The Oklahoma State wrestling team, ranked third nationally, will travel to face No. 6 Virginia Tech on Sunday, February 15 at Cassell Coliseum. The dual is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on the ACC Network via ESPN+. Radio coverage will be available on KSPI-AM 780/PETE 94.3, and updates can be found through @CowboyWrestling on X and statbroadcast.com.
Oklahoma State enters the matchup following a decisive 41-6 win over Little Rock on February 6, where wrestlers Landon Robideau, Alex Facundo, and Cody Merrill each secured pins. This result marked the team’s highest score of the season.
This meeting marks only the third time Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech have faced each other in wrestling. The teams have split their previous two encounters; last season, Oklahoma State won 34-9 at home while Virginia Tech’s sole victory came in 2011 with an 18-16 result.
Under head coach David Taylor, now in his second season, Oklahoma State has continued its strong performance after finishing third at last year’s NCAA Championships with two individual champions. The Cowboys returned six NCAA qualifiers this year and added three more through transfers: Richard Figueroa II, Casey Swiderski, and Alex Facundo.
Troy Spratley leads off for the Cowboys at 125 pounds as a returning national finalist from last year. He is currently ranked seventh nationally and recently avenged a previous loss to West Virginia’s Jett Strickenberger with a road win.
The current lineup features several impactful transfers—Swiderski (an All-American), Facundo, Zack Ryder—and heavyweight Konner Doucet has resumed starting duties after backing up Wyatt Hendrickson last season. Swiderski, Facundo, Ryder, and Doucet are all ranked within the top ten nationally in their weight classes.
Coach Taylor’s first freshman class has made significant contributions this season. LaDarion “Dee” Lockett (165 lbs.), Landon Robideau (157 lbs.), Sergio Vega (141 lbs.), and Jax Forrest (133 lbs.) are all ranked in the top ten of their respective divisions with a combined record of 45-1 so far this year.
Cody Merrill continues his strong sophomore campaign with a current record of 12-2 and a No. 7 ranking at his weight class.
A win against Virginia Tech would improve Oklahoma State’s record against them to 2-1 overall and give OSU its eleventh consecutive dual victory as well as its fifth win over a top-ten opponent this season. Under Taylor’s leadership since taking over as head coach prior to last season:
• OSU has gone undefeated at home
• Achieved ten wins against ranked opponents
• Captured its first Big 12 title since 2021
• Produced multiple NCAA champions for the first time since 2016
Freshmen have played key roles throughout the current campaign:
• Sergio Vega remains unbeaten at 13-0 with seven wins over ranked opponents.
• Dee Lockett is also undefeated at twelve matches.
• Landon Robideau holds a single loss out of thirteen matches.
Other newcomers like Jax Forrest (8-0) have quickly established themselves; Forrest claimed an early-season tournament title by defeating two-time U23 World Champion Reineri Andreu Ortega.
Oklahoma State’s recruiting efforts under Taylor brought in one of the nation’s strongest classes—ranked second overall—with eight signees among FloWrestling’s Top 100 Big Board prospects.
Konner Doucet returned to action this year after serving as backup previously; he currently ranks seventh nationally among heavyweights with a team-leading number of dual points scored so far this season.
True freshman Sergio Vega has yet to surrender a takedown during his collegiate career while collecting major victories—including pinning three-time All-American Brock Hardy earlier this year—and maintains an unblemished record through eight bouts.
First-year athletes such as Robideau and Lockett both recorded wins over All-Americans during their debuts against Stanford in November; collectively they contributed significantly to OSU’s point total that day.
Jax Forrest—the top pound-for-pound recruit according to FloWrestling—remains undefeated after claiming an early-season open title but it remains undecided whether he will redshirt or compete for postseason honors later this spring.
Transfers including Swiderski (who moved up to No.2 nationally following his NWCA All-Star Classic victory), Facundo, Ryder (currently eighth-ranked), and Gary Steen have bolstered depth across multiple weights for Oklahoma State—a strategy that paid dividends last year when four Cowboy transfers earned All-America status including two national titles.
Historically speaking,Oklahoma State leads all college programs with:
• Thirty-four NCAA team championships,
• One hundred forty-five individual national champions,
• Four hundred ninety-two All-America honors,
and forty-one Olympic appearances by program alumni.
Notable figures include Yojiro Uetake (57-0 career record), Pat Smith (first four-time NCAA champion), John Smith (two-time NCAA champion/four-time world medalist), Kenny Monday (Olympic gold medalist). Forty former Cowboys are members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame—more than any other school nationwide.