(RENO, Nevada / December 20, 2018) – Oklahoma State wrestlers earned twelve top-four finishes at the 23rd Reno Tournament of Champions on Thursday with seven bringing home top honors. The Cowboys sent 24 competitors to the event with four wrestling unattached. The No. 3 Cowboys outscored second-place finisher Michigan State, 204.5-150.5.


“Some of them looked tough and good wrestling,” said coach John Smith. “It helps us evaluate. I think we saw some guys who looked pretty good, pretty sharp, pretty physical. I thought Daton Fix looked solid. Kaden Gfeller stretched his scores out. Chandler Rogers didn’t have much in his bracket but just tore through it.”

 

Chandler Rogers dominated the 165-pound bracket, notching falls in four of his five bouts, including a 2:04 pin in the finals over Ryan Niven of Grandview. Nick Piccininni was also lethal at 125 pounds, earning three technical falls and a pin on the day. He defeated Michigan State’s RayVon Foley, 4-1, in the finals. Piccininni remains undefeated this season and has garnered five technical falls to date.

 

Also earning first place for OSU was 133-pound Daton Fix. The Cowboy won a first-round technical fall before advancing to the quarterfinals due to an opponent’s disqualification. He won another technical fall before collecting a major decision in the semifinals. The redshirt freshman won his finals match, 10-4, over Anthony Tutolo of Michigan State.

 

Kaden Gfeller won his second open tournament of the year and first at 149 pounds, defeating teammate Dusty Hone, 13-5, in the 149-pound finals. Gfeller won each of his six matches with bonus points, collecting three technical falls, two pins and a major. Hone won a major and pair of decisions before running into Gfeller. Dakota Geer finished on top at 197 pounds with a 5-4 decision over Wyoming’s Cale Davidson. Geer recorded two falls and a technical fall 

 

Joe Smith wrestled for the first time in more than a year at 174 pounds where he notched three technical falls, a fall and a major decision. He and Jacobe Smith reached the finals match in their bracket bud did not wrestled and tied for first place. Jacobe Smith won a pair of major decisions and falls before reaching the finals.

 

“I thought Joe wrestled pretty well for it being a year since he wrestled last … just a lot of aggression. Jacobe seemed to have slow first periods, then in the second and third periods really picked it up.” 

 

Freshman Anthony Montalvo ultimately finished fourth at 184 after collecting four decisions and falling short in the semifinals to the eventual runner-up. Montalvo lost the third-place bout, 4-1, to Tate Samuelson, who was competing unattached as well. Jonce Blaylock also reached the finals for OSU but came up short against Stanford All-American Paul Fox. Kaid Brock dropped his semifinals bout with Sam Turner of Wyoming, 5-4, but came back to win a 21-5 technical fall in the third-place bout with Brody Lamb (unattached).

 

Derek White put an exclamation point on the Cowboys’ tournament win with a 6-2 decision over Wyoming’s Brian Andrews. After going 70 matches without a pin, White collected first fall against Oklahoma, and his second and third career falls came in the opening rounds of action. He also won a major decision in the semifinals.

 

“I don’t think I’m totally satisfied, but I think we got a lot of information that we can take and continue to try and develop,” Smith said.

 

 

Reno Tournament of Champions

1st Place

125: Nick Piccininni (1st)

133: Daton Fix (1st), Andrew Nieman (DNP)

141: Kaid Brock (3rd), Mike Magaldo (DNP)

149: Kaden Gfeller (1st), Dusty Hone (2nd)

157: Jonce Blaylock (2nd), Andrew Shomers (DNP), Wyatt Sheets (DNP)

165: Chandler Rogers (1st), Colton Denney (DNP)*, Wes Ahrberg (DNP)*

174: Jacobe Smith (1st-Tie), Joe Smith (1st-Tie), Christian Bahl (DNP), Travis Wittlake (DNP)*

184: Anthony Montalvo (4th)*, Bear Hughes (DNP)

197: Dakota Geer (1st), Andrew Marsden (DNP), Austin Harris (DNP)

HWT: Derek White (1st), Cornelius Putnam (DNP)

*Indicates unattached wrestler