The Wyoming Cowboy wrestling team will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to compete in the NCAA Division I Championships March 16-18 in the BOK Center. A total of three Cowboys are set to compete with the …
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The Wyoming Cowboy wrestling team will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to compete in the NCAA Division I Championships March 16-18 in the BOK Center. A total of three Cowboys are set to compete with the first round of wrestling starting 10 a.m. Mountain Time.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH
“Our numbers may not be big, but we showed our best wrestling last weekend and to be able to go back to a very familiar venue is an advantage for us. Our guys are ready and they are in the best shape of their lives. This is the time of the year when you throw history, season records, and seeds out the door and you go win one match at a time. If we do that, anything is possible,” head wrestling Coach Mark Branch said. “My expectations are the same as always. Go out and wrestle hard for seven minutes and fight every second. Fight and heart advance you at this tournament. I just think they have mentally been tested. They have been down emotionally and now they see the progress and the momentum and they are feeling the power of more confidence.”
THE COMPETING COWBOYS
The trio of Cowboys that are set to compete in Tulsa this week will be led by 157 pounder Jacob Wright who is making his fourth straight trip to the NCAA Championships. Wright has put together yet another impressive season finishing third at the Big 12 Championships building up a 18-5 record this season with his only losses this season coming to ranked opponents. While racking up the wins this season, Wright has put his name in the record book eclipsing the 100-win mark entering the NCAA Tournament with 102 career wins which puts him in 18th all-time in program history. Wright will enter his final NCAA Tournament as the No. 15 seed set for a showdown against No. 18 Derek Gilcher (Indiana).
At 165 pounds, Cole Moody makes his return to the national tournament to compete in his second NCAA Tournament. Moody finished as the Big 12 runner-up in 2021 and qualified for his first NCAA tournament in the process. However, during the 2021-22 season Moody’s year was cut short due to injuries. Entering this year’s tournament Moody was unseeded and unranked as he knocked off three ranked opponents and punched his ticket to the NCAA tournament with a fourth-place finish. Moody holds a record of 16-14 on the season and will enter the tournament as the No. 32 seed, set to wrestle No. 33 Josh Kim (Harvard).
Rounding out the trio of Cowboys making the trip to Tulsa will be true freshman Jore Volk (125). In his first collegiate season, Volk has been a standout for the Cowboys tallying 24 wins including four ranked wins. In his first Big 12 Championship, Volk had a solid outing finishing in fifth to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Volk returns to Tulsa as the No. 21 seed and will face No. 12 seed Michael DeAugustino (Northwestern) in the first round.