No. 1 Cowboys Hit The Road To Matchup With No. 7 Missouri, Conference Foe Iowa State

<p>The top-ranked and undefeated Oklahoma State wrestling team heads back on the road this weekend to match up with a pair of familiar foes.&nbsp;</p>

Wednesday, January 25th 2017, 4:43 pm

By: News On 6


The top-ranked and undefeated Oklahoma State wrestling team heads back on the road this weekend to match up with a pair of familiar foes. The Cowboys (8-0, 3-0 Big 12) open the road trip with a top-10 battle against No. 7 Missouri in Columbia, Mo., Friday at 7 p.m. The team then heads to Ames, Iowa for a contest against Big 12 opponent Iowa State at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Watch the Cowboys

Fans can catch Friday's dual with the Tigers live on ESPN3 with Beau Baehman and Mavrick Alexander on the call. Sunday's matchup with the Cyclones can be streamed on cyclones.com/watch.

Live Stats and Play-By-Play

Fans can follow the action online through live results and play-by-play on www.trackwrestling.com. Simply go to the site and the link to live results and play-by-play will be prominently displayed.

Listen to the Dual Live

Fans can listen to both duals live on 93.7 KSPI-FM or okstate.com with Rex Holt and Roger Moore on the call.

About the Cowboys

Oklahoma State has proven itself one of the deepest lineups in the country thus far into the 2016-17 campaign. This much was to be expected heading into the season, as head coach John Smith returned 2016 NCAA Champion at 141 pounds Dean Heil, along with All-Americans Nolan Boyd, Anthony Collica and Joe Smith from an NCAA Runner-Up finish at the NCAA Championships in Madison Square Garden last spring. The Cowboys also return valuable experience in 2015 All-American Kyle Crutchmer, who has also been a major contributor in the Cowboy lineup as a senior after returning from an injury that cut short his junior season.

While the Cowboy roster certainly boasts its fair share of proven talent, the emergence of "young guns" Kaid Brock, Chandler Rogers, Preston Weigel and Nick Piccininni has been a welcome development for Smith and his staff. Meanwhile, senior heavyweight Austin Schafer has come on well in his final run as a Cowboy, knocking off five ranked opponents on his way to his current 16-1 mark this season.

The Cowboys have started the 2016-17 campaign off strong, opening with an 8-0 record for the first time since 2012-13. OSU enters this weekend looking to build off a pair of routs over Big 12 opponents West Virginia and South Dakota State.

Depth has been a major storyline for the Cowboys this season as the team broke tournament records for team points scored and margin of victory at the Southern Scuffle earlier this month. The win followed up a team win at the Reno Tournament of Champions, despite no Cowboy starters making the trip to Reno.

Along with Smith, who enters his 26th season at the helm of the Oklahoma State wrestling program, the Cowboys are led by associate head coaches Eric Guerrero and Zack Esposito, along with volunteer assistant coach Chris Perry.

In the Polls

The Cowboys enter this weekend's tournament ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll and second in the Intermat Dual Meet Rankings.

Individually, Oklahoma State has all 10 starters ranked in each of the four major national polls. Returning NCAA Champion 141-pounder Dean Heil remains slotted at No. 1 in all four major polls. Aside from Heil, eight other Cowboys received top-eight rankings from Intermat, including Kaid Brock (133, No. 3), Anthony Collica (149, No. 2), Joe Smith (157, No. 5), Chandler Rogers (165, No. 6), Kyle Crutchmer (174, No. 8), Nolan Boyd (184, No. 6) and Preston Weigel (197, No. 8) and Austin Schafer (HWT, No. 6). At 125 pounds, Nick Piccininni is ranked No. 12 by Intermat.

Series Notes: Missouri

• Friday's dual will mark the 48th meeting in the series between OSU and Missouri, which dates all the way back to 1929. The Cowboys are 41-6-1 in the previous contests.

• The Cowboys won the first dual in the series, 30-0, in Stillwater.

• OSU is 15-2-1 all-time in Columbia, most recently dropping a 22-10 contest at Kearnes Arena in 2015.

• The Cowboys won the last dual in the series, 23-9, in Stillwater in 2016.

• Head coach John Smith is 22-6-1 against the Tigers.

Series Notes: Iowa State

• Friday's dual will mark the 81st meeting in the series between OSU and Iowa State, which dates all the way back to 1921. The Cowboys are 57-20-3 in the previous contests.

• The Cyclones took the first dual in the series, 37-9, in Ames.

• OSU is 21-12-2 all-time in Ames, most recently taking a 20-15 contest at Hilton Coliseum in 2015.

• The Cowboys have won nine straight over the Cyclones

• Head coach John Smith is 23-7 against the Cyclones.

 Last Time Out

The top-ranked and undefeated Oklahoma State wrestling team picked up its eighth win of the season Sunday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena, moving to 3-0 in Big 12 action with a 31-9 rout of 19th-ranked South Dakota State.

The Cowboys earned five bonus-point victories in the win, including technical falls from redshirt freshman Nick Piccininni, senior Anthony Collica and senior Nolan Boyd, who tallied the 100th win of his career. Senior Austin Schafer ended the match with an exclamation point, pinning Jackrabbit Alex Macki in the first period.

Jan. 22, 2017  |  Gallagher-Iba Arena  |  Stillwater, Okla.

125: No. 11 Nick Piccininni (OSU) TF Ben Gillette (SDSU) 15-0 (3:47)

133: No. 7 Seth Gross (SDSU) dec. No. 2 Kaid Brock (OSU) 6-4

141: No. 1 Dean Heil (OSU) MD Isaac Andrade (SDSU) 9-0

149: No. 2 Anthony Collica (OSU) TF No. 20 Alex Kocer (SDSU) 23-8

157: No. 6 Joe Smith (OSU) dec. Logan Peterson (SDSU) 10-3

165: No. 6 Chandler Rogers (OSU) dec. Luke Zilverberg (SDSU) 8-3

174: No. 20 David Kocer (SDSU) dec. No. 5 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) 7-2

184: No. 6 Nolan Boyd (OSU) TF Martin Mueller (SDSU) 18-2

197: No. 8 Nate Rotert (SDSU) dec. No. 4 Preston Weigel (OSU) 3-1, SV1

HWT: No. 7 Austin Schafer (OSU) fall Alex Macki (SDSU) 2:46

1-2-3 Punch

While the Cowboys' lineup is littered with elite talent from top to bottom, one would have a hard time finding a more devastating stretch for opponents in any lineup than the one-two-three punch packed by Kaid Brock (133), Dean Heil (141) and Anthony Collica (149).

This season, the Cowboy trio has combined for a 45-1 record with a 22-1 mark in duals with a 16-1 mark against ranked opponents.

Streaking Cowboys

While Oklahoma State finds itself on an eight-match win streak with 11 consecutive wins at Gallagher-Iba Arena, a handful of Cowboy grapplers are on hot streaks as well.

 At 141 pounds, NCAA Champion Dean Heil boasts the longest active win streak among Cowboy starters, having won 26-straight matches dating back to last season. Senior Anthony Collica finds himself piling up wins as well with 12-straight to open the season.

Welcome to the 100 Club

Cowboy senior Nolan Boyd became the program's newest member of the 100-win club last Sunday with an 18-2 technical fall over Martin Mueller of South Dakota State. With the win, Boyd moved to 100-33 for his career in Stillwater, becoming the 40th Cowboy in program history to reach the century mark.

Senior Anthony Collica, who currently owns 98 career wins to go against 29 losses, appears to be on track to join the club as well.

Can't Stop Schafer

After senior heavyweight Austin Schafer pinned South Dakota State's Alex Macki last weekend, head coach John Smith referred to him as "King Kong".

After making the move to heavyweight for his senior campaign despite competing at 197 pounds for the previous three years of his career, Schafer has proved himself in the new class. Schafer has racked up a

16-1 record with 10 bonus point wins thus far into his senior season. With a combined 0-9 mark against ranked foes during his first three seasons in Stillwater, the Cowboy heavyweight has also beaten five ranked opponents this year, with three of those wins coming in the top 10.

In an impressive win at the Southern Scuffle, Schafer made the OSU record books when he dropped 11th-ranked Jared Johnson of Chattanooga for a fall in only 18 seconds for the 17th-fastest pin in Cowboy wrestling history.

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