Wrestling Starts Season at Air Force

Friday, November 8

USAF Academy, CO | Clune Arena

9 PM

University of Oklahoma

Air Force

November 07, 2024 | Wrestling

Oklahoma Notes Watch Live Stats

By: OU Athletics Communications

NORMAN – The No. 22 Oklahoma wrestling team kicks off the 2024-25 season on Friday with a Big 12 clash at Air Force. The dual is slated for a 9 p.m. start time at Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., and it will be streamed on FloWrestling.

SOONER QUICK HITTERS

The Sooners return to the mat for the first time since last March when they travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., to take on Air Force in a traditional 10-match dual inside Clune Arena.

The Sooners, ranked No. 22 in the NWCA Coaches Poll, return one NCAA qualifier from last season in junior Willie McDougald. A total of five Sooners qualified for the tournament, concluding head coach Roger Kish's first season at OU.

Oklahoma's 2023-24 season ended with an All-American for the first time since 2021 at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City, Mo. Former Sooner Stephen Buchanan finished third in the 197-pound bracket, capping a six-win weekend by knocking off Big 12 Champion Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State by decision, 6-2. In the third place bout, Buchanan cruised to a 9-4 win over Cornell's No. 5 Jason Cardenas to become Oklahoma's 278th All-American. The Sooners' 278 All-America honors are the fourth-most nationally. Additionally, Buchanan became OU's highest NCAA finisher since Cody Brewer, who also took third place in 2016.

As a team, the Sooners finished with 20 points and a share of 23rd place to secure their highest NCAA finish since ending the 2016 tournament in 13th place.

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 will join 13 incoming freshmen that make 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 includes 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, is 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 is 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 boasts numerous all-area, all-state and All-America honors, as well as state championships.

SERIES HISTORY

The Sooners last met the Falcons on Feb. 14, 2020 in Norman.

Oklahoma used three major decisions and wins from all five of its ranked wrestlers to defeat Air Force, 24-10, inside McCasland Field House.

OU leads the all-time series between these two programs 5-0, with the first three duals between the sides taking place between 1969-1972.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS

Air Force returns three wrestlers with dual lineup experience in Bubba Wright, Jack Ganos, and Gage Musser. Joining the veterans is four freshmen in Carter Nogle, EJ Beloncik, Andrew Harmon, and Brian Burburija. Gavin Caprella and Antonio Ramos, who have both seen dual action for the Falcons, represent the sophomore class, while Alec Viduya, Ganos and Musser represent the senior leaders.

The Falcons are led by Sam Barber who enters his 11th season at the helm of the Air Force wrestling program in 2024-25. Before taking over the head coaching position, Barber spent the previous five years as a full-time assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, marking 17 seasons of coaching experience at the Academy.Barber has led Falcons to two top-25 NCAA team finishes, two NCAA Div. I All-American honors, 31 National Qualifiers, two Big 12 Champions, and 38 Big 12 medalists.

SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS

Oklahoma enters its first dual action 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. 5) 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. 30 Antonio Lorenzo	0-0
133	No. 16 Cleveland Belton	0-0
141	No. 18 Mosha Schwartz	0-0
149	No. 21 Willie McDougald	0-0
157	Carter Schubert	0-0
165	No. 29 Tate Picklo	0-0
174	No. 9 Gaven Sax	0-0
184	No. 26 DJ Parker	0-0
197	No. 23 Bradley Hill	0-0
HWT	No. 31 Juan Mora	0-0
Air Force
Wt.	Wrestler	Record
125	Robert Wright	3-1
133	Gavin Caprella	3-2
141	Carter Nogle	0-1
149	Alec Viduya	3-2
157	EJ Beloncik	1-2
165	Andrew Harmon	3-2
174	Jack Ganos	3-1
184	Gage Musser	1-2
197	.Brian Burburija	4-1
HWT	Antonio Ramos	4-1

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