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EDIT OF OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS WRESTLING

The Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestling team is a NCAA Division I wrestling program and is one of four full-member Big 12 Conference schools that participates in wrestling, along with eight Big 12 wrestling affiliate schools. Since the team's first season in 1914–15, it has won 34 team national championships (three of which are unofficial), 134 individual NCAA championships, and 213 wrestlers have earned 425 All-American honors. The Cowboys won the first official NCAA Division I Wrestling Team Championship in 1929. The Cowboys have won 47 conference team championships and 234 individual conference titles. The program owns an all-time dual meet record of 1021-113-23. On January 28th, 2011, OSU became the second school in NCAA history to record one thousand dual victories, joining Iowa State University.

History

The man chosen to replace Edward C. Gallagher was Art Griffith. Art Griffith coached for Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before succeeding Gallagher. In his 15 years there, he won 94 of 100 matches, including 50 in a row at one point. Because of this experience, he was selected to be the new Oklahoma State head coach. He won eight NCAA Championships in his 13 seasons there and continued two streaks left by Gallagher. First, he extended the four consecutive championships Gallagher had left with to seven, finally losing out in 1947 to Cornell College. Second, he extended the 27 consecutive dual meet victory streak to 76, before finally losing in 1951. Griffith's wrestlers won 27 individual championships and were All-Americans 64 times from 1941–1956. He retired on top after winning three consecutive NCAA Championships and going 78-7-4 for his career, including ten undefeated teams.

One of Griffith's wrestlers, Myron Roderick, was chosen to immediately succeed his former coach following his retirement in 1956. As a wrestler for Griffith, Roderick went 42–2 and became a three-time national champion from 1954–1956. After he returned from the 1956 Olympics, he took over as head coach. His first team was one of his least successful, finishing fourth at nationals with only one champion and three All-Americans to his credit. However, his 1957–58 and 1958–59 teams dominated the NCAA tournament, winning in convincing fashion with four champions and 15 All-Americans between the two years. His 1960 team couldn't compete with a much stronger Oklahoma team coached by Thomas Evans. However, Roderick's teams once again rebounded with championship wins in 1961 and 1962, winning five individual championships and another 15 All-Americans. By the end of his career in 1969, he had coached seven team champions, 20 individual champions, and 79 All-Americans.

Noteworthy alumni

Oklahoma State has had a number of key wrestlers that have been crucial to the strengthening of their program throughout the years. Yojiro Uetake, an Oklahoma State wrestler originally from Japan, is a prime example of this. To this day, Uetake holds the title of the only Cowboy wrestler to remain undefeated throughout his entire college career, ending with a record of 58 wins and no losses. Also during his time as a 130-pound wrestler for OSU, Uetake won a total of three individual Big 8 and national championships. After graduating in Stillwater, Uetake was an assistant coach for the Cowboys for two years before moving back home to Japan, where he now coaches wrestling at the high school he attended. In 2015, Uetake was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. Another key wrestler in the Cowboys' success is Alex Dieringer. Dieringer graduated from OSU in 2016, but earned many big wins during his time in Stillwater. Between 2013 and 2016, he was not only a three-time NCAA champion, but also a four-time NCAA All-American and a four-time Big 12 champion. Dieringer was nominated for, but did not win, the ESPY award for Male College Athlete of the Year. He did, however, win the award for Oklahoma State Male Athlete of the Year in 2016. That same year, he won a Dan Hodge Trophy and ended his college career with 133 wins and only four losses. Since graduating from Oklahoma State, Dieringer placed third in the U.S. Olympic Trials, in the U.S. World Team Trials, and in the U.S. Open.

Post graduate alum careers

Oklahoma State has a history of alumni wrestlers and top UFC contenders throughout the years. Like current UFC Middleweight contender Mark Munoz, the UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier, former UFC Welterweight Champion and current contender Johny Hendricks, and two-time former UFC Champion and UFC Hall of Fame member Randy Couture. Two decorated collegiate wrestlers, the Rosholt brothers, currently compete in Mixed Martial Arts are Jake Rosholt (3x NCAA Champion: '03, '05, & '06) and Jared Rosholt (2010 NCAA Finalist), as well as former UFC fighter Don Frye and Bellator fighter and former Strikeforce Champion Muhammed Lawal. Shane Roller retired from MMA in 2012 having earned NCAA All-American honors with the Cowboy Wrestling team, and then becoming an assistant coach with the program and gaining three NCAA team titles.

Recent Big 12 successes

Oklahoma State wrestling is known for its consistent success in the annual Big 12 championship tournament. Out of the 23 trophies won throughout the tournament's hisrtory, OSU has earned 17 of them. During this event in March of 2019, OSU won its seventh Big 12 team title in a row, making this the longest consecutive winning streak ever in Big 12 wrestling. This win also completed OSU's greatest amount of sequential conference tournament wins since their success in the 1920s.