Nine Sooners Primed for NCAA Championships

2022 NCAA Wrestling Championship oklahoma

March 17-19 | All Day | Little Caesars Arena | Detroit, Mich.

Notes | Stats Hub | Watch | Brackets | Championship Hub

Oklahoma Competitors (with NCAA seed)
Weight	Wrestler	Record
125	No. 19 Joey Prata	16-7
133	No. 23 Tony Madrigal	12-10
141	No. 30 Jacob Butler	8-13
149	No. 16 Willie McDougald	14-5
157	No. 13 Justin Thomas	19-7
174	No. 15 Anthony Mantanona	18-7
184	No. 27 Keegan Moore	8-4
197	No. 13 Jake Woodley	23-8
HWT	No. 30 Josh Heindselman	13-13

DETROIT, Mich. – Oklahoma wrestling, who finished as the runner-up at the Big 12 Championship, heads to Detroit for the 2022 NCAA Championship, slated for March 17-19 at the Little Caesars Arena. Head coach Lou Rosselli brings nine wrestlers to the championships, the most since he took over at the helm prior to the 2016-17 season. All nine were automatic qualifiers.

The Sooners are led by All-American Jake Woodley who enters his fourth NCAA tournament after earning the prestigious honor during last season's competition. He is joined by fellow four-time qualifier Justin Thomas, three-time qualifiers Tony Madrigal and Anthony Mantanona, two-time qualifiers Joey Prata, Keegan Moore and Josh Heindselman, and first-time entrants Jacob Butler and Willie McDougald.

All ten Sooner wrestlers that competed in the 2022 Big 12 Championship stood on the podium at the end of the tournament, one at every weight class. Only Missouri and Iowa State were able to do the same. OU was powered to its second-place finish by having seven competitors finish higher than they were seeded entering the tournament.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

The championship is split over three days. The first three rounds will be split in accordance to weight class and the finals will be broadcast on ESPN on Saturday night.

Thursday, March 17
Session I - 11 a.m. CT - ESPNU
First Round
Session II - 6 p.m. CT - ESPN
Second Round and Consolation First Round
Friday, March 18
Session III - 10:00 a.m. CT - ESPNU
Quarterfinals and Consolation Second and Third
Session IV - 7:00 p.m. CT - ESPN
Semifinals and Consolation Fourth and Fifth

Saturday, March 19
Session VI - 10:00 a.m. CT - ESPNU
Consolations Semifinals and Medal Matches
Session VII - 6 p.m. CT - ESPN
Finals

FIRST-ROUND MATCHES

No. 19 Joey Prata vs. No. 14 Jakob Camacho (NCST)
No. 23 Tony Madrigal vs. No. 10 Chris Cannon (NW)
No. 30 Jacob Butler vs. No. 3 Sebastian Rivera (RUT)
No. 16 Willie McDougald vs. No. 17 Jarrett Degen (ISU)
No. 13 Justin Thomas vs. No. 20 Elijah Cleary (PITT)
No. 15 Anthony Mantanona vs. No. 18 Lance Runyon (UNI)
No. 27 Keegan Moore vs. No. 6 Trey Munoz (ORST)
No. 13 Jake Woodley vs. No. 20 Jacob Koser (NAVY)
No. 30 Josh Heindselman vs. No. 3 Tony Cassioppi (IOWA)

CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE

Since the inception of collegiate wrestling in 1928, Oklahoma has been one of the most dominant wrestling programs in the country. The Sooners have seven team national titles, 67 individual national champions and 277 All-Americans.

In addition to the Sooners' seven national championships, Oklahoma has finished as runner-up at NCAAs 12 times, third most in the country. The Sooners' 40 finishes inside the top four are the fourth-most nationally and OU has grabbed a top-10 spot at NCAAs 64 times (third most) out of 89 championships held.

The Sooners sit in second on the lists of total all-time participants (627) and total number of unseeded wrestlers to earn All-American status (15).

The NCAA named Oklahoma the fourth-greatest wrestling dynasty in the country in the summer of 2020.Oklahoma has collected 24 overall conference championships and 186 individual conference champions in school history. The team's most recent conference championship came in 2021 (pictured above), their first in 19 years.

POSTSEASON VETERANS

Rosselli brings seven wrestlers with NCAA Championships experience to Detroit.

Senior Jake Woodley became Oklahoma's 277th All-American at the NCAA Championships last season and is now a four-time NCAA qualifier alongside sixth-year senior Justin Thomas.

Anthony Mantanona is the team's other active All-American, having earned the title after the 2019-20 covid shortened season when he was named to NWCA All-American Second Team. He is a three-time NCAA qualifier alongside Tony Madrigal, who was an NWCA All-American Honorable Mention in 2020.

Transfers Joey Prata and Keegan Moore both earned their second career trips to NCAAs thanks to fourth place finishes in the Big 12 Championship. Prata last qualified in 2020 while at Virginia Tech. Moore made his breakthrough to nationals while at Oklahoma State during the 2017-18 season.

Prior to taking over at the helm of the Oklahoma program, head coach Lou Rosselli built his postseason credentials as an assistant coach. He helped deliver Ohio State its first team national championship in 2015 along with six individual national champions in his time there.

OU assistants Michael Lightner, Nick Heflin and Sam Hazewinkel all bring extensive postseason experience. Lightner (1998-2001) and Hazewinkel (2004-07) were both four-time All-Americans for the Sooners. Lightner claimed a national championship at 141 pounds his senior season in 2001 while Hazewinkel was a runner-up at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Heflin was a three-time All-American and a 2014 NCAA Runner-Up at 197 pounds.

26 TO All-AMERICAN

At the 2021 NCAA Wrestling Championships, Jake Woodley became the lowest-seeded wrestler in history to earn the title of All-American.

Tabbed as the No. 26 seed coming into the tournament, Woodley opened his week with back-to-back wins over top-10 seeds followed by a win over the No. 15 seed to punch his ticket to the national semifinals. The lowest seed to ever make it that far.

A No. 16 seed is the next lowest seed to wrestle their way to All-American status, which has happened on seven different occasions.

DON'T GET UPSET

Jacob Butler put together an impressive weekend at the Big 12 Championship to go from unseeded to an NCAA qualifier, resulting in a sixth-place finish.

He opened the tournament with a bang, knocking off the top seed in the 141 pound bracket in Iowa State's Ian Parker in a 7-4 decision. The win proved to be the biggest upset of the weekend as all nine of the other top seeds won their respective conference titles. Butler was the only unseeded wrestler to earn qualification in the Big 12 tournament.

THE SOONER STATE

Wrestlers from the state of Oklahoma have long set the benchmark for being the best in the country.

The Sooner state leads all other states (and foreign provinces or countries) in the total number of individual national champions, claiming 153 accounting for 17.8% of all individual champions. Oklahomans have also earned 559 All-American honors, good for second all-time behind Pennsylvania.

TOURNAMENT INFO

The championship will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, culminating with the finals live on ESPN on Saturday night. Fans can see when and what mat their favorite Sooner will compete on and then use the tournament hub to find the broadcast.

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