NCAA wrestling championships: OSU's Daton Fix upset in semis, Dustin Plott stays live

TULSA — Daton Fix’s NCAA Championship pursuit ended a night earlier than he hoped.

The Oklahoma State redshirt senior, wrestling 10 minutes from his hometown of Sand Springs, was upset in the 133-pound semifinals at the BOK Center on Friday night.

Third-seeded Vito Arujau of Cornell piled on points in the third period for an 11-3 major decision over the second-seeded Fix, who was previously undefeated this season.

Fix had been to the championship round in his previous three NCAA Championship appearances, losing each time.

But the title will elude him once again.

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He can finish as high as third, needing two wins on Saturday to do it. But it will be a disappointing finish, regardless. With one year of eligibility remaining, Fix has suggested he’s likely to use it, though he has made no official announcements.

Fix’s loss was another in a disappointing week for the Cowboys, who saw eight wrestlers eliminated short of the placement rounds.

Three were eliminated in Thursday’s action and five more went down in Friday’s early session. And for the first time since 2018, OSU will not have a wrestler in the finals, ending Friday in 19th place with 25 points.

The potential rematch of Fix and Penn State’s reigning 133-pound champion Roman Bravo-Young was highly anticipated by wrestling fans, but Arujau spoiled the party.

Bravo-Young expects a strong attack from the first-time finalist.

“He's tough, I'm tough,” Bravo-Young said. “It's going to be a fun match. Good for you guys, right? You get to watch a fun match.

“Seven minutes is all that's left of my college career. That's it, seven minutes. I'm grateful to be able to do what I've done, and this is just another opportunity to be great.”

Behind Bravo-Young and four other finalists, Penn State built a hefty lead in the team race with 116.5 points. Iowa is second at 77 with Cornell third at 64 and Ohio State fourth at 62.

Another title for Penn State would be its 10th in the past 12 championships, with the others going to Ohio State (2015) and Iowa (2021).

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Dustin Plott, All-American

Though his bid for a semifinal spot ended Friday afternoon, OSU junior Dustin Plott fought his way back to guarantee All-America status and the potential of a finish as high as third place.

The Tuttle native finished sixth at last year’s NCAAs and is one win away from topping that.

Plott’s road isn’t easy, however, with a consolation semifinal match against Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis, the No. 3 seed who lost in the semifinals.

The fifth-seeded Plott gave Cowboy fans a charge Friday night after an otherwise difficult day.

In his first of two matches, Plott went to sudden-victory overtime with Utah Valley’s Demetrius Romero. Romero shot quickly in the overtime period and Plott avoided it and spun into a takedown for the 7-5 win to secure an All-America finish in the top eight.

In his consolation quarterfinal match, Plott used a third-period takedown and riding time to close out an 8-4 victory over Ethan Smith, the No. 6 seed from Ohio State.

Fix will also finish as an All-American for the fourth time in as many opportunities. No one from the OSU contingent spoke to the media Friday night.

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A legacy rematch

On March 12, 1983, Iowa State’s Nate Carr defeated Oklahoma State’s Kenny Monday for the 150-pound NCAA championship at the Myriad in Oklahoma City.

On Friday night, 40 years and 5 days later, their sons met in the 165-pound semifinals in Tulsa.

David Carr of Iowa State edged Quincy Monday of Princeton 6-5 to earn a spot in the championship match.

Fun finalist facts

A few interesting facts about some of the wrestlers who reached the championship round with wins on Friday night:

•Purdue’s Matt Ramos, the No. 4 seed at 125 pounds, opened the semifinal session by pinning Iowa’s three-time NCAA champ Spencer Lee, bringing most of the 15,694 fans to their feet — especially the large contingent of Hawkeye-hating Penn State fans.

•Wrestling allows for some interesting universities to emerge on the national stage, and Andrew Alirez of Northern Colorado continued that trend, reaching the finals as the No. 2 seed at 141 pounds. The Northern Colorado program has gained momentum since joining the Big 12 a few years ago, and Alirez has a chance to give the Bears a national title.

•At 165, both finalists won national titles last year. Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole won at 165 and Iowa State’s David Carr won at 157.

•It’s no surprise to see a Penn State wrestler in the finals these days, but at 157, second-seeded Levi Haines achieved the feat as a true freshman.

•South Dakota State’s Tanner Sloan is the lowest seed to make the finals, entering as the No. 7 at 197 pounds. He won 7-2 over Missouri’s Rocky Elam, who had defeated Sloan in the Big 12 title match two weeks ago.

•The last finalist spot of the night went to Penn State heavyweight Greg Kirkvliet. That made for five finalists for the Nittany Lions and nine from the Big Ten Conference.

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Sooners exit early

Oklahoma sent eight wrestlers to the NCAA Championships, but all were finished by Friday afternoon.

Heavyweight Josh Heindselman was one of the last wrestlers to be eliminated, having advanced to the third round of the consolation bracket to get within one win of reaching Friday night’s so-called blood round where All-America honors can be attained.

Heindselman, a redshirt junior from Piedmont, suffered a first-round defeat on Thursday, then won two consolation matches, including a 3-2 decision over Campbell’s Taye Ghadiali.

Four other Sooners — Wyatt Henson (133), Mosha Schwartz (141), Mitch Moore (149) and Tate Picklo (174) — reached the second round of consolations.

OU concluded the event with 6.0 points.

Injuries pile up for Cowboys

Reece Witcraft was eliminated after suffering a potential concussion on Thursday. Carter Young was a shell of his typical self because of a knee injury during the Big 12 Championships, leading to his elimination on Thursday as well.

And on Friday, the unfortunate Cowboy was 157-pound super-senior Kaden Gfeller, who saw his career end with a pin in his first match of the day.

Gfeller won his opening match on Thursday, but in the second round, he was wearing black medical tape on his right shoulder. In Friday’s elimination match, Gfeller appeared to have limited use of his right arm.

After getting pinned, he had to use only his left hand to remove his ankle bands and to shake hands with Iowa State’s Jason Kraisser.

Gfeller had defeated Kraisser 3-1 and 8-3 in their previous meetings this season.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NCAA wrestling championships: OSU's Daton Fix upset in semifinals