Senior Night Highlights Final Homestand for Sooners

Friday, February 4

Norman

6:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

Little Rock

Photo by: Ty Russell

Senior Night Highlights Final Homestand for Sooners

February 03, 2022 | Wrestling

²⁵ Oklahoma

Little Rock

Friday, Feb. 4 / 6:00 p.m. CT / McCasland Field House / Norman

TV: Sooner Sports TV / Live Stats / Tickets

²⁵ Oklahoma

²³South Dakota State

Sunday, Feb. 6 / 3:00 p.m. CT / McCasland Field House / Norman

TV: Bally Sports Oklahoma / Live Stats / Tickets

Projected Starters (Rankings by Intermat)
No. 25 Oklahoma
Wt.	Result	Team
125	No. 32 Joey Prata	11-5
133	No. 20 Tony Madrigal	8-5
141	Jacob Butler or Zack Zeamer	4-8 / 4-6
149	No. 21 Willie McDougald	9-3
157	No. 14 Justin Thomas	13-5
165	Joe Grello or Troy Mantanona	3-6 / 5-6
174	No. 20 Anthony Mantanona	12-5
184	No. 28 Darrien Roberts or Keegan Moore	12-7 / 2-1
197	No. 14 Jake Woodley	17-5
285	No. 28 Josh Heindselman	10-8

Projected Starters
Little Rock
Wt.	Result	Team
125	Jayden Carson	9-12
133	Jaylen Carson	11-10
141	Conner Ward	3-13
149	Joseph Bianchi	12-9
157	Austin Keal	5-6
165	Tyler Brennan	10-11
174	Triston Wills	11-8
184	Brayden Dillow or Tanner Mendoza	4-6 / 6-6
197	Brooks Sacharczyk	5-15
285	Josiah Hill	11-8

Projected Starters (Rankings by Intermat)
No. 23 South Dakota State
Wt.	Result	Team
125	Tanner Jordan	17-12
133	Gabriel Tagg	6-2
141	No. 13 Clay Carlson	22-3
149	Daniel Kimball	18-14
157	Kenny O'Neil	13-16
165	No. 30 Tanner Cook	15-7
174	No. 9 Cade DeVos	24-3
184	No. 33 Cade King or Caleb Orris	11-6 / 5-9
197	No. 12 Tanner Sloan	12-4
285	No. 22 A.J. Nevills	20-8

NORMAN - Oklahoma wrestling is entering the final stretch of the regular season with its final two home matches on the docket this weekend. The Sooners will take on Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday night and have senior night against No. 23 South Dakota State on Sunday afternoon in their last run out in McCasland Field House for the 2021-22 season.

The No. 25 Sooners (6-5, 2-4 Big 12) will honor seniors Joe Grello, Elijah Joseph, Anthony Mantanona, Keegan Moore, Mitch Moore and Justin Thomas before the dual against the Jackrabbits with the ceremony scheduled to start 20 minutes before the first bout.

Doors will open one hour prior to start of the duals. The first 250 fans in the door on Friday night will receive an Oklahoma wrestling bottle opener.

Last Time Out

The Sooners faced off against Northern Iowa last Sunday in a tight contest in which both teams came away with wins in five bouts. The Panthers were able to secure bonus points in two of their matches however and those two points proved to be the difference, giving UNI the 17-15 win.

OU got wins from Joey Prata, Willie McDougald, Anthony Mantanona, Jake Woodley and Josh Heindselman, but a lack of bonus points meant they would come up just short. McDougald and Mantanona's victories both came against ranked opponents.

Scouting the Competition

Little Rock

The Trojans come into this dual at the start of a tough stretch of matches. First they go on the road against the No. 25 ranked Sooners, then play host to No. 13 Arizona State before they take a trip north to the Dakotas for duals with North Dakota State and South Dakota State to wrap up their regular season.

The program holds a 1-9 record and are 0-3 in Pac-12 competition thus far on the year. Their lone win came in a 33-7 victory over Virginia Military Institute on Jan. 21 in a tri meet with Appalachian State.

Their last action on the mat came against Northern Illinois, who the Sooners defeated 34-3 earlier in the year. The Trojans lost their dual with the Huskies 35-6, picking up decisions at 133 and 174.

In tournaments this season, the Trojans hosted the first annual Trojan Open to kick off their season. There they claimed seven weight class champions. They also competed in the Cougar Clash and the Southern Scuffle.

South Dakota State

An action packed season for the Jackrabbits has seen the team compete in five tournaments in addition to the eleven duals they've already completed. They will be taking a tour of the Sooner State this weekend as they will wrestle Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Friday night before heading to Norman on Sunday.

The team holds a 10-1 overall record in dual action and are an unblemished 3-0 in conference play thus far. Their only loss came at the hands of the then No. 12 Minnesota and their marquee win came on the road against the then No. 9 Missouri Tigers. Upsets of ranked opponents in the final three bouts against the Tigers gave SDSU its first win over Missouri in over forty years.

In tournament competition, SDSU claimed an individual title in both the Bison Open and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational with a finalist in the Daktronics Open and two finalists at the UNI Open.

The Jackrabbits have five returning NCAA qualifiers from last season in Clay Carlson, Tanner Cook, Cade DeVos, Tanner Sloan and A.J. Nevills. Those five are also the only five ranked wrestlers on the team according to Intermat.

Familiar Foes

Little Rock

On Friday night, there are two potential rematches from last season's dual. Anthony Mantanona is slated to take on Triston Wills while Darrien Roberts could face Tanner Mendoza. Both of those matchups ended in 15-0 tech falls in favor of the Sooners in Little Rock last year.

South Dakota State

There will be plenty of familiarity on Sunday afternoon as well. At 149, Willie McDougald is expected to go up against Daniel Kimball. The two have already faced once this season, in an extra match at the Virginia Duals. McDougald claimed a late pin (7:55) for his first fall of the season in his last match before being inserted into the starting lineup for the Sooners.

In the 165 pound bout, Joe Grello is likely to battle No. 30 Tanner Cook whom he beat in a 4-1 decision at the Cliff Keen Invitational for his first win in the Crimson and Cream.

All-American Jake Woodley will take on No. 12 Tanner Sloan for the fifth time in his career. Sloan leads the series 3-1 dating back to Dec. 2019 and has won the last three against Woodley.

Series Histories

Little Rock

History between these two programs is still very new. The Sooners have only faced the Trojans once before and it was part of a quad dual hosted by Little Rock last season. OU went a perfect 3-0 in that quad with wins over South Dakota State and No. 21 Stanford complimenting a 34-6 win over the home team.

South Dakota State

The series against the Jackrabbits stretches back a bit further. The first matchup came in 1970 in a victory for the Sooners. OU holds the all time series lead 4-3.

There have been six duals since SDSU was added to the Big 12 before the 2015-16 season with the two programs splitting those matchups three a piece.

The most recent of which was a 21-13 victory for the Sooners thanks to wins from Tony Madrigal, Dom Demas, Mitch Moore, Justin Thomas, Darrien Roberts and Josh Heindselman. It was Madrigal's only win via fall of the season when he pinned Trayton Anderson in 2:40.

Sooners in the Rankings

The NCAA released its first Division I coaches' rankings with seven OU wrestlers making the initial list. These rankings are one of several criteria used to determine at-large bids and seeding for the NCAA tournament at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit Mar. 17-19. The program had seven NCAA qualifiers last season and have had 629 all-time.

Joey Prata, Justin Thomas, Joe Grello, Anthony Mantanona, Darrien Roberts, Jake Woodley and Josh Heindselman each made the coaches' rankings in their respective weight classes.

In the other national rankings, Willie McDougald broke into the 149-pound ranks for the first time coming in at No. 21 according to Intermat. No. 14 Justin Thomas and No. 20 Anthony Mantanona continue to be on the rise in the back half of the season.

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