Oklahoma State's Fix, Plott Advance To NCAA Wrestling Finals

Oklahoma State's Daton Fix and Dustin Plott advanced to the finals of the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships Friday night, as Fix became just the fourth four-time NCAA finalist in OSU history and Plott earned the first finals appearance of his career.

With one day remaining at the event, the Cowboys now sit in eighth place in the team standings and are one of only five teams with multiple wrestlers in the finals.

Fix continued his exciting run at the tournament with another dramatic bout, recording his second tiebreaker win of the day in a back-and-forth match that came down to the final seconds.

Squaring off with No. 5 Dylan Ragusin of Michigan, the wrestlers traded early escapes in the second and third periods to take a 1-1 score into sudden victory, then went scoreless in sudden victory to reach the tiebreaker at the same score.

Fix managed 28 seconds of riding time in the first half of the tiebreaker before the action was stopped for a long review. Following the review Ragusin was credited with an escape and a 2-1 lead entering the final 30-second period.

After starting on bottom, Fix made a frenzied effort to escape and Ragusin was quickly called for locked hands. After another lengthy review, the call was confirmed and Fix was awarded a point with less than 10 seconds remaining and the riding time advantage secured to force Ragusin to give an escape. Fix then fended off Ragusin to earn a 3-2 victory and his spot in the NCAA finals.

No. 3 Plott continued steamrolling his path with his fourth bonus-point win in as many matches in the tournament, this time barreling past No. 2 Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota with an 11-2 major decision to give the Golden Gopher just his second loss of the season.

He scored three takedowns in the bout and added an escape and riding time point to reach his double-digit point total yet again and earn his first career appearance in the NCAA finals.

Plott's 61 total match points scored rank third among all wrestlers at this year's tournament, regardless of weight class, and his 20.5 total team points scored rank fourth.

Cowboy 165-pounder Izzak Olejnik provided some fireworks of his own in the session, as he made a third period comeback and won an upset in sudden victory, 9-6, over No. 5 Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin in the consolation bracket to secure All-America honors for the second straight season.

He followed that with another impressive win in the consolation quarterfinals, knocking off Nebraska's eighth-seeded Antrell Taylor, 2-0, with a second-period ride out to reach Saturday morning's consolation semifinal.

Cowboy Troy Spratley also wrestled in the first consolation round of the night at 125 pounds, but fell to Tanner Jordon of South Dakota State, leaving him one win short of All-America honors as a freshman.

Oklahoma State's run at the NCAA Championship concludes Saturday on the final day of the event, with Olejnik wrestling in the morning session at 10 a.m. on ESPNU and Fix and Plott wrestling in the finals at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

Olejnik faces No. 6 Michael Caliendo of Iowa for a spot in the third-place match, while Fix faces No. 6 Vito Arujau of Cornell and Plott faces No. 1 Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Fix and Plott are each aiming for their first career NCAA title, and Olejnik has already secured the highest finish of his career.