Joseph Smith Wins Wrestle-Off With Chandler Rogers
Joseph Smith Wins Wrestle-Off With Chandler Rogers
Joe Smith will be the starter for the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 165-pounds after beating teammate Chandler Rogers in a wrestle-off.
Oklahoma State finally settled a lingering lineup question that had folks in and out of Stillwater guessing all season long. Two-time All-American Joseph Smith beat two-time All-American Chandler Rogers in a wrestle-off to claim the starting job at 165-pounds for the Cowboys.
According to a story by Roger Moore on TheMat.com, Smith took the best-of-three series two matches to none by the scores of 3-2 and 7-4.
The defeat would unfortunately appear to end Chandler Rogers' career as the senior is in his final year of eligibility. Rogers finished in the bloodround at the NCAAs in 2016, on the podium at fifth in 2017, and eighth last year in Cleveland. The latter two seasons were at 165-pounds, while in 2016 Rogers wrestled at 174.
Joseph Smith, in contrast, finished seventh and fourth at NCAAs in 2016 and 2017, both times at 157-pounds. Last season Smith was mostly inactive while on redshirt.
Blocking Rogers at 174-pounds this season is another All-American, Jacobe Smith, who finished eighth last year, also at 174.
Because Joseph Smith wrestled the entire season at 174, he could not earn an automatic qualifying bid for the Big 12 conference at 165. Chandler Rogers did earn a bid at 165, however, assuming Smith wrestles in Tulsa at Big 12s, Rogers' bid will be thrown out, and the conference will be down to having five auto-bids up for grabs. Thus, Joseph will have to finish in the top five in a crowded field that includes #8 Branson Ashworth of Wyoming, #9 Demetrius Romero of Utah Valley, #12 Bryce Steiert, Northern Iowa, #17 Andrew Fogarty of North Dakota State, and Nick Kiussis of West Virginia, all of whom earned auto-bids for the conference. Smith could also qualify with an at-large wild card invitation.
Cowboy head coach John Smith reportedly had the following to say:
It’s the situation we are in. We’ve always tried to put the best team on the mat, the team that can score the most points at an NCAA Tournament. It’s nice to have that depth, but these decisions aren’t easy. There are certainly some things we need to address with the allocation process, especially with this descent plan, taking injuries into consideration and being able to get a certain number of matches.
Once Joseph Smith weighs in Saturday morning, Rogers' last match as a Cowboy will officially be his pin of Mitch Bowman, fittingly in front of a frenzied sold-out crowd at home in historic Gallagher-Iba Arena, which you can watch below.
Please see TheMat.com for more details on this story.