Fix claims fourth consecutive Big 12 title in hometown

wider than his own.

Daniel Allen Staff Reporter

TULSA — Few college wrestlers have an opportunity to be a four-time conference champion.

On Sunday evening, Daton Fix attained his fourth straight individual Big 12 title with an 10-2 major decision victory over Zach Redding of Iowa State. In spite of the fact, he faced the

No. 2 seeded wrestler, — it was a pure replication of nearly every one of his matches this season. Complete and utter dominance on Fix’s part. Redding’s only points came via escapes, highlighting Fix’s continuity as a wrestler.

“We saw some real maturity,” said OSU coach John Smith. “Had some pressure on him, picked up two takedowns in the first period and then added two more throughout the match. I just saw a level of maturity and the level of want, (Daton) wanting a little more than just another Big 12 championship.”

After the bout, the OSU 133-pounder stood in front of a mural inside the BOK Center. His dad, Derek right next to him, held a grin potentially

“I’m just grateful,” Daton said. “I’m so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to represent Oklahoma State. It’s truly a dream come true.” All of it was done in front of his hometown.

Before OSU, Daton wrestled for Charles Page High School located in Sand Springs, a suburb of Tulsa aabout 10 minutes in driving distance from the downtown area. Patches of Charles Page Sandite athletic attire could be spotted, scattered among the crowd, attempting to show support for the homegrown wrestler.

Most would long for an opportunity to attain one, much less four confer- ence titles. The sheer feel of competing in front of a mostly occupied 19,199seat stadium gives most and excess of adrenaline. But not for Daton.

To him, it was just another match.

“At the end of the day it’s a wrestling match,” Fix said “It could be anywhere. It doesn’t matter where I’m at in the world. It could be in front of thousands of fans or it could be in front of nobody. It’s just a wrestling match. It doesn’t matter who’s out there with me.

“I know the work I put in and now I just go out there and leave it all on the line. It’s just a wrestling match”. sports.ed@ocolly.com

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Smith’s opinion on team race/seeding in retrospect

On Saturday, and last Tuesday, Smith expressed his displeasure with the seeds. Considering Missouri scored 135 points on day one, and 13 on day two, seeding seemed to favor the Tigers. On Sunday night, he had a different mindset about the seeding. Smith said that when OSU is winning dual meets, splitting them down the middle or winning six out of 10, it makes for a difficult road at conference.

“Tough matches, right off the bat; I thought we did (have them),” Smith said. “I thought we had a really tough first round for my team. Maybe some other teams had it, but I thought the tournament was as tough, for us, as I’ve seen.”

OSU qualifies nine

OSU qualified nine wrestlers with a notable omission and with somewhat of a surprise contender. Wyatt Sheets lost both of his matches Saturday, but rebounded with a major decision against Baylor Fernandes (Northern Colorado) and a technical fall against Air Force’s Seamus Casey.

Reece Witcraft accomplished what he set out to do once he became the 125-pound starter for OSU: steal a spot in the national tournament. Witcraft will join all starters aside from Sheets again in Tulsa in two weeks. Some may deem it a surprise, but it wasn’t for Smith and Witcraft.

“Reece Witcraft, I can’t really say a surprise,” Smith said. “I’ll just say that, we knew as he managed his weight over the course of the last six weeks, we had a lot of hope that his body would be pretty strong at the end. It was real strong this week.” sports.ed@ocolly.com