Despite good overall performances, the men’s wrestling team struggled against three ranked conference opponents this weekend.
On Friday, Feb. 10, the Pokes traveled to Oklahoma to compete in a double-header dual against #17 Oklahoma and #1 Oklahoma State, where they fell 19-18 to OU and 32-3 to OSU.
“I can’t imagine things going better than they did to begin with against Oklahoma,” head coach Mark Branch said. “We still needed to do something in those upper weights. It’s pretty tough to have a top-20 team on the ropes like that and not come away with the upset.”
Starting the day off against Oklahoma, the Pokes did well in the lower weight classes, with #14 ranked Drew Templeman winning by decision in the 125-weight class, Gunnar Woodburn winning by decision in overtime in the 133 class, and 8th ranked Bryce Meredith winning by pin in the 141 class. Archie Colgan and #16 Branson Ashworth both won their matches by decision, and the Pokes took five out of the six five matches to gain an early commanding 15-3 lead over OU. Oklahoma came back strong in the upper weight classes, winning the last four bouts and narrowly gaining the lead at 19-18 and winning the dual.
“I was proud of the efforts from Drew (Templeman), Gunnar (Woodburn), Bryce (Meredith), Archie (Colgan) and Branson (Ashworth). Cole (Mendenhall) fought hard as well,” Branch said. Although we couldn’t come away with the win, there was no doubt a number of positives from that dual.”
Later that day, the Pokes had a tough matchup against #1 nationally ranked Oklahoma State, who had wrestlers taking up six of the top ten nationally ranked spots.
The Pokes only gained one win throughout the matches, with Colgan winning by decision against OSU’s Davey Dolan. Meredith was matched up against #1 overall Dein Heil in a rematch of last year’s NCAA championship title bout, and narrowly lost in a 7-5 decision. The Pokes fell to OSU 32-3.
“Against Oklahoma State, I thought we did fight hard,” Branch said. “In duals like that, we find out a lot about the individuals. We understood coming in how tough it would be. I don’t think we were intimidated as we showed that we did wrestle hard and physical.”
On Sunday, Feb. 12, Wyoming hosted Big-12 rival North Dakota State on Senior Day and its last matchup of the season. NDSU came to Laramie ranked 25th overall.
The Pokes started with a decision win by Kyle Pope in the 174-weight class, but lost the next five matches, bringing the score to 21-3 in favor of NDSU. Meredith gained a decisive win against his opponent when he took him down by pin early in the first period.
Despite decision wins by Mendenhall and Ashworth, the Pokes were unable to close the gap and finished the season with a 24-16 loss to NDSU. This loss brought their record to 7-8 overall and 4-4 in the Big-12 conference.
Next up for the Pokes will be the Big-12 Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Mar. 4th and 5th. Then the NCAA tournament is set for March 16-18 in St. Louis, Missouri.
“We can still have a good showing [at the Big-12 tournament] and at the NCAA tournament as well,” Branch said. “We have guys that, if they believe in themselves and they continue to get better over the next three to five weeks, they can get on the podium there and score points for us. We still have a team that’s capable of doing well at the end.”
Tough weekend matchups for UW wrestling
