Cowboy Wrestling Season Preview and Weight Class Breakdown

The 2015-16 Oklahoma State wrestling team enters the season with a loaded lineup, high expectations and special reasons to celebrate.

With the Cowboys losing only one starter from the 2014-15 season, they find themselves with strong, fierce competitors in almost every weight class and a preseason No. 1 ranking.

"We need the leadership, we need the examples," coach John Smith. "Obviously, we have the possibility of only three seniors starting on this team, so we're just looking for some of that leadership out of some of those seniors and I think it would be a pretty big boost as we go through a tough schedule this year."

Once again, the Cowboys will have one of the toughest schedules in college wrestling. Proving that will be the Cowboys' journey to Iowa City to face the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium to open the season. OSU will also have an early-season test as it hosts Minnesota in its home opener. Others making visits to Stillwater include defending National Duals and MAC conference champion Missouri and Big 12 rivals Oklahoma and Iowa State. Rising programs such as Wyoming, Pittsburgh and Cornell will bring the Cowboys to their arenas.

Despite a tough schedule, the Cowboys have what it takes to be solid frontrunners in the team race of the NCAA Championships, which will be held on one of the world's biggest stages, New York's Madison Square Garden.

That's not all there is to get excited about. Oklahoma State will also celebrate its 100th year of wrestling, while head coach John Smith will celebrate his 25th year at the helm of the program.

Below is Smith's breakdown of each weight class:

125 pounds
"We've got a returning All-American in Eddie Klimara. And you look at him returning as a senior this year, his fourth year, he has a redshirt year, but he's coming off of being an All-American last year and the possibilities of the team - it might be our best in several years. We're going to see Eddie definitely start the season with us. Right now, I'm not sure if he has a challenger. I know that Eli Hale has shown good improvement and Zac Gentzler has been solid. Connor Cline had an injury this summer that he might not be able to wrestle again. That's disappointing for him and disappointing for us. He's a great kid. With Eddie, he showed great improvements last year, but he's just got to continue with his offense. At 125, it's about offense. It's about speed. It's about attacking, and I think as he gets in that attack mode he's realizing that he gets better and better, so 125 gives us a good start in every dual meet."

133 pounds
"Last season, Gary Wayne Harding took the starting spot for us and he did a decent job. In his matches last year, he gave up too many takedowns, but it's going to take a little more than just being a great competitor at this weight. Kyle Garcia, Brian Crutchmer are guys that can wrestle this year and have the year to wrestle. Boo Lewallen is a guy we're going look to redshirt, as well as Kaid Brock. I mean Kaid Brock is a 125/133 guy, but if I had my pick it would probably be 133 as both of those guys, Lewallen and Brock, will go through a redshirt year."

141 pounds
"We've got a returning All-American in Dean Heil. He's had a pretty interesting career. At one point last year we thought we lost him and here we find him as one of the top 141-pounders in the country. He's been really a great kid to work with since his problem with his weight at 133 last year and moving him up. He seems to have the right frame of mind and knows that things could get a bit tougher considering what he did in the past. But he's preparing for that tough season and mentally he's asking a lot of the right questions. I don't see anybody challenging him on this team. Dusty Hone and Lincoln Lemon are solid guys that will probably have an opportunity to wrestle this year, but as of right now Dean Heil appears to be the guy that we're going to focus on."

149 pounds
"At 149, we made the move with Anthony Collica from 157 to 149. He was never really a 157-pounder so I'm sure he's excited to wrestle in a weight class where he feels he's at his best. He had a solid year for us at 157, came a round away from placing at the weight, and most of the guys who beat him ended up being a lot bigger-bodied and it did make an impact in the final outcome of the match. With Anthony, he's got great penetration shots. He's a shooter. His conditioning has always been good and he's a good worker. You can look for guys like Jonce Blaylock and Davey Dolan as well as Joe Schumacher. I look at those guys like the other several weights. I'm really pleased with the depth in the lower weights right now. Just real healthy right now. You don't always have it, but you've got to feel fortunate when you do have it and we have depth at these weights right now. We could see Schumacher make a move down, we could see Davey Dolan make a move down. For now, until they show that 141 is a possibility, I would list them at 149."

157 pounds
"At 157, this is probably our most competitive weight class from the standpoint of guys. None of them have proven anything and they're a long ways from helping at this point. I think as they develop work ethics, they'll learn what it's going to take to be successful at this weight. I think we've got a great opportunity to have somebody that can help us in the end. You have Chance Marsteller, a redshirt freshman, along with Ryan Blees, Hestin Lamons and Tyler Mann. These guys are all redshirt freshmen. Dalton Moran, who's a transfer from South Dakota State, will be at this weight and then you have Joe Smith, who we hope to redshirt. You have to give the nod right now to Ryan Blees and Chance Marsteller. One of those guys probably will come out on top, but I can't overlook guys like Hestin Lamons. Lamons is a guy who has matured and developed from last year and has played an important role in the program along with Tyler Mann, but we will keep this weight under consideration and we will wrestle our very best guy whether he's redshirting or whether he's not. We have to try to put the best team on the mat this year."

165 pounds
"When you look at the roster we've got one guy and that's Alex Dieringer. We've got a guy who is a fifth year senior and everybody in the house knows that this guy is going to start no matter what happens. That's why we've got six guys at 157. For Alex, it's about doing something only a handful of guys have ever done. We all know that he's a two-time national champion and he's going for his third and to be one of very few people to do that. His win-loss record is pretty impressive. He ranks up there in possibly the top-5 all-time in Oklahoma State's history. This guy deserves to be there. He's been dominant. I don't think it's going to be an easy season. I do think he's got some pretty good kids that he's going to have to stay focused on and continue to train with the mentality of putting points on the board. Definitely a big year for him to put his name in the record books."

174 pounds
"Kyle Crutchmer is a returning All-American and really developed through the year last year and was one of those guys at the end that everyone was talking about. I want to see Kyle start where he finished off last year. There was a lot of development that happened through the year. He's a junior this year and he's gone through some tough experience that he probably didn't expect in his first two years of eligibility and really grew from it at the end of the year last year. He realized the effort he needed and was able to put it out on the mat and for that reason he was in every match and an eyelash away from maybe being a finalist in the NCAA Championships. He's going to need to continue to do a lot of that. Chandler Rogers is obviously a freshman that I believe could push Kyle. He's won a lot of matches in his career and he's been pretty impressive in doing so, but I don't think that he's willing to give up that weight at this time in the season. I think his size is a little bit small for the weight, obviously moving up from 165, he might be more comfortable as a 165-pounder but I think he looks at it as his best shot of making the team. I think he has the body type to build that size that he needs. A good two solid guys at this weight going into the season gives us a good opportunity."

184 pounds
"At 184 pounds, we've used several people over the last few years and it's been a while since we've had an All-American at this weight. Hopefully through some of the lessons that these guys have learned they can wrestle with a little bit more maturity and they can have a more clear sense of what needs to take place on the mat. Both Nolan Boyd and Jordan Rogers are two guys that are the same age - juniors. Landry Chappell is a junior. Luke Bean, who is going to make the pull down to 184, is going to give us some depth at this weight, and I think that Bean seems to be the one that has a lot of balance in understanding match strategies and mat composure. I would say he's probably one of the better guys that I've seen in these 184 and 197 weight classes over the last couple of years. I do know that guys really develop through adversity, if they stay in the fight. So Rogers, Boyd, Bean and Chappell, those four guys, we could see and it wouldn't be a surprise that any of those four came out wrestling with a lot of maturity and things we haven't seen in the past."

197 pounds
"197 pounds is another weight class that is kind of fighting for people to win matches. I think that's the way we need to look at it right now. We need to win matches at this weight and if you look at Austin Schafer, who started part of the season last year, and Luke Bean took over the weight the second half of the season. Schafer needs to mature into a little bit more of a stable wrestler on the mat and not be so sporadic at times that he seems to set himself back months. This is going to be the key for him to have a solid season is to show some stability in his thinking and his maturity level because I do believe he has potential. Preston Weigel, who went through a redshirt year last year, put a good year in last year and finished up wrestling in several freestyle events and ended up being a freestyle All-American this summer. He needs to make sure he stays healthy and stays intense at practice. I think he's got great upside. He's been real disciplined as far as what he does in the weight room and in the room. We can see several guys wrestle here as well as the possibility of Ben Laures, who's one of our seniors. But Schafer and Weigel are the two off the top of my head that we'll probably see in this weight class throughout the year. We will look to redshirt Andrew Marsden at 197."

285 pounds
"At heavyweight, Austin Marsden is going into his senior year as an All-American two years ago and really from the middle of the season after he won the Southern Scuffle, he just had a real letdown. I think it's just a matter of discipline and recognizing that you have to sustain your energy and attitude for the entire season and not just part of it. It just seems like he started off well and you're hoping that in his senior year you see some things that show a sense of urgency. I've seen all those things so far at the beginning of the year. That doesn't always translate into something special, it just shows that he's got the right frame of mind as he's starting his final season. Austin has a lot of potential to be a lot better, it's just a matter of how aggressive he wants to be to bring out that potential. His toughness needs to be shown throughout the season. Tanner Allen is the backup in the division to Austin. Garrett Beier, from Perry, Okla., definitely needs a redshirt year. So those are our three heavyweights that we have and I'm pleased with what Tanner Allen has done in developing his body over the last couple of years. It's been a nice surprise to me."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboy Wrestling Season Preview and Weight Class Breakdown

Players Mentioned

Tanner Allen

Luke Bean

Garrett Beier

Jonce Blaylock

Ryan Blees

Nolan Boyd

Kaid Brock

Landry Chappell

Connor Cline

Brian Crutchmer

Kyle Crutchmer

Davey Dolan

Kyle Garcia

Zac Gentzler

Eli Hale

Dean Heil

Dusty Hone

Eddie Klimara

Hestin Lamons

Ben Laures

Lincoln Lemon

Boo Lewallen

Tyler Mann

Andrew Marsden

Austin Marsden

Chance Marsteller

Dalton Moran

Chandler Rogers

Jordan Rogers

Austin Schafer

Joe Schumacher

Joe Smith

Preston Weigel

Related Videos