Oklahoma to Open Postseason at Big 12 Championship

Big 12 Championship

Oklahoma (5-5, 2-4 Big 12)

March 6-7 | All Day | BOK Center | Tulsa, Okla.

Notes | Stats Hub | Watch | Tickets | Brackets

Oklahoma Competitors (with Big 12 pre-seed)
Weight	Wrestler	Record
125	No 8 Mason Naifeh	1-8
133	Tony Madrigal	3-7
141	No. 2 Dom Demas	9-1
149	No. 3 Mitch Moore	7-3
157	No. 2 Justin Thomas	8-2
165	Troy Mantanona	2-2
174	No. 8 Anthony Mantanona	5-5
184	No. 7 Darrien Roberts	6-4
197	No. 5 Jake Woodley	5-5
HWT	No. 4 Josh Heindselman	7-3

NORMAN – No. 19 Oklahoma heads to Tulsa, Okla., for the 2021 Big 12 Championship on March 6-7. The Sooners (5-5, 2-4 Big 12) bring eight wrestlers to Big 12s that are ranked in the NCAA Coaches Rankings. OU also has eight wrestlers seeded in the Big 12 pre-seeds as the team prepares for the championship.

The Sooners are led by head coach Lou Rosselli who led Oklahoma to a runner-up finish at Big 12s in his first season and has grown the team's point total every year since 2018, including an 83-point output at the 2020 championship.

Oklahoma's eight seeded wrestlers are the second-most under Rosselli, second only to the 2019 team who brought nine seeds to the conference championship.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

The championship is split into four sessions over two days of competition.

Saturday, March 6
Session I -11:00 a.m. - Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Preliminary & Quarterfinal Matches
Session II - 5:00 p.m. - Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Semifinal & Consolation Quarterfinal Matches

Sunday, March 7
Session III - 10:00 a.m. - Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Consolation Semifinals, 3rd & 5th Place Matches
Session IV - 5:00 p.m. - ESPN2
Championship Matches

OU AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

Oklahoma has collected 23 conference championships in its history, including two Big 12 titles, in 1999 and 2002. The Sooners' two Big 12 titles are the third most in the conference behind Oklahoma State and Iowa State. Six Sooners have been named the Big 12's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Dom Demas (2019; 141)
Cody Brewer (2016; 133 pounds)
Jarrod Patterson (2010; 125 pounds)
Sam Hazewinkel (2007; 125 pounds)
Teyon Ware (2003; 141 pounds)
Shane Valdez (1999; 125 pounds)

Current OU assistant coach Mike Lightner had a Big 12 championship career to remember. As a Sooner, Lightner was a four-time Big 12 champ at 141 pounds (1998-2001). His conference title run in 2001 helped him achieve a perfect 37-0 record as a senior. The Sooners have crowned a total of 185 individual conference championships in school history, including 12 in the past decade.

SOONER SUMMARY

Rosselli's squad returns all but one wrestler who saw action in 2019-20, featuring a lineup that showcases six NCAA qualifiers, two All-Americans and a pair of UWW/U23 national champions. The Sooners added 2019 ACC Freshman of the Year Mitch Moore to the roster via transfer from Virginia Tech. Moore is a two-time NCAA qualifier at 141 pounds and competes for OU at 149 pounds.

NCAA DIVISION I QUALIFIER ALLOCATIONS

In recent years, pre-allocations have been determined by a formula measuring Division I winning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches' ranking. A decrease in overall matches, and in particular non-conference matches, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee to transition to using the five-year historical average to determine pre-allocations for 2021

The following are the Big 12 Conference allocations for the 2021 NCAA Championship.
125: 5
133: 5
141: 4
149: 5
157: 3
165: 5
174: 4
184: 4
197: 5
285: 5
Total: 45

TOURNAMENT INFO

Live stats for the tournament will be available through Track Wrestling's Big 12 hub. Live video streams will be shown on ESPN+ for the first three sessions, with a different camera on each mat, and then the finals will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Sunday evening.

UP NEXT

The Sooners that qualify for the NCAA championships will travel to St. Louis, Mo., for the tournament, held at the Enterprise Center on March 18-20.

For updates, follow @OU_Wrestling on Twitter, or like Oklahoma Wrestling on Facebook.