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February 23, 2013

Oklahoma State wrestlers split at National Duals

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Oklahoma State wrestling team finished second at the NWCA National Duals, defeating Missouri, 22-9, in the semifinals before being delivered its first loss of the season by No. 4 Minnesota, 28-9, on Saturday at the Williams Center.

“It was a tough match tonight,” coach John Smith said. “It didn’t seem like anything went right for us. The one thing I take from this is that it doesn’t get any harder than that. It was a tough environment. We had a lot of wrestling and traveling in the last seven days, and that made it tougher. We just have to grow from this.”

The Cowboys (17-1) gave up 16 bonus points in the form of two pins and a major decision, which gave the Golden Gophers the upper hand.

Wins for the Pokes came at 149, 157 and 165 pounds. Jordan Oliver had a fit with No. 11 Dylan Ness, but finished with a 6-4 decision, giving the Cowboys their first points of the dual. Alex Dieringer scored a takedown and an escape to defeat Danny Zilverberg, 3-1, and Tyler Caldwell was stopped just shy of a major decision that would have tied up the team score. He defeated 14th-ranked Cody Yohn, 7-2.

The Gophers controlled the rest of the dual, with No. 1 Logan Storley picking up a defensive fall over No. 2 Chris Perry in a tiebreaker, and No. 2 Tony Nelson pinning third-ranked Alan Gelogaev in the second period.

There were close battles fought at 133 and 184 pounds as Jon Morrison lost a 4-2 heartbreaker in the second tiebreaker to No. 7 Chris Dardanes. Chris Chionuma controlled his match against fifth-ranked Kevin Steinhaus, but was taken down with 10 seconds left in the match, losing 4-3.

In their first match of the day, the Cowboys met up with former Big 12 foe No. 6 Missouri for the second time within a month, delivering a 22-9 beating, which sent them to the finals. The dual featured a couple of upsets from No. 6 Morrison and Gelogaev, both avenging losses from earlier in the season.

Morrison took on No. 4 Nathan McCormick, where he emerged with the 5-1 victory. Gelogaev knocked off top-ranked Dom Bradley, scoring an early takedown that gave him the advantage throughout the match en route to a 4-3 win.

Perry also got a second shot against No. 13 Todd Porter, who handed Perry his first loss of the season in early February. Perry took the match this time with a 3-2 decision over Porter.

Oliver scored the only bonus points against Missouri, defeating No. 14 Drake Houdashelt, 15-5.

The Cowboys return to action on March 8 as they take on West Virginia, Iowa State and Oklahoma in the Big 12 dual finals, hosted in Stillwater, Okla.

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