(UW Media Relations Photo)
The Wyoming wrestling team recently competed at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships this past weekend, as the team placed eighth of 12 teams at the event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Cowboys were highlighted by Eddie Neitenbach at 184 pounds and Joey Novak at 197 pounds, as the pair both finished as runner-ups at their respective weights. Both were defeated by the top ranked wrestlers in the tournament at each spot, as Neitenbach was bested by Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair in an 8-1 decision and Novak was barely edged by Iowa State’s Rocky Elam in a 5-4 decision.
Head coach Mark Branch said it was the little things that ultimately led Neitenbach and Novak to second-place finishes – something they can easily fix if they are to find themselves against the same opponents in the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championship bracket.
“In those finals matches, those guys wrestled really hard, but we exposed our legs. You have to have better head and hand defense to not let those guys touch your legs. Those are adjustments we have to make. Like anything else, this is a learning experience. It gives us a lot of information, and that’s the most important thing,” Branch said in a UW athletics press release.
The Cowboys saw no other wrestlers reach a title match, as both Sloan Swann at 165 pounds and Gabe Willochell at 149 pounds capped off their championship runs with fifth place finishes.
Swann lost in the upper-bracket quarterfinals before making a run in the consolation bracket, eventually falling in the consolation semifinals to fifth ranked Connor Euton from Iowa State. Swann would manage to take the fifth-place match by upsetting eight ranked Marcus Espinoza-Owens of South Dakota State.
Willochell followed a similar path, as he was dropped in the quarterfinals by top ranked Casey Swiderski of Iowa State before battling in the consolation bracket where he’d eventually propel himself to a fifth place finish after upsetting fourth ranked Max Petersen of North Dakota State.
“We had some guys that were really gritty. Gabe did what he had to do, and that was an impressive win for him today,” Branch said in a UW press release. “For Sloan, after coming out and not wrestling the way I wanted to see him wrestle, for him to flip that switch and get a big win was huge.”
Riley Davis placed sixth at 174 pounds, as he was eyeing a consolation bracket run before having to medically forfeit his final two matches after injuring his knee.
Jared Hill was the final Cowboy to place at the event, as he finished in eighth at 157 pounds.
Despite both being ranked within the top eight of both of their respective weights, Luke Willochell and Christian Carrol were unable to place as both wrestlers recorded a 1-2 record at the event.
Six Cowboys were then announced Tuesday to compete in the NCAA Championships. Novak, Neitenbach, Gabe Willochell and Davis were all rewarded with automatic bids for their placements during the Big 12 Championships. Despite their disappointing finishes at the Big 12 Championships, Luke Willochell and Carrol were both allotted at-large bids to compete at the NCAA Championships. The Cowboys’ six championship contenders mark the most qualifiers the program has had to the NCAA championships since 2021.
As of the time of writing, the NCAA Championship field had not yet been seeded.
