Cowboy wrestling ready for Bedlam
Ben Elder
Asst. Sports Editor
Since 1996, Oklahoma State University’s wrestling squad has remained perfect against their Bedlam foe, the University of Oklahoma. This year, the No. 1 Cowboys (20-0, 4-0) will look to sweep the No. 7 Sooners (15-5, 1-3) in the second part of the Bedlam series, Sunday at 2 p.m. inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
“With it being Bedlam, you gotta bring your best,” coach John Smith said. “There are crazy things that happen in Bedlam and hopefully those crazy things will go in our favor.”
In the last match up against the Sooners, the top-ranked Cowboys barely escaped Norman with a 21-16 victory. The Cowboys had to rely on No. 1 junior heavyweight Steve Mocco for the victory.
Mocco’s success as a Cowboy continues to mount. As a starter, Mocco is a perfect 29-0. He has scored a total of 100 dual points for the Cowboys this season and has recorded 16 falls with the quickest coming in a mere 14 seconds. Not only that, but also he has denied all of his opponents a take-down this season and has been scored on only by escapes.
“Mocco has been a great contribution to the team this season,” junior Johny Hendricks said on behalf of his teammate. “Whenever it’s dual time, he gets in the zone and he is definitely a person that likes the competition.”
While Mocco has continued his perfection this season, other Cowboy wrestlers are taking the adversity they faced in the last match against the Sooners and using it as fuel for their fire.
“I just hate OU,” junior Zack Esposito said. “It’s just always great to beat them. I just hate them.”
Although it’s Bedlam weekend, the Cowboys are not necessarily training for OU, but are working on areas that they need to improve on.
“Obviously OU is on our minds,” Smith said. “As of now, we are focusing on areas that we need to get better in.”
The month of February has been a challenging one for the Cowboys. They have faced four top 20 teams and have used that experience to push themselves in preparation for the a third consecutive national championship.
“It’s just another weekend for us,” Esposito said. “It’s just another preparation till accomplishing our goal.”
The match itself will prove to be a challenging one for the Cowboys.
In Norman, top ranked senior Chris Pendleton lost his only match of the season to OU’s No. 9 E.K. Waldhaus.
This time around, the NCCA National Champion wants to make sure that all the fans will remember him as a winner.
“It’s going to be the last match a lot of people are going to see me wrestle,” Pendleton said. “So I want to leave them with a lasting impression.”
The Cowboys are looking for 14 straight wins against the Sooners and Smith believes the Cowboys will need all the help they can get.
“Tradition is not built on athletes alone, it’s built on the following,” Smith said. “For the most part, we would like to see that following on Sunday. So with that, we need everybody there. We need everybody and a friend.”
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