TULSA, Okla. – Sunday’s final session of the 2025 Big 12 Wrestling Championship entered the final match with Oklahoma State and Northern Iowa tied at 149.5 points. The heavyweight thriller saw OSU’s Wyatt Hendrickson use a takedown and escape to in the second period to help clinch his title at 285 pounds as well as the Cowboys’ team crown.
The team championship marks OSU's 54th conference tournament title in wrestling. Oklahoma State has now claimed 20 of the 29 Big 12 tournament trophies that have been awarded in conference history, as well as the 2012 and 2013 regular season titles in the only years it was awarded.
Oklahoma State coach David Taylor is the second coach in Big 12 history to win a team title in his first season as head coach, joining Cael Sanderson who won with Iowa State in 2007.
Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Championship by the league’s coaches. The Big 12 champ at 174 pounds was the No. 2 seed and defeated top-seeded Dean Hamiti from Oklahoma State with a 7-4 sudden victory. O’Toole became the first Missouri Tiger to earn the distinction since Ben Askren, who also wrestled at 174 pounds, at the 2004 Big 12 Championship.
Northern Iowa finished runner-up to the OSU after claiming the most individual championships with three. The Panthers received Big 12 crowns from Cael Happel at 141 pounds, Parker Keckeisen at 184 pounds and Wyatt Voelker at 197 pounds. The runner-up finish matched the program’s best performance at the Big 12 Championship since earning a runner-up finish in 2018.
Final Big 12 Championship Team Standings
- Oklahoma State - 153.5 points
- Northern Iowa – 149.5 points
- South Dakota State – 110 points
- Iowa State – 107.5 points
- Northern Colorado – 79.5 points
- West Virginia – 77.5 points
- Oklahoma – 72.5 points
- Missouri - 65.5 points
- North Dakota State – 58.5 points
- Wyoming – 58 points
- Arizona State – 43 points
- Utah Valley – 21.5 points
- California Baptist – 15 points
- Air Force – 11.5 points
125-Pound Division – Champion Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia)
Sunday evening’s first championship title was claimed by West Virginia’s Jett Strickenberger, the third seed, who scored two points at the end of the second period before earning the 5-2 sudden victory win over No. 4 Troy Spratley of Oklahoma State. The Big 12 championship was the first of Strickenberger’s career.
133-Pound Division – Champion Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado)
Northern Colorado’s Dominick Serrano used a takedown of Kyle Burwick from North Dakota State in the opening seconds of the first period to take an early lead that he would never relinquish. The second-seeded Serrano would continue to press Burwick through the match to earn an 11-4 victory to claim the Big 12 title at 133 pounds.
141-Pound Division – Champion Cael Happel (Northern Iowa)
No. 2 seed Cael Happel won the 141-pound title in a back-and-forth match, eventually earning an escape point in the third period before a riding time victory in overtime. His win over Tagen Jamison from Oklahoma State cut the Cowboys’ lead over the Panthers in the team rankings to eight points three matches into the championship session.
149-Pound Division – Champion Paniro Johnson (Iowa State)
Johnson secured a Conference title for Iowa State at 149 pounds two years after becoming the program’s first-ever Big 12 championship at 149 pounds. He dispatched the weight class’s top seed, Colin Realbuto from Northern Iowa in a battle of the top seeds in the division.
157-Pound Division – Champion Vincent Zerman (Northern Colorado)
Sixth-seeded Vincent Zerman from Northern Colorado opened a 5-2 lead with over two-and-a-half minutes of riding time over South Dakota State’s Cole Siebrecht. Zerman would retain a two-minute buffer in riding time before earning the 7-4 decision to give UNC its second Conference champion in the first five matches of Sunday evening.
165-Pound Division – Champion Peyton Hall (West Virginia)
The closest championship match of the night came at 165 pounds as West Virginia’s Peyton Hall held a one-point advantage with an escape from Missouri’s Cam Steed. Hall scored a second escape in the waning moments to secure the 2-0 decision. The title at 165, coupled with Strickenberger’s championship at 125 pounds, marked the first time in program history that West Virginia won multiple Big 12 crowns at the same conference championship.
174-Pound Division – Champion Keegan O’Toole (Missouri)
In the evening’s second championship match-up between the top two-seeded wrestlers, Oklahoma State’s Dean Hamiti scored first with a takedown in the battle of the unbeatens before Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole answered and flipped the script on the match. O’Toole won his third Big 12 title with a 7-4 sudden victory after winning the 165-pound title in 2024 and 2022.
184-Pound Division – Champion Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
The battle between UNI’s Parker Keckeisen and Oklahoma State’s Dustin Plott saw the top-seeded Panther score a takedown in each of the first two periods. Plott answered with an escape to end the second period down five points. Keckeisen sealed his championship with an escape enroute to his 8-1 victory and extended his undefeated season.
197-Pound Division – Champion Wyatt Voelker (Northern Iowa)
An even battle between Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Voelker and Luke Surber closed out the second period with a 1-0 score in favor of Voelker. Surber tied it immediately at the start of the third period with an escape before Voelker regained control of the match with takedown to secure the 4-1 victory for the 197-pound crown. Voelker’s title-clinching win over Surber also put the Panthers in a tie with the Cowboys in the overall team standings at 149.5 points entering the final match of the night.
285-Pound Division – Champion Wyatt Hendrickson (Oklahoma State)
With a chance to clinch the team championship for Oklahoma State with a win, Hendrickson faced Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz in the heavyweight championship. Both wrestlers exchanged takedowns before Schultz took a 4-3 lead with an escape that was answered by Hendrickson with an escape of his own. The 4-4 tie was broken by the Cowboy heavyweight with a takedown and an escape at the end of the second period with an 8-4 advantage. Schultz was limited to just one escape point in the third period as Hendrickson clinched the heavyweight title and his team’s team title.