Not wanting to have you miss this with all of the information surrounding the Belk Bowl bid against Mississippi State over the weekend, the NC State Wolfpack wrestling team, who is currently ranked #13 in the country, flew over to the Midwest and went to Stillwater, Oklahoma. In Stillwater, home of Boone T. Pickens Stadium and the rest of Oklahoma State, was the Pack in a duel meet at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Pack was not intimidated and beat the Cowboys 19-15.
The Cowboys, ranked #4, were a combined 547-44-8 in home duals before the loss on Sunday. Let that sink in for a moment. The Cowboys historically have been one of the two best programs in the country, along with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Pack (9-0) won six of the 10 bouts on the day, including the final three of the dual for the road win.
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Oklahoma State had a 15-10 lead with three bouts left, when #17 Pete Renda started the Pack’s dual-winning stretch with a 9-8 upset of #15 Noal Boyd at 184 pounds. After Renda was up 4-1 in the first period, he increased that lead to 7-4 to start the third. Boyd came back with a near-fall, but Renda’s reversal made it 9-6 late. Boyd got an escape point and was awarded a stalling point in the final seconds, but it was not enough as Renda improved to 6-0 on the season – all dual wins.
“We had 10 guys who left everything on the mat and showed the country how good we are,” said Renda.
After #20 Michael Boykin won his match, State took the lead 16-15. The last match was at heavyweight where two-time defending champion Nick Gwiazdowski defeated the fourth-ranked Austin Marsden 7-4.
When asked about the team win, Gwiazdowski said:
“I’m really impressed with the belief in our guys from top to bottom. These guys believed in themselves and got the job done, especially in a place with this huge crowd cheering against us and the history of this (Oklahoma State) program. This is a special win.”
Here are the individual results for the dual meet:
#13 NC State 19, #4 Oklahoma State 15
125: #5 Eddie Klimara (OSU) dec. Sean Fausz; 5-3 (SV-1) – 0-3
133: Jamal Morris (NCSU) dec. Brian Crutchmer; 4-0 – 3-3
141: #3 Dean Heil (OSU) dec. #1 Kevin Jack; 10-8 – 3-6
149: Sam Melikian (NCSU) dec. David Dolan; 5-2 – 6-6
157: #7 Tommy Gantt (NCSU) major dec. Chance) Marstellar; 18-6 – 10-6
165: #1 Alex Dieringer (OSU) fall Lee Davis; 0:29 – 10-12
174: #2 Kyle Crutchmer (OSU) dec. #8 Max Rohskopf; 7-2 – 10-15
184: #17 Pete Renda (NCSU) dec. #15 Nolan Boyd; 9-8 – 13-15
197: #20 Michael Boykin (NCSU) dec. Austin Schafer; 3-2 – 16-15
285: #1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NCSU) dec. #4 Austin Marsden; 7-4 – 19-15Up Next: The Wolfpack will return to action next weekend, traveling to Fairfax, Va., to face Grand Canyon on Sunday.
Congratulations to the Wrestling team. Good luck next weekend!
