Grapplers Start New Year with Smith at 174 and at Home vs. Northern Colorado
STILLWATER -- The new year sees Oklahoma State wrestling still scuffling after successfully taking the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn. with just one individual champion. but there were enough points to edge North Carolina State by seven. Now, the Cowboys, who dropped an early season dual on the road at Lehigh will start working their way back up the rankings with a home dual Sunday against Big 12 wrestling member Northern Colorado.
"I'm kind of glad we won the tournament, hadn't won it in awhile," head coach and wrestling legend John Smith said earlier this week. "I was kind of surprised we had just one individual champion. I thought we'd have more than that. In the end we had some guys that had some really nice tournament that help punch us to the victory."
Oklahoma State is a team that is beat up some by injury, missing their best wrestler overall as Daton Fix works toward next summer's Olympics with an Olympic red-shirt year, and looking to plug in wrestlers that could help the Cowboys maximize what appears to be a talent-short roster that will be bolstered by a national top recruiting class and the return of Fix next school year.
Smith is hoping that the experience in the Southern Scuffle will help.
"It really identifies what you're not doing pretty quickly," Smith said of the multiple matches each wrestler gets in the tournament. "Each wrestler pays attention and goes back and reviews their matches then they should get a lot better. Coming off five, six, seven matches against Division I wrestlers then you need to be getting better. That is what I hope to see this weekend (Northern Colorado) is guys getting better."
One of those wrestlers hoping to get better and help the Cowboys is Joe Smith. The saga of Smith is just getting starting for his senior and final season wrestling. The former three-time Oklahoma State champion that lost just once in his prep career and then earned All-American status as both a freshman and a sophomore has seen tough times the last couple of years, especially last season.
His weight has been an issue and now he is wrestling at 174-pounds, the heaviest he's competed in his life. He said it helps, but he did not make his season debut until the Southern Scuffle and after routs over Michael Reiniche of Finger Lakes (12-3) and Luke Nicksic of VMI (13-1), Smith lost in the round of 16 on a 7-2 decision to Lorenzo De la riva of North Dakota State. He then forfeit the next match to Dean Caravela of Navy.
"Ah man, it was a good experience and I needed it just to remember what it's like to wrestle good competition," said Smith, who finished last season 21-8 after wrestling some at 165 pounds and then bumping up in the Big 12 Tournament to 174. "You know (you have to) get out there against tough competition because you can train as long as you want but if you don't get out there and compete, you forget what it takes to be on top. That's what I got out of it is a reminder of what it takes to be on top."
"Joe wrestled a couple of good matches at the start and then seemed to hit the wall with his weight," said the head coach and father.
Honestly, nobody that covers Oklahoma State wrestling was sure if Smith would be seen on the mat this season. He wasn't mentioned preseason by his dad, but the word was he was still in the room working out. Lets not forget that it is not easy wrestling at Oklahoma State with the last name Smith. The expectations are big, the opponents relish the opportunity to try and take you down.
"Division I wrestling is not easy, no one said it was going to be. But it can be fun," Joe Smith said. "You can make it fun or you can make it really tough on yourself and I've done a little of both, I think I've made it more fun toward the end of the year, obviously, not last year but in my freshman and sophomore years. You can't cut corners with your preparation or your weight and if you do it can be really rough. I've done a little of both, like I said, so."
So, now Joe Smith begins to write the final chapter of his wrestling career with the hope that he can turn things around and finish it closer to the way he started it.
