No. 24 WVU Opens Big 12 Action
MORGANTOWN. W. Va. (January 14, 2016) – The No. 24 West Virginia University wrestling team opens will host a pair of Big 12 duals at the WVU Coliseum this weekend. The Mountaineers will welcome No. 5 Oklahoma State to Morgantown on Friday for an 8 p.m. match before hosting No. 9 Oklahoma as part of Beauty and the Beast with WVU gymnastics at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets for both events are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and children and $2 per person for groups of 10 or more and can be purchased in advance at WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800-WVU-GAME. Students receive free admission with a valid WVU student ID. Fans who attend Fridays match against the Cowboys will receive free entry to Beauty and the Beast by showing their ticket stub.
Both matches will be streamed live on WVUsports.com. Live stats can be found at TrackWrestling.com.
“We look forward to kicking off the Big 12 duals season with OSU and OU,” said WVU head coach Sammie Henson. “We have had a solid week of prep and the men are hungry to wrestle. OSU is always tough, and we will have to bring our A-game.”
The Mountaineers and the Cowboys meet head-to-head for the 11th time in program history on Friday. Oklahoma State holds a 10-0 lead in a series that dates back to 1927, and took a 35-3 victory in Stillwater last season. The two have met three times as Big 12 opponents.
The 125-pound bout between No. 12/13 Zeke Moisey and No. 5 Eddie Klimara will highlight the match. The two have squared off three times, with Klimara holding a 2-1 advantage. However, Moisey won the most significant bout with a 5-2 decision in the 2015 NCAA Quarterfinals. No. 12/13 Dylan Cottrell and No. 7 Joe Smith at 157 pounds will also be a match to watch. Smith, who started the season as a redshirt freshman but has since joined the starting lineup, handed Cottrell his first loss of the season at the Joe Parisi Open. At 141 pounds, unranked Tony DeAngelo could face No. 1 Dean Heil. DeAngelo proved to be quite the challenge when the two met in early January, with Heil taking a 3-2 decision at the Southern Scuffle. The 133-pound bout was slated to be between a pair of true freshmen, both of whom started the season as redshirts, as Keegan Moore was expected to take on Kaid Brock. However, Brock was injured at the Southern Scuffle and is out for the remainder of the season.
A number of Mountaineers boast connections to both Oklahoma State and OU. Henson spent two seasons as an assistant coach for the Sooners before joining the staff at Missouri. Volunteer assistant Tyler Caldwell started his collegiate career with the Sooners before transferring to Oklahoma State for his final two seasons. Caldwell also was a volunteer for the Cowboys last season. Keegan Moore and Zachary Moore are natives of Oklahoma City and were recruited by both programs before coming to West Virginia.
WVU Projected Starters
125: No. 12/13 Zeke Moisey (So., 21-5)
133: Keegan Moore (Fr., 14-9) OR Cory Stainbrook (Jr., 5-6) OR Joe Wheeling (r-Fr., 4-3)
141: Tony DeAngelo (Jr., 12-11) OR Christian Monserrat (r-Fr., 9-6)
149: Zachary Moore (Fr., 10-7) OR James Dekrone (Sr., 7-5)
157: 13/12 Dylan Cottrell (Jr., 21-4)
165: Connor Flynn (Fr., 13-10)
174: Ross Renzi (Sr., 10-8)
184: Bubba Scheffel (Sr., 13-7)
197: No. 7 Jacob A. Smith (Jr., 18-6)
HWT: A.J. Vizcarrondo (Sr., 13-10)
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