Fix Places 4th, Plott Takes 6th At NCAA Championships

Oklahoma State's two All-Americans for the 2022-23 season earned their placements on Saturday morning as Daton Fix took fourth place at 133 pounds and Dustin Plott finished sixth at 174 pounds. 

Both Cowboys began their mornings in the consolation semifinals with a chance to advance to the third-place match. Fix defeated Minnesota's eighth-seeded Aaron Nagao, 6-4, while Plott fell to third-seeded Mekhi Lewis, 8-2.

Fix moved on to the third-place match where he met No. 4 seed Michael McGee of Arizona State. After a scoreless first period, McGee got on the board with an escape in the second period. McGee rode Fix enough in the third period to earn a riding time point, which proved to be the difference in the match, after a late reversal attempt from Fix was denied after a challenge by Oklahoma State. The 2-1 loss for Fix ended his season with a record of 30-2, which included his fourth Big 12 championship and fourth All-America finish, while also surpassing 100 career wins. 

In the fifth-place match at 174 pounds, Plott and Iowa's Nelson Brands went to sudden victory tied at 2 in their second meeting of the season. Brands scored a takedown in the first overtime period to take the match 4-2. Plott finished his junior season with a 25-7 record, his second Big 12 championship and his second consecutive sixth-place finish. 

Oklahoma State currently sits in 18th place with 28.5 points after the Cowboys' wrapped up their tournament in the morning session and are without a finalist for the first time since 2018.

"I have to analyze everything by a season," head coach John Smith said. "I recognize my student-athletes wrestled hard and worked hard this season. It wasn't a lack of effort or wanting. I thought we wrestled a little tight. It seemed like we got here and guys wrestled tight when you have no room to wrestle tight. It's not good when you're ranked 15th and 20th, you have to have performances. I want to recognize these guys for working hard and really giving the effort to put ourselves in a position to have a lot better tournament than we had."

The 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships will conclude with the championship round on Saturday night beginning at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.