No. 8 Oklahoma Wrestling Falls To No. 1 OSU in Bedlam Series, 26-10

The eighth ranked Sooners lose the Bedlam Series, presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and Your Oklahoma Ford Dealers, to top ranked Oklahoma State Sunday in the Lloyd Noble Center, 26-10. Oklahoma won only three matches on the night with freshman Mimi Miller upsetting third-ranked and defending national champion, Johnny Thompson, by a 7-6 decision.

“We did a lot of battling,” Oklahoma head coach Jack Spates said. “We just needed to do more.”

The Sooners jumped out to a 7-0 lead after winning the first two matches, only to lose the next seven. The highlight of the meet was the match between Miller and Thompson at 133 pounds. Miller got a warning in the first period which was the only action. The second period proved to be more interesting with plenty of action.

See how the Sooners stack up against OSU in the Bedlam Series presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and Your Oklahoma Ford Dealers!

Thompson scored first with an escape to open the second period. Miller got a takedown with Thompson escaping to make the score 2-2. Thompson scored the takedown only to give up a reverse to Miller with one second left in the second to tie the match at 4-4.

Miller escaped to open the third period and then scored a takedown to lead the match 7-4. Thompson escaped with 1:10 left on the clock only needing a takedown to draw even. Miller gave up one more point to Thompson on a stalling call, but went on to stun the defending national champion by a 7-6 decision.

“Mimi Miller wrestled one of the all-time greats,” Spates said. “Mimi finished strong, he battled all the way through the end. He has done a great job. He kept fighting and beat a two time national champion.”

No. 12 Sam Hazewinkel started the night off at 125 pounds with a major decision over 17th ranked Cody Stites, 10-1. After no action in the first period, Hazewinkel got on the board with a takedown and a near fall to make the score 4-0 at the end of the second period. Stites scored his only point on an escape after choosing down in the third period. Hazewinkel went on to score six more points to earn the major decision and start the Sooners in the right direction.

“Sam loves competition,” Spates said. “ He just goes out and battles.”

Oklahoma won only one more match after dropping seven in a row and 26 unanswered points. Fourth-ranked Leonce Crump in his last home match beat No. 17 Will Gruenwald. Gruenwald started with the early lead after a takedown ended the first period with a 2-0 advantage. Crump came back in the second with an escape and a takedown of his own the take the lead, 3-2. Gruenwald tied the score with an escape only to give Crump another takedown to end the second period 5-3 in favor of Crump. In the third period Gruenwald scored his last point on an escape. Crump ended up with 1:15 of riding time to make the final score, 6-4, and the overall team score, 26-10.

The next action for Oklahoma will be when they travel to No. 2 Nebraska on Feb. 20, at 12 p.m.

Weight-By-Weight Results
125: Hazewinkel (OU) Maj. Dec. 10-1 Stites (OSU)
133: Miller (OU) Dec. 7-6 Thompson (OSU)
141: Delk (OSU) Maj. Dec. 14-4 Kidd (OU)
149: Esposito (OSU) Dec. 3-1 Ecklof (OU)
157: Hendricks (OSU) Dec. 3-2 Maturino (OU)
165: Lewis (OSU) Fall 2:10 Sulaver (OU)
174: Pendelton (OSU) Dec. 5-2 Waldhaus (OU)
184: Rosholt (OSU) Dec. 10-7 Dyer (OU)
197: Blackmon (OSU) Maj. Dec. 10-0 David (OU)
HWT: Crump (OU) Dec. 6-4 Gruenwald (OSU)