this point in the season. That being said, I have to go back and keep working on my flaws and push hard in the room every day. Only three more months."
Marsden became the third finalist for the Pokes when he rolled over Penn State's Nick Nevills, 11-3. The junior collected four takedowns en route to the win. Earlier in the day, Marsden had no trouble defeating Collin Jensen of Nebraska with two takedowns and a reversal. He met up with Michigan's Adam Coon in the finals. Marsden scored the only takedowns of the match to defeat Coon, 7-4, and win his first title at the event.
"I went into the tournament with a completely different mindset," Marsden said. "Instead of winning by one or two shots, I wanted to go out there and push the pace and score a lot of takedowns. The Scuffle was my opportunity to change it, and I thought I wrestled well. I got a lot of bonus points. I wrestled through to the finals, where I got the first takedown and kept the pace and didn't slow down."
With a decisive 8-3 win over Ben Willeford of Cleveland State in the quarterfinals to start the day, Eddie Klimara advanced to the 125-pound semifinals, where he faced No. 3 Alan Waters of Mizzou. The junior got the first takedown with a solid ride in the first period, but Waters got the escape and a takedown of his own to leave the Cowboy trailing, 3-2, heading into the second period. Klimara started the period with a reversal and gave up the escape to tie the bout, 4-4. Waters later took the lead with a third-period escape. Although there were several well-battled takedown attempts from the Cowboy, none were completed and Klimara fell 5-4. Following the loss, he was able to advance to the third-place match, where he went up against Sean Boyle of Tennessee-Chattanooga. A slow start put the Cowboy behind and he was not able to overcome the deficit, falling, 11-9, and finishing fourth.
Marsteller also finished fourth, but it was his quarterfinal win that got attention. The true freshman upset the No. 3-seed and 12th ranked Dylan Palacio of Cornell in an 11-10 thriller. Marsteller struck first with a takedown in the first. The rest of the period was full of reversals and nearfalls to bring the score to 8-6 in favor of Marsteller, leading into the second. An escape and takedown for Palacio in the second period gave him a 9-8 advantage. Marsteller tied it up with an escape in the third, but it was a takedown at the buzzer that gave Marsteller the huge upset victory.
OSU had five other placers in Dean Heil (141), Anthony Collica (157), Kyle Crutchmer and Jordan Rogers (174) and Nolan Boyd (184).
The Cowboys will resume dual action on Jan. 11 in Stillwater, Okla., as they host the Iowa Hawkeyes.
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