TULSA, Okla. – Sunday night couldn't have been any sweeter, as redshirt senior Killian Cardinale led off the final session of the 2022 Big 12 Wrestling Championship by capturing the third Big 12 title in West Virginia University wrestling history inside a packed BOK Center.

"I can't say enough about how Killian is wrestling," fourth-year coach Tim Flynn said. "It's such a long season and so much work goes into it, but I certainly knew that he had that potential."

Cardinale, the top seed at 125 pounds, claimed an 8-3 decision over 2021 Big 12 Champion and third-seeded Brody Teske (Northern Iowa). After a scoreless first period, the West Virginia Mountaineer pulled off an escape seven seconds into the second, followed by a four-point combination of a takedown and near fall to cruise into the third up 5-1. He scored another takedown and locked up the riding time to seal the five-point victory.
 
The Bristow, Virginia, native joins former WVU standouts Dylan Cottrell (2017) and Noah Adams (2020) as the only other Mountaineers to reach the top of the Big 12 since West Virginia moved to the conference in 2012, and becomes the second to do it during Flynn's tenure.

He now sets his sights on another prize in the form of a second All-American nod at the 2022 Division I Wrestling Championships in Detroit, as the second-year Mountaineer can become the first grappler in school history to capture a conference championship as well as a top-8 finish on the mat at nationals in the same season.

Five bouts later at 165 pounds, sophomore Peyton Hall walked onto the mat to face off against the top-seeded Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) in a rematch from the duo's previous meeting in the finals of the Southern Scuffle back on Jan. 2.

Hall, in a hard-fought battle, finished second after falling to O'Toole, 13-7, to round out the Mountaineers weekend at the Big 12 Championship. The sophomore scored the first takedown of the match to take an early 2-0 lead in his Big 12 finals debut. His lead was short-lived though as O'Toole responded with two takedowns and an escape for a 5-3 advantage heading into the second period. The wrestlers went back-and-forth from there, where Hall would score the first two points of the second and third, before the Missouri Tiger answered right back with the escape-takedown combination in both cases to eventually seal the win.

Prior to the championship rounds, redshirt junior Alex Hornfeck (157) cruised to a 8-2 decision and redshirt sophomore Michael Wolfgram (HWT) nailed down a 3-1 decision to place seventh in their respective brackets. Tied at 1-1 late in the third period, Wolfgram found the opening he needed, as the York, Pennsylvania, native secured a takedown on North Dakota State's Brandon Metz with one second remaining in the match.

Additionally, redshirt sophomores Jeffrey Boyd (149) and Anthony Carman (184), and sophomore Dennis Robin (174) placed eighth.

Of note, Cardinale, Hall, and Robin have each clinched a trip to the NCAA Championships in Detroit, while Boyd, Hornfeck, Carman, and Wolfgram look forward with anticipation for the NCAA committee's announcement of who will be awarded one of the remaining 43 at-large bids on Tuesday, March 8.

Final brackets and seeding are set to be revealed on Wednesday, March 9, at 6 p.m. ET. Coverage of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Selection Show will be streamed at NCAA.com.
 
As a team, West Virginia scored 62 points to place seventh in the final championship standings, while landing seven wrestlers on the podium to match a program-best set by the 2015-16 squad. 

"I'm pleased. We moved up from ninth to seventh, scored more points, had a lot of place winners and a Big 12 Champion," Flynn said. "Our program is improving, not at the rate that we want it, but man, we're getting better."
 
Missouri claimed the Big 12 crown after registering 131.5 points and making its return to the conference in the spring of 2021. Oklahoma (113), Iowa State (110), Oklahoma State (107.5), and Northern Iowa (100) rounded out the top five.
 
Finals
125: Killian Cardinale (WVU) dec. Brody Teske (Northern Iowa), 8-3 – [Champion]
165: Keegan O'Toole (Missouri) dec. Peyton Hall (WVU), 13-7 – [Runner-up]

Consolations
149: Gaven Sax (NDSU) major dec. Jeffrey Boyd (WVU), 12-5 – [8^th place]
157: Alex Hornfeck (WVU) dec. Kenny O`Neil (SDSU), 8-2 – [7^th place]
174: Joel Devine (Iowa State) dec. Dennis Robin (WVU), 7-0 – [8^th place]
184: Tate Samuelson (UW) won by fall Anthony Carman (WVU), (T – 1:40) – [8^th place]
HWT: Michael Wolfgram (WVU) dec. Brandon Metz (NDSU), 3-1 – [7^th place]
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.