TULSA, Okla. – With a massive lead heading into the championship session, Oklahoma State clinched the 2026 Big 12 Wrestling Championship after Casey Swiderski’s win at 149 pounds in the first match of the evening. The Cowboys finished the night with four titles in their championship matches in eight different weight classes.
OSU’s David Taylor became the second coach in Conference history to win the Big 12 Wrestling Championship in each of his first two seasons as head coach. The Cowboys’ star 133-pounder, Jax Forrest, gave Oklahoma State a sweep of titles, becoming the first freshman to be named Most Outstanding Wrestler since 2021.
Oklahoma State’s final team score of 176 points ranks second-most in Big 12 Championship history, trailing only the 176.5 points OSU scored in 2017. The Cowboys have now claimed 21 of the 30 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 won the team title by 32 points over second-place Iowa State. The Cyclones were one of three programs to win a pair of individual championships alongside Arizona State and Missouri.
Saturday’s finale set a championship session record in attendance with 7,044 fans inside the BOK Center.
Final Big 12 Championship Team Standings
- Oklahoma State – 176 points
- Iowa State - 144 points
- Arizona State – 94 points
- Missouri – 84.5 points
- West Virginia – 77.5 points
- South Dakota State – 76.5 points
- Oklahoma – 73 points
- Wyoming - 67.5 points
- North Dakota State – 54.5 points
- Northern Iowa – 51 points
- Air Force – 31.5 points
- Utah Valley – 31.5 points
- Cal Baptist – 21.5 points
- Northern Colorado – 15 points
125-Pound Division – Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State)
OSU’s Troy Spratley and Iowa State’s Stevo Poulin started the scoring action in their final period of the match. Poulin tallied an escape before Spratley countered with a reversal to take a 2-1 lead with a minute remaining. The Cowboys’ 125-pound top seed scored a technical fall and gave up an escape in the final seconds to win the title 5-2 in his third career championship final appearance.
133-Pound Division – Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State)
Freshman Jax Forrest from Oklahoma State was the only wrestler to record two take downs in the first period on Saturday night. After giving up an escape to ASU’s Kyler Larkin, Forrest kept up an unrelenting pace to push his lead to 12-1 after two periods. He went on to claim the title with a convincing 15-2 victory after earning bonus points in every match of the championship.
141-Pound Division – Sergio Vega (Oklahoma State)
A scoreless first period between Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega and ISU’s Anthony Echemendia gave way to an escape by Echemendia in the second period for the match’s first point. The Cyclones’ 141-pounder’s one-point lead was erased with an escape by Vega in the early moments of the third period. A 1-1 deadlock would carry over into double overtime before Vega won the title with a point scored from the bottom.
149-Pound Division – Casey Swiderski (Oklahoma State)
OSU’s Casey Swiderski opened the match with a takedown in the first period and never looked back. Caleb Rathjen from UNI would make a furious comeback attempt in the third period before Swiderski claimed the title by a final score of 5-3.
157-Pound Division – Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State)
The match’s first points went to ASU’s Kaleb Larkin with a takedown in the first period, which was answered by Landon Robideau for the Cowboys with a takedown in the second. Larkin’s 4-3 lead going into the third period would hold to win the title.
165-Pound Division – Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State)
A scoreless first period gave way to a 1-0 lead by Nicco Ruiz from Arizona State after an escape in the second period. The back-and-forth match would go into two overtime periods before a Ruiz escape of OSU’s LaDarion Lockett scored the winning point.
174-Pound Division – Cam Steed (Missouri)
Missouri’s Cam Steed scored the match’s first points with a nearfall in the second period that was answered by OSU’s Alex Facundo’s escape. An eventful opening of the third period saw Steed take a 9-4 lead, which held for a 10-6 victory for the title at 174 pounds.
184-Pound Division – Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri)
With an early takedown, Missouri’s Aeoden Sinclair lead from whistle to whistle to claim the 184-pound title. He added a second period escape and takedown of Wyoming’s Eddie Nietenbach enroute to the 8-1 victory.
197-Pound Division – Rocky Elam (Iowa State)
Wyoming’s Joey Novak opened the match with a takedown for a lead that grew to a 4-1 advantage through the first two periods. ISU’s Rocky Elam scored an escape and a takedown in the third period to take a 5-4 lead that would prove to be the winning score for the 197-pound championship title.
285-Pound Division – Yonger Bastida (Iowa State)
A scoreless first period between Yonger Bastida from ISU and Oklahoma State’s Konner Doucet ended with an one-point escape from Doucet in the opening seconds of the second period. Bastida answered with a takedown seconds after and added an escape in the final moments to secure the 4-1 victory and the heavyweight title.