Oklahoma Wrestling was powered by a strong second-place finish at the end of the first day at the 2022 Big 12 Wrestling Championships. Seven bonus-point wins propelled the Sooners to 61 team points in the second season and gave them 93.5 points overall. They are behind Missouri (109.5 points) and 3.5 points behind third-place Oklahoma State (90 points).
"This evening's round was really good," said OU head coach Lou Rosselli. "We qualified a bunch of people for the national players which is the most important part of the tournament. We still have 10 people in the mix, which is great. There are a lot of ups and downs from day one, but it's a tribute. There are kids who really want to be successful, who want to go to national tournaments and give themselves a chance to be national champions. They fought that adversity. Hopefully there will be a lot more highs than lows."
Ten OU wrestlers remain in the fight for the second day of the conference championship, more than any team in the league. Front-runner Missouri has eight remaining wrestlers while third-placed Oklahoma State has six.
Eight Sooners punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, already the most in the Rosalie era with two more weight classes still to be decided. Joy Prata, Tony Madrigal, Jacob Butler, Willie MacDougald, Justin Thomas, Anthony Mantanona, Jake Woodley and Josh Heindselman all booked trips to Detroit after the first day of competition. Joe Grillo and Keegan Moore will have a chance to earn their spot tomorrow.
Leading the pack for OU is redshirt freshman phenom Willie MacDougald, the lone finalist for Oklahoma. Added to the lineup less than two months ago at a 149-pounder, the Niagara Falls native is exceeding all expectations. The No. 2 seed in the tournament won both his matches on Saturday; 3 seed Jarrett Degan of Iowa State, who booked his spot in the finals.
At age 125, redshirt senior Joey Prata defeated No. 2 seed Taylor Lamont of Utah Valley to reach the semifinals of the championship, the previous season's All-America. Prata, however, skipped his semifinal match and will wrestle in a rematch with Northern Colorado's Jess Koelzer starting tomorrow. Prata defeated Koelzer 3-2 earlier this season.
Justin Thomas, the other championship semifinalist for OU, was in the 157-pound bracket. The sixth-year-old advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-2 win over longtime rival Wyatt Sheets of Bedlam. The win broke the all-time tie between the two, giving Thomas a 4–3 advantage in his career on the Sheets.
At 133 pounds, 2021 Big 12 finalist Toni Madrigal went 3-1 on the day, with two of her victories coming as major decisions. They won their matches at an average of seven points.
At 141 pounds, Jacob Butler wasted no time making an appearance at the BOK Center. In his opening match, the Elgin, Okla., product defeated Iowa State's No. 1 seed Ian Parker 7–4 in a decisive victory. It was the only instance on a day of trouble for the No. 1 seed, as all nine other top seeds made it to the final of the championship. Butler lost his next match, including one fall, before scoring two more wins to earn his first career trip to the NCAA Championship.
Joe Grello went 3-1 on the day at 165 pounds, his only loss coming against No. 1 seed and No. 2 Missouri's Keegan O'Toole. Grello's final win of the day came against SDSU's Tanner Cook, whom Grello has now defeated three times this season. The graduate sits just one win shy of transfer qualifying and will face North Iowa's Austin Yunt on Sunday morning with that coveted spot on the line.
Redshirt senior Anthony Mantanona made a good comeback from an early-round loss in the 174-pound bracket to make it to the consolation semi-finals. He scored bonus points for the Sooners in a massive 11-2 decision over Jackson Hemauer of Northern Colorado.
Returning to the Big 12 Championship after a four-year hiatus, 184-pounder Keegan Moore upset No. 3 seed Tate Samuelson of Wyoming in his final match of the day to survive a battle to travel to Detroit. Moore will have a rematch with Oklahoma State's Dakota Geer on Sunday afternoon, whom she upset two weeks earlier at Stillwater, with the winner claiming an automatic bid to the NCAA.
In 197, All-American Jake Woodley started his post season with a 23-8 (7:00) take fall win over OSU's Gavin Stika. He lost in the next round, but returned with two more wins to continue wrestling on Sunday.
Heavyweight Josh Hendselman lost his opening match when he faced top seed Wyatt Hendrickson of the Air Force, but responded with victories over Tyrell Gordon of UNI and No. 5 seed Michael Wolfgram of West Virginia on several occasions. earned his second straight NCAA qualification. ,