Wrestling Advances Six to the Final Day of the Big 12 Tournament

Wyoming in 10th as a team with 46 points

TULSA, Oklahoma (3/8/25) – The University of Wyoming wrestling team competed in Day 1 of the Big 12 Tournament on Saturday inside the BOK Center. Six Cowboys are still alive in various consolation brackets and will place depending on how they finish Sunday.

“I don’t think we wrestled our best,” head coach Mark Branch said. “I think we went out there and strategized a little too much and let the match develop to see what happened instead of attacking our opponents. At the same time, we had some gritty wins. We had some guys get tough when they had to and put themselves in placing rounds.”

Cole Brooks (141), No. 4 Gabe Willochell (149), No. 5 Jared Hill (157), No. 6 Eddie Neitenbach (184), No. 2 Joey Novak (197) and No. 8 Sam Mithcell (HWT) represent the six that are still alive. All will compete in consolation brackets Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. and many will have the opportunity to lock up NCAA Championship bids.

Three Pokes have already accomplished that feat. Novak did so by way of advancing to the semifinals. Hill and Neitenbach did it after moving on to the consolation semifinals of their respective brackets.

Two other Cowboys have the opportunity to join those three with an automatic bid on Sunday. Brooks will go in the seventh-place match with the winner earning a bid. Mitchell will go in the consolation semifinals and needs to advance to the consolation title to earn a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“We have to come out and throw caution to the wind (Sunday),” Branch said. “That doesn’t mean being reckless and it doesn’t mean doing dumb things. We just need to go press. When we wrestled our best this season, we controlled our own destiny by pressing and moving forward and being aggressive.”

Four Cowboys’ seasons came to close Saturday. Garrett Ricks (125), Stockton O’Brien (133), Coooper Voorhees (165) and Riley Davis (174) all lost twice before the consolation quarterfinals.

Oklahoma State leads in the team standings, having accumulated 137.5 points. Northern Iowa sits in second at 120.5, while South Dakota State rounds out the top three at 87.5. Wyoming is 10th with 46 points.

Below is a list of the Wyoming results from Saturday.

125: Garrett Ricks (0-2)

First Round: No. 6 Antonio Lorenzo (Oklahoma), ranked No. 25, decision Ricks, 10-4

Consolation Round 2: Tanner Jordan (South Dakota State), ranked No. 16, fall Ricks, 2:31

133: Stockton O’Brien (0-2)

First Round: No. 1 Evan Frost (Iowa State), ranked No. 3, major decision O’Brien, 17-4

Consolation Round 2: Gavin Caprella (Air Force) decision O’Brien, 8-3

141: Cole Brooks (1-2)

First Round: No. 1 Andrew Alirez (Northern Colorado), ranked No. 2, technical fall Brooks, 15-0

Consolation Round 2: Brooks decision No. 7 Haiden Drury (Utah Valley), ranked No. 18, 2-1

Consolation Quarterfinals: Jordan Titus (West Virginia) sudden victory Brooks, 4-1

149: No. 4 Gabe Willochell (1-2), ranked No. 24

Quarterfinals: No. 5 Gavin Drexler (North Dakota State) decision Willochell, 3-1

Consolation Round 2: Willochell fall Smokey McClure (Utah Valley), :49

Consolation Quarterfinals: Avery Allen (South Dakota State) decision Willochell, 6-1

157: No. 5 Jared Hill (2-1), ranked No. 18

Quarterfinals: No. 4 Cobe Siebrecht (South Dakota State), ranked No. 21, sudden victory Hill, 10-7

Consolation Round 2: Hill tiebreaker-1 John Wiley (Oklahoma), 2-1

Consolation Quarterfinals: Hill decision Caleb Dowling (West Virginia), 5-0

165: Cooper Voorhees (1-2)

First Round: No. 7 Jack Thomsen (Norther Iowa), ranked No. 19, decision Voorhees, 7-2

Consolation Round 1: Voorhees major decision Daniel Manibog (Cal Baptist), 18-10

Consolation Round 2: Aiden Riggins (Iowa State) decision Voorhees, 10-7

174: No. 8 Riley Davis (1-2)

First Round: Davis decision Jack Ganos (Air Force), 6-2

Quarterfinals: No. 1 Dean Hamiti (Oklahoma State), ranked No. 2, technical fall Davis, 20-5

Consolation Round 2: Devin Wasley (North Dakota State) decision Davis, 2-0

184: No. 6 Eddie Neitenbach (2-1), ranked No. 25

Quarterfinals: No. 3 Bennett Berge (South Dakota State), ranked No. 5, major decision Neitenbach, 8-0 

Consolation Round 2: Neitenbach major decision Gage Musser (Air Force), 14-3

Consolation Quarterfinals: Neitenbach major decision No. 8 Colton Hawks (Missouri), ranked No. 11, 15-4

197: No. 2 Joey Novak (2-1), ranked No. 10

First Round: Novak fall Eli Sheeran (Cal Baptist), 1:32

Quarterfinals: Novak decision No. 7 Brian Burburija (Air Force), 4-3

Semifinals: No. 3 Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa), ranked No. 12, decision Novak, 4-2

HWT: No. 8 Sam Mitchell (3-1)

First Round: Mitchell decision Brian Finnerty (West Virginia), 1-0

Quarterfinals: No. 1 Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State), ranked No. 3, fall Mitchell, 2:23

Consolation Round 2: Mitchell sudden victory Tristan Kemp (Cal Baptist), 4-1

Consolation Quarterfinals: Mitchell sudden victory Andrew Blackburn-Forst (North Dakota State), 4-1