True freshman Ty Watters won the 149-pound Big 12 championship on Sunday, becoming the fourth West Virginia wrestler in history to win an individual Big 12 championship.
Watters won in the final round by injury default, having notched all bonus points to reach the championship. He earned an 18-3 technical fall in the first round, before scoring a 12-2 major decision in the quarterfinals and getting another TF in the semis.
At 125, junior Jett Strickenberger took home a third-place finish for WVU. Strickenberger would be knocked out of the winner’s bracket in the quarterfinals but wrestled his way back to third place, pinning his opponent in 4:58 to get bronze.
Mountaineers’ 141-pounder Jordan Titus who was the four-seed, placed sixth. He reached the semi-finals losing by an MD and medically forfeited in the fifth-place match.
Returning All-American Payton Hall placed fourth for West Virginia. He reached the semi-finals but was defeated by Iowa State’s David Carr by a 5-1 decision, he would also suffer a loss by decision in the third-place match.
Redshirt Brody Conley would take home fifth at 174. He advanced to the quarterfinals but would lose to the No. 1-seeded Cade DeVos from South Dakota State. Conley scored a 10-1 MD in the fifth-place match over the No. 4-seed from Mizzou.
At 184, redshirt junior Dennis Robin finished in seventh. He was defeated by TF in the quarterfinals but wrestled his way into the seventh-place match in consolations where he pinned his opponent in 2:32.
West Virginia’s heavyweight Michael Wolfgram placed sixth at the Big 12 championships. Wolfgram fell in the quarters but earned two decisions, including a sudden victory in consolations, but ultimately lost by a 5-2 decision in the fifth-place match at HWT.
Photo Courtesy of WVU Athletics
