Sooners to Host Wyoming in Home Opener

NORMAN – The No. 22 Oklahoma wrestling team opens up its home slate on Saturday with a Big 12 showdown against Wyoming. The dual is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start time at McCasland Field House, and it will be streamed on ESPN+. The first 300 fans in attendance will receive a free Oklahoma wrestling t-shirt

SOONER QUICK HITTERS

The Oklahoma wrestling team (1-0, 1-0 Big 12) returns to Norman on Saturday, Nov. 23 for its home opener when they take on Wyoming (2-0) in a traditional 10-match dual. First bout is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT inside McCasland Field House, the official home to OU's home duals in the 2024-25 season for the 97th year.

Oklahoma opened its season with a 32-3 win over Air Force inside Clune Arena on Nov. 8. It marked OU's largest margin of victory in a dual match since blanking Little Rock, 37-0, on Nov. 18, 2022. The Sooners (1-0, 1-0 Big 12) won their first five matches to take an 18-0 lead in the dual, an advantage they would hold onto until the final whistle. Two of OU's nine wins on the evening came with bonus points. The night was highlighted by junior Willie McDougald's third period fall (6:04) and DJ Parker's tech fall (4:43).

In their last outing, Beric Jordan (125A), KJ Evans (149B), Landyn Sommer (157B) and Juan Mora (285A) led the way for the Sooners on Nov. 17 at the Warren Williamson Daktronics Invite in Brookings S.D., as each titled in their respective weight brackets and combined for a 12-0 record. At 285, Mora claimed two ranked victories in the top heavyweight bracket, winning by decision over No. 23 Bennett Tabor (Minnesota) and No. 25 Luke Rasmussen (South Dakota State). The junior rounded out his day with a major decision against Andrew Blackburn-Forst (North Dakota State).

YEAR 2 OF THE KISH ERA IN NORMAN

Roger Kish was named head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners on May 2, 2023 after spending 12 seasons as the head coach at North Dakota State.

Kish made quite a splash in his first season as Oklahoma's head coach in 2023-24, helping the Sooners secure their highest NCAA finish (23rd) in eight seasons. Additionally, Kish helped elevate Stephen Buchanan to All-American status for the third time in his career. Buchanan put together a dominant 27-3 season, finishing third at the NCAA Championships in the 197-pound bracket to become OU's highest NCAA finisher in eight seasons.

Kish had a 108-70 record in dual meets as the Bison head coach including a 50-30 record in conference duals, becoming the second winningest coach in program history, behind only the legendary Bucky Maughan who led the Bison to four NCAA Division II national championships.

Turning the Bison into consistent winners as a Big 12 affiliate program, Kish's teams had 54 NCAA championship qualifiers in his 12 seasons as head coach including 21 over his last four seasons. He had six wrestlers advance to earn All-America honors.

Kish directed the Bison to a pair of NCAA West Regional/ Western Wrestling Conference championships (2014, 2015) and two WWC regular season titles (2013, 2015). He was a three-time WWC Coach of the Year.

OU will look to continue adding to their rich wrestling history under Kish, which includes seven national championships, 24 conference titles and 278 All-Americans.

NEW FACES IN FAMILIAR PLACES

In the offseason, head coach Roger Kish added 17 newcomers to the roster, including three former NCAA qualifiers in seniors Gaven Sax (North Dakota State) and Cleveland Belton (Oregon State), as well as sophomore Bradley Hill (Iowa). Redshirt freshman Carter Schubert (Cal Baptist) rounds out the Sooners' incoming transfer additions. The group of transfers joined 13 incoming freshmen that made up Kish's first full recruiting class since being hired as Oklahoma's head coach. The 2024 class was rated No. 3 overall in the country, according to Intermat's final rankings big board.

Oklahoma's 2024 recruiting class included the nation's No. 16 pound-for-pound wrestler Beric Jordan and one of the top 145-pounders in Alex Braun of Woodbury, Minnesota per FloWrestling.

Jordan, a Stillwater High School product, was joined by five other in-state recruits that are all top-200 signees in Edmond North's Hunter Hollingsworth and Jude Randall, Bixby's Clay Giddens-Buttram, Stillwater's Landyn Summer and Piedmont's Cash Donnell.

Braun was joined by Owen Eck of Andale, Kansas and Koufax Christensen of Waukee, Iowa as the outof-state recruits for the 2024 cycle. Kish's first recruiting class boasted numerous all-area, all-state and All-America honors, as well as state championships.

SERIES HISTORY

In a series that dates back to 1955, Saturday's contest marks the 24th all-time between the Sooners and the Cowboys, with OU holding a 17-4-2 advantage. In the last meeting on Feb. 4, 2018, Wyoming downed Oklahoma, 26-9, as three Sooners claimed wins in the dual, coming at 125, 174 and 197 pounds.

SCOUTING THE COWBOYS

Wyoming returns three NCAA qualifiers fron last season. Jore Volk (125) is fresh off an All-American 2023-24 season that saw him finish seventh at the NCAA Championships after claiming a Big 12 title. He completed last season with a 27-8 overall record, which included a 15-8 mark against ranked competition. Gabe Willochell (149) and Joey Novak (197) are also back after NCAA Championship appearances and a pair of fourth-place finishes at the Big 12 Tournament. Willochell sprung two upsets at NCAAs and another at the conference tournament, ending the season with a 20-12 overall record and a 5-9 mark against ranked foes. Novak did the very same thing – two upset wins at NCAAs and another at the conference tourney – finishing at 24-15 overall and 9-13 versus ranked wrestlers.

Jared Hill (157), a two-time NCAA qualifier for the Sooners, makes his return to Norman. Hill amassed a 37-27 record while repping an OU singlet, including back-to-back sixth place finishes at the Big 12 Championships.

The Cowboys are led by Mark Branch who entered his 17th season at the helm of the Wyoming wrestling program in 2024-25. Branch has upped the profile of Wyoming wrestling since landing in Laramie, compiling an overall record of 141-88 and adding four Western Wrestling Conference crowns to his name.

SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS

Oklahoma enters its first home dual of the season as the No. 22-ranked team in the country, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

Projected starters Antonio Lorenzo, Cleveland Belton, Mosha Schwartz, Willie McDougald, Tate Picklo, Gaven Sax, DJ Parker, Bradley Hill and Juan Mora each made the latest Intermat rankings (Nov. 19) in their respective weight classes.

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 278 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 96 championships held.

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, their first in 19 years.

OU assistant Teyon Ware was a four-time All American wrestler for the Sooners from 2003-2006.

LEGENDS OF THE GAME

Oklahoma will honor its alumni during the intermission of their Bedlam dual against Oklahoma State on Dec. 13.

The Oklahoma wrestling program had six wrestlers named to FloWrestling's Top 100 American Wrestlers of All Time list in 2022.

Sooner legends Dave Schultz (No. 12), Mark Schultz (No. 13), Wayne Wells (No.20), Danny Hodge (No. 26), Melvin Douglas (No. 30) and Andre Metzger (No. 51) all found spots inside the top 100.

Oklahoma's five names inside the top-30 gave them more in that range than any other school in the country. The Sooners sit third among Division I programs in the total number of wrestlers ranked.

50TH ANNIVERSARY: CELEBRATING THE 1974 CHAMPION SOONERS

The 1974 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships were the 44th NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships to be held. Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa hosted the tournament at Hilton Coliseum.

Under legendary head coach Stan Abel, Oklahoma took home the team championship with 69.5 points and two individual champions (118 lbs: Gary Breece; 158 lbs: Rod Kilgore). The 1974 Championship remains OU's last team title win.

The first Sooner wrestler to become a four-time All-American, Breece capped his career by winning the 1974 NCAA title at 118-pounds with a tense, lowscoring 3-2 victory over Jack Spates of Slippery Rock. Ironically, Spates would later become OU's head coach from 1994-2011. A two-time national finalist and two-time Big Eight Champion, Breece was a crafty, hardworking wrestler with solid offense and good defense. While in high school, Breece was a two-time Oklahoma state champion. He won his first title for Edmond Memorial in 1968 and his second for Tulsa Memorial in 1969.

As a wrestler at OU, Kilgore was a four-time All-American, won two Big Eight conference titles and two NCAA championships. He was the first OU wrestler to win 100 matches.

Projected Starters (Rankings by (InterMat)
	No. 22 Oklahoma
Weight	Wrestler	Record
125	No. 29 Antonio Lorenzo or Beric Jordan	2-2 / 4-0
133	No. 18 Cleveland Belton	1-0
141	No. 14 Mosha Schwartz	1-0
149	No. 21 Willie McDougald or John Wiley	3-1 / 1-2
157	Carter Schubert	3-1
165	No. 31 Tate Picklo or John Wiley	2-1 / 1-2
174	No. 8 Gaven Sax	1-0
184	No. 24 DJ Parker	3-1
197	No. 31 Bradley Hill	2-2
HWT	No. 24 Juan Mora	4-0
Wyoming
Wt.	Wrestler	Record
125	No. 2 Jore Volk	1-0
133	Stockton O'Brien or Davis Saenz	1-0 / 0-0
141	No. 27 Cole Brooks	1-0
149	No. 19 Gabe Willochell	0-1
157	No. 22 Jared Hill	1-0
165	Cooper Voorhees	1-0
174	Quayin Short or Brett McIntosh	0-0 / 0-1
184	Eddie Neitenbach	1-0
197	No. 16 Joey Novak	1-0
HWT	Kevin Zimmer	0-1

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