2017-18 Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling
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2017-18 Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling Up Next: Big 12 Championship Date/Time: March 3-4, 2018 / All Day Location: Tulsa, Okla. How To Watch: Flowrestling (subscription) / AT&T Sportsnet (Finals only) 2017-18 SCHEDULE What You Need to Know After picking up it’s sixth-consecutvie dual win two weeks ago at Air Force, the University of Wyo- Date Opponent Time/Result ming wrestling team will make its way to Tulsa, Okla., for the Big 12 Championship. The champion- Nov. 4 Cowboy Open N.T.S. ship, being held at the BOK Center, opens on Saturday with the preliminary matches at 10 a.m. MT. Nov. 17 Nebraska L, 25-10 Semifinals and the first round of consolations at 4 p.m. The wrestlers return on Sunday at 11 a.m. for consolation finals and the championship matches at 5 p.m. Nov. 18 UNK Holiday Inn Open N.T.S. Dec. 1-2 Cliff Keen Invite 9th Regular Season Wrap Up After its win at Air Force, Wyoming moved it’s overall record to 13-3 and 7-2 in Big 12 action on the Dec. 9 Iowa State * W, 24-14 year. The win was the 100th for head coach Mark Branch. With 13 dual victories on the year ties for Dec. 17 Reno TOC $ 2nd fourth most in a single season in Cowboy history. Additionally, Wyoming’s .813 winning percentage Dec. 19 Oklahoma State * % L, 20-15 is the sixth-best team-winning percentage in one season. Jan. 5 North Carolina W, 21-17 Perfect in Duals Duke W, 34-7 Both Montorie Bridges and Bryce Meredith ended the 2017-18 season with a perfect record in dual Army W, 38-3 competition. Meredith went 16-0, while Bridges remained perfect at 15-0. Additionally, Branson Ashworth is right behind Bridges and Meredith with a 15-1 dual record. American W, 28-10 Jan. 12 CSU Bakersfield W, 28-9 Winning Ways Jan. 14 Oregon St. W, 29-12 The victory on Northern Colorado brought the Brown and Gold to 5-0 at home this season. The last time Wyoming went undefeated at home was during the 2008-09 season when the Pokes went 4-0. Jan. 18 South Dakota State * L, 20-18 Wyoming ended 7-2 in Big 12 action this year. UW had won eight total conference duals the previ- Jan. 20 North Dakota State * W, 32-6 ous two seasons as a member of the Big 12. Jan. 27 Fresno State * W, 40-6 45 Automatic Bids Feb. 4 Oklahoma * W, 26-9 The NCAA announced the Big 12 will have 45 automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Those 45 Feb. 9 Utah Valley * W, 38-4 bids will be up for grabs at the Big 12 Championship next weekend at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. Feb. 10 Northern Colorado * W, 38-4 The Big 12 were behind the Big Ten Conference with 80 bids and Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, which had 47 bids. After all of the qualifying events have concluded, the NCAA Division Feb. 16 Air Force * W, 37-3 I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 47 at-large qualifiers, which will Mar. 3-4 Big 12 Tournament # All Day be announced on March 6. Mar. 15-17 NCAA Championships ! All Day 100 x 3 Home events in BOLD | Times listed in MT Now with 107 career wins, senior Archie Colgan, who is the 19th Cowboy to have at least 100 wins, ^ - Las Vegas / $ - Reno, Nev. moved past Andy McCulley (2012-15) for 15th all-time. The Westminster, Colo., native currently has # - Tulsa, Okla. / % - Cheyenne, Wyo. a record of 29-7 in his senior season. ! - Cleveland, Ohio * - Big 12 Conference dual Senior Bryce Meredith currently has 102 career Division I wins. He went 29-5 in his first season at Wyoming, totaled a 32-8 record last season and has a 26-1 record as of right now. He also went 15-7 during his freshman season at North Carolina State in 2014-15. With the win at Air Force to closeout the regular season, Mark Branch became the fourth coach to earn at least 100 wins at the helm of the program. UW Coaches with 100 Wins Everett Lantz (1936-43, ‘46-52, ‘53-65): 141-73-8 2017-18 Big 12 Steven Suder (1989-2008): 127-136-2 Joe Dowler (1973-87): 104-64-1 School Conference Overall Mark Branch (2008-present): 100-49 Air Force 3-4 8-5 Fresno State 1-5 4-16 Wyoming in the Rankings Meredith continues to dominate and with that there is no difference in the individual rankings for Iowa State 3-6 8-10 the Cheyenne native. He once again sits atop the 141 rankings to lead the Brown and Gold into North Dakota St. 1-7 7-10 the weekend. Montorie Bridges’ highest ranking comes in a No. 4 in the Trackwrestling individual Northern Colorado 2-6 3-10 rankings at 133 pounds. Colgan moved up a spot as the ninth-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds in the Flowrestling, Trackwrestling and InterMat individual rankings. Branson Ashworth sits at No. 13 at #13 Northern Iowa 3-2 6-5 165 pounds in all polls, while Sam Turner is No. 23 according to Trackwrestling. Oklahoma 3-5 8-11 #5 Oklahoma State 8-0 13-2 More dual wins helped move UW in USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll. Wyoming is currently No. 14, which is UW’s highest team ranking in the coaches poll since being ranked tenth during the 2011-12 #15 South Dakota St. 8-0 14-2 season. UW is 12th in the Trackwrestling team rankings, and 13th in the Flowrestling team rankings. Utah Valley 4-4 8-6 West Virginia 4-4 6-7 The NCAA released the third coaches’ panel rankings for the 2017-18 wrestling season on Feb. 22. The rankings are to be one of the tools used as part of the selection process to determine the quali- #14 Wyoming 7-2 13-3 fiers for the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. *Rankings based off USA Today/NWCA Division I Two-time All-American Meredith leads UW as the top wrestler at 141 pounds. He is followed by Coaches Poll. Bridges ranked sixth at 133 pounds. Colgan is tenth at 157 pounds, while Ashworth is ranked 13th (165 pounds). Turner holds the 26th spot at 149 pounds. When looking at RPI, Meredith (sixth), Bridges (eighth), Ashworth (12th) and Colgan (23rd) are joined by Chaz Polson (30th) and Drake Foster (31st) in their respective weight classes. 2016 Big 12 Championship Led by Meredith’s runner-up finish at 141 pounds, Wyoming finished in fifth-place at last season’s Big 12 Championship. Meredith, Drew Templeman, Cole Mendenhall and Branson Ashworth all Follow Cowboy Wrestling secured their spots for the NCAA Championship, as Colgan joined them with an At-Large Bid. Okla- Twitter: @Wyowrestle homa State had eight total individual champions and took home first place with 176.5 points. UW Instagram: wyo.wrestle earned 71.5 points during the two-day tournament. Facebook: facebook.com/wyowrestle GOWYO.COM 2017-18 Wyoming Cowboy Wrestling Wyoming’s Big 12 Championship Lineup Big 12 Conference Automatic Bids Big 12 Partners with FloSports for 125: Drake Foster 125: 7 Winter Championships 133: Montorie Bridges 133: 5 141: Bryce Meredith 141: 3 IRVING, Texas -- The Big 12 Conference announced 149: Sam Turner 149: 5 an agreement with FloSports to live stream 157: Archie Colgan 157: 3 the 2018 Big 12 Wreslting Championships on 165: Branson Ashworth 165: 6 FloWrestling.com. 174: Kyle Pope 174: 5 The partnership will provide live and on-demand 184: Chaz Polson 184: 4 streaming coverage throughout the event. For 197: Luke Paine 197: 4 more information, visit http://www.FloSports.tv. 285: Sam Eagan 285: 3 FloSports, the innovator in live digital sports and Big 12 Championship Rundown original content, partners with event rights holders The Cowboys will send a stacked lineup to the Big 12 Championship this weekend. Seven Cowboys and governing bodies to unlock a world of sports have experience wrestling in a Big 12 Conference Championship. Meredith, Colgan are the only coverage that true fans have been waiting for. two that were a part of both the 2016 and 2017 events, while Foster competed at 133 pounds as Through live streaming of premier events, original a true freshman and Polson wrestled at 165 in 2016. Ashworth, Pope and Paine were first timers video programming, and weekly studio shows, a year ago. Bridges, Turner and Eagan will compete in postseason for the first time this weekend. FloSports is growing the sports, the events, the athletes and the fans. Current verticals under the 125 Pounds FloSports header are Basketball, MMA, Football, After redshirting a year ago, sophomore Drake Foster will return to the Big 12 Championship at Wrestling, Track, Gymnastics and more. 125 pounds. He competed 133 pounds as a true freshman in 2016. He is ranked 31st in RPI head- ing into postseason and is 2-4 against the field, with wins over Sean Williams of Fresno State and Sean Cannon of Northern Colorado. He owns an 18-10 overall record and will battle for one of seven spots for Nationals this weekend. Foster will take on Iowa State’s Sinjin Briggs in the pre- 2017 Big 12 Championship liminary round on Saturday morning. Team Results 1. Oklahoma State – 176.5 133 Pounds 2. Oklahoma – 93.5 Redshirt freshman Montorie Bridges will look to take one of five spots for the NCAA Champion- 3.