NC Oklahoma News

The NCAA released the seedings and brackets for the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships, scheduled for March 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday night.
 
Oklahoma State will send a full lineup to compete in the event for the first time since 2017. The only other schools to qualify 10 wrestlers are Iowa, Missouri and Virginia Tech.
 
A three-time NCAA finalist, Daton Fix is the highest ranked Cowboy as he enters as the second seed at 133 pounds. This season, Fix boasts a 22-0 record with 16 bonus-point wins and won his fourth individual conference championship,  becoming the 10th wrestler in program history to accomplish the feat. At the NCAA Championships, Fix could become the 15th four-time All-American at Oklahoma State as he chases his first individual national title.
 
Three other Cowboys earned top-10 seeds in their respective brackets, including returning All-American Dustin Plott, Kaden Gfeller and Travis Wittlake.
 
Coming off of a second Big 12 championship at 174 pounds, Plott was given the fifth seed in the 174-pound bracket. He finished sixth last season as he earned All-America honors for the first time. The junior moved to 21-4 this season with a 3-0 run at the Big 12 Championships which saw him pin NCAA qualifier Sam Wolf in the semifinals and knock off top-seeded Peyton Mocco in the championship bout for the second year in a row.
 
Gfeller, a two-time Big 12 champion, will enter his third NCAA Championships as the No. 10 seed at 157 pounds. The super senior returned to the program in August and decided to bump up to 157 pounds after wrestling last season at 149 pounds. He has gone 21-6 this season and made it to his third career Big 12 championship match, but dropped a 5-3 decision to No. 3 Jared Franek. Gfeller has been a top-10 seed twice before in his career at 149 pounds, making it as far as the blood rounds last season.

Another Cowboy who transitioned weight classes during the offseason, Travis Wittlake moved to 184 pounds where he will be the No. 10 seed after spending three seasons in the OSU lineup at 165 pounds. Wittlake has compiled a 19-5 record this season and placed third at the Big 12 Championships with his only loss coming to No. 4 Marcus Coleman in the semifinals.
 
Carter Young, Luke Surber and Konner Doucet landed inside the top-20 seeds of their respective brackets. Young and Surber will return to the event for a second time, while Doucet makes his NCAA tournament debut. Young enters the event as the No. 13 seed at 141 pounds after posting a 15-12 record this season. He will have a first-round match with Minnesota's Jake Bergeland who he has split the season series with and is Young's highest-ranked win when he was ranked third in December.
 
Surber claimed the No. 15 seed at 197 pounds with a 21-8 record and a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. In his run at the conference tournament, the junior knocked off No. 11 Owen Pentz twice and also has a win this season over Rocky Elam who was ranked No. 1 at the time. Doucet will make his first appearance at the NCAA Championships as the No. 20 seed. Both Cowboys will have opportunities to avenge losses from earlier this season in their first-round matches with Surber facing Oregon State's Tanner Harvey and Doucet 's opponent being Northern Iowa's Tyrell Gordon.
 
Victor Voinovich earned an automatic bid to his first NCAA Championships berth with a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 tournament. At 15-11 this season, Voinovich originally received the No. 24 seed at 149 pounds, but is now the No. 23 seed after a wrestler ranked higher than him dropped out of the tournament. Reece Witcraft and Wyatt Sheets were both given tough draws as the No. 31 seed at their weight classes. Witcraft stepped into the OSU lineup of Feb. 3 after beginning the season at 133 pounds. He went 1-5 in dual competition, but went 4-1 at the Big 12 Championships on his way to a third-place finish. Sheets, was  one of five wrestlers to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships at 165 pounds. The senior has been in a similar position before as he became the lowest seed to ever finish as an All-American going from the No. 33 seed to finish eighth in 2021.
 
The 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships will begin action on Thursday, March 16, with two sessions per day. The morning sessions will be televised on ESPNU, with the evening sessions airing on ESPN. Fans can follow along for live updates throughout the tournament by following @CowboyWrestling on Twitter. 

NCAA Championship First Round Matchups
125: No. 31 Reece Witcraft vs. No. 2 Pat Glory (Princeton)
133:  No. 2 Daton Fix vs. No. 31 Jack Maida (American)
141: No. 13 Carter Young vs. No. 20 Jake Bergeland (Minnesota)
149: No. 23 Victor Voinovich vs. No. 10 Michael Blockhus (Minnesota)
157: No. 10 Kaden Gfeller vs. No. 23 Peter Pappas (George Mason)
165: No. 31 Wyatt Sheets vs. No. 2 Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)
174: No. 5 Dustin Plott vs. No. 28 Luca Augustine (Pittsburgh)
184: No. 10 Travis Wittlake vs. No. 23 Dylan Connell (Illinois)
197: No. 15 Luke Surber vs. No. 18 Tanner Harvey (Oregon State)
HWT: No. 20 Konner Doucet vs. No. 13 Tyrell Gordon (Northern Iowa) 

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