Cowboy Grapplers Lose To Oklahoma State.

Junior Shane Woods came away one of the best wins of his career, but the University of Wyoming wrestling team suffered a 30-6 defeat at the hands of fifth-ranked Oklahoma State on Saturday.

The Pokes (1-2 overall) won two bouts for the evening, but couldn’t overcome four bonus-point wins for Oklahoma State (3-2 overall), which had defeated Northern Colorado 48-0 earlier in the day.

“Some of (the outcome) is due to skill right now,” Wyoming head coach Mark Branch said. “Those guys (for OSU) are really good but you’ve got to put that out of the way and we’ve got to start learning how to close the gap on teams like that. It’s way too early to push the panic button. I feel like we are improving but we’ve still got a ways to go. We’ve seen improvements and I expect our guys to grow and mature from these experiences.”

In front of a crowd of 1,549 in the Arena-Auditorium, Woods outlasted OSU’s Blake Rosholt, ranked 11^th, in a 3-2 decision at 197 pounds. In his first career win over a ranked opponent, the junior scored a takedown with less than a minute elapsed in the first period. He added an escape point in the third and held Rosholt to just two escapes in the victory.

“That was a good win for Shane, over a nationally ranked guy and a returning All-American,” Branch said. “It was a smart match. That’s a great win for him – the biggest win of his career, I would say.”

UW junior Tyler Cox was the other Cowboy to come away with a victory for the evening. Down 4-3 with just three seconds left, he finished a takedown and added two nearfall points to come away with a 7-4 win over OSU’s 17^th-ranked Eddie Klimara at 125 pounds.

Redshirt freshman Cole Mendenhall had an early lead on OSU’s 12^th-ranked Anthony Collica at 141 pounds, but fell in a 6-2 decision. Fellow redshirt freshman Benjamin Stroh had a 4-2 lead heading into the third, but lost a 10-4 contest to Nolan Boyd at 184 pounds.

The Cowboys hit the road for the next dual, taking on Oregon State on Dec. 20, followed by the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 22.