Last Time Out
The Cowboys rolled past Oregon, 34-3, by winning nine of 10 matches inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The dual started with an Oregon forfeit at 174. OSU then reeled off five consecutive victories, including a major decision by Coleman Scott at 133. Oregon got on the board with a decision at 141. The Cowboys then closed out the dual with wins at 149, 157 and 165. Johny Hendricks capped the win with a pin at 165.
Scouting the Panthers
Northern Iowa comes into the dual unranked with a 3-7 record after a pair of road wins over Northern Colorado and Wyoming last weekend. The Panthers boast three wrestlers ranked nationally with 165-pounder Nick Baima leading the way at No. 5. At 141, C.J. Ettelson is ranked No. 13, while Moza Fay is No. 14 at 157. Fay and 149-pounder Ryan Osgood are the only Panthers to win during the first meeting against Oklahoma State. Andrew Anderson has been ranked also at 197, but has recently fell out of the top 20 despite his 21-11 record.
Scouting the Cyclones
Iowa State is currently the consensus No. 3 team in the country after finishing third at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. The Cyclones defeated OSU in the third-place match and leaped frog the Cowboys in the national rankings. ISU currently has seven wrestlers ranked among the top 20 led by the Paulson twins both ranked third nationally. Trent is ranked third at 157, while Travis is third at 165. Jake Varner, recorded a fall in his last match against OSU and is ranked sixth at 184. Kurt Backes is eighth at 197. Both wrestlers will have to perform to their capabilities for the Cyclones to make some noise in the postseason. The Cyclones also boast a potential All-American at 125 in Nick Fanthorpe. Fanthorpe is ranked 10th, but he lost his last match to OSU losing 5-2 to Tyler Shinn. Cyler Sanderson and Mitch Mueller are both ranked No. 14 nationally and won key matches in the previous dual with OSU. The key for the Cyclones is if Mueller, Nick Gallick and David Zabriskie could all duplicate their performance in the last dual. All three recorded upsets over higher ranked Cowboys, which sparked the 25-9 rout of OSU.
Hendricks Named Wrestler of the Week
Johny Hendricks was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week for his performance for the week ending Jan. 21. Hendricks defeated Iowa's fourth-ranked Mark Perry on a late takedown before pinning Oregon's Jake McCoy. The previous week at National Duals he defeated the second, third, fifth and seventh ranked wrestlers in the country.
Simpson Makes Debut
True freshman Dakotah Simpson was pulled out of redshirt to face rival Iowa in the quarterfinals of the National Duals. Simpson made an immediate impact in the dual, pinning fifth-year senior Alex Grunder to put the Pokes up 15-0 and all but sealing the Cowboy victory. Simpson is currently 6-3 on the season and won an open title at the Oklahoma Open.
Young Guns
Oklahoma State graduated five starters and three All-Americans off of the 2006 national championship squad. Head coach John Smith has had to fill those holes the best that he could and that has come in the forms of a pair of redshirt freshmen and now the possible addition of true freshman Dakotah Simpson. Tyler Shinn has jumped into the rankings and is ranked as high as 16th, while his high school teammate, Jared Rosholt, has been ranked as high as 10th this season. Simpson was pulled out of redshirt at National Duals and is now in position to compete for the starting spot at 149 pounds. In addition, the Cowboys added a pair of sophomores to the lineup in Newly McSpadden and Jared Shelton at 157 and 197, respectiviely.
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