Wrestling Hosts Central Michigan on Friday

NORMAN – The No. 21 Oklahoma wrestling team (2-0, 2-0 Big 12) continues its home slate on Friday with a non-conference dual against Central Michigan (0-1, 0-0 MAC) . The dual is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. CT start time at McCasland Field House, and it will be streamed on ESPN+.

SOONER QUICK HITTERS

The No. 21 Oklahoma wrestling team (2-0, 2-0 Big 12) returns to Norman on Friday, Dec. 6 when they take on Central Michigan (0-1, 0-0 MAC) in a non-conference dual. First bout is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT inside McCasland Field House, the official home to OU's home duals in the 2024-25 season for the 97th year.

In their last outing, the team picked up its second Big 12 victory in the Sooners' home opener, topping Wyoming 27-6 on Nov. 23 inside McCasland Field House. The afternoon was highlighted by a pair of dramatic finishes, including a sudden victory win by junior Willie McDougald and a last second takedown by Tate Picklo which delivered three team points for the Sooners. At 125 pounds, senior Antonio Lorenzo notched a 3-2 upset victory over No. 2 Jore Volk to set the tone for the rest of the match.

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 won their first five matches to take an 18-0 lead in the dual, an advantage they would hold on to 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).

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 1995, Friday's contest marks the 8th all-time between the Sooners and the Chippewas, with OU holding a 6-1 advantage. In the last meeting on Nov. 9, 2023, Oklahoma downed Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant, 29-11, as five of OU's seven wins came with bonus points.

SCOUTING THE CHIPPEWAS

Central Michigan returned two NCAA qualifiers from last season – Alex Cramer (174 pounds) and Johnny Lovett (157 pounds). The Chippewas returned six others who placed at the MAC Championships in 2024.

CMU is led by first-year head coach Ben Bennett, a four-time All-American as a Chippewa wrestler from 2010- 13. Bennett succeeded legendary coach Tom Borrelli, one of the most highly respected names in collegiate wrestling who led the Chippewas to unprecedented success over 33 seasons.

MR. TONE SETTER

Oklahoma's Antonio Lorenzo earned Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors, the Big 12 office announced on Nov. 27.

It was the first Big 12 weekly accolade for the senior from Antelope, Calif., who set the tone early for Oklahoma in their home opener on Nov. 23 with a 3-2 upset of Wyoming's No. 2 Jore Volk. Trailing 1-0 late in the third period, Lorenzo landed a takedown with 58 seconds left to knock off the 2024 All-American.The two-time national qualifier improved his dual record to 2-0 (3-2 overall) on the season.

It marked the 53rd time that an Oklahoma wrestler has won a weekly Big 12 honor. Lorenzo, who is pursuing a Masters of Business Administration, became the first Sooner to win the award since Tony Madrigal took home the accolade on Nov. 9, 2021.

SOONERS IN THE RANKINGS

Oklahoma enters its second home dual of the season as the No. 21-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 and Flowrestling rankings (Dec. 3) 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. 21 Oklahoma
Weight	Wrestler	Record
125	No. 27 Antonio Lorenzo or Beric Jordan	3-2 / 6-0
133	No. 17 Cleveland Belton	2-0
141	No. 14 Mosha Schwartz	2-0
149	No. 18 Willie McDougald or John Wiley	4-1 / 1-2
157	Carter Schubert	3-2
165	No. 32 Tate Picklo or Mannix Morgan	3-1 / 0-1
174	No. 7 Gaven Sax	2-0
184	No. 25 DJ Parker	4-1
197	No. 29 Bradley Hill	2-3
HWT	No. 24 Juan Mora	5-0
Central Michigan
Wt.	Wrestler	Record
125	Kaden Chinavare or Grant Stahl	4-5 / 2-5
133	Sean Spidle	3-4
141	Kellan Aure or Colin Kacena	3-2
149	Mason Shrader	6-1
157	No. 17 Johnny Lovett	7-2
165	Chandler Amaker	5-3
174	No. 17 Alex Cramer or Mason Alessio	5-0 / 5-3
184	Adrien Cramer	4-3
197	Luke Cochran or Cameron Wood	5-3 / 3-4
HWT	No. 25 Bryan Caves	5-2

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