Cowboy wrestling falls to Minnesota in NWCA tournament finals

When the Cowboys returned from Norman on Thursday night after a less than satisfactory showing, their performance was not the only issue.

The other problem showed on Sunday in Oklahoma State's 18-13 loss to Minnesota in the NWCA National Dual finals—injuries.

The Cowboys trailed by two entering the final match of the dual between the heavyweights. If the Cowboys were healthy, it would have been undefeated No. 3 Alan Gelogaev against No. 4 Tony Nelson for Minnesota.

Gelogaev, however, will not be available for the Cowboys for the rest of the season. He suffered a season-ending injury in his Bedlam match on Thursday. Coach John Smith declined comment on the type of injury.

"There's only a couple of injuries that you can have to make them season-ending, I'll just tell you that," Smith said. "There's a lot of tough guys that can wrestle with injuries, but this is one that you just can't."

Instead, OSU turned to true freshman Austin Marsden.

Marsden was the hero of the semifinal match against Illinois winning 3-2 with a late takedown in the third period to give the Cowboys a victory.

In the finals, Marsden was in the same situation, but Nelson was too much as Minnesota ended Oklahoma States undefeated season.

Smith said he was pleased with what he saw from his freshman heavyweight, considering the circumstances.

"He did a good job," Smith said. "For a true freshman stepping in and needing him in a hurry and finding out yesterday that he's in and out of redshirt, he did fine."

With the Cowboys at a disadvantage at what has been one of their strengths, Smith said his team had to win some of the matches that were expected to be close.

Smith said those matches were at 157, 165 and 197 pounds, and the Cowboys lost two of the three.

"Bottom line is that dual meets, when you have someone injured, you know that you've got to have upsets," Smith said. "You've got to pull them off. We didn't quite get it done."

Though his team has lost a vital part of its lineup, its goals should not change, Smith said. His team will have to work harder to make up for Gelogaev's absence.

"It's easy to lay down and say there's no way we can compete for a national championship now, but I'm going to dig in," Smith said. "I'm going to dig my heels in and ask more from guys, and let's not let this year just slip for our team goals."    

sports@ocolly.com