TULSA, Okla. – Following two weeks off from competition, the West Virginia University wrestling team makes its annual trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the 2024 Big 12 Championship on March 9-10.
The two-day event takes place inside the BOK Center for the eighth consecutive year, where 130 wrestlers from 13 schools battle on four mats to become conference champions, as well as clinch berths into the field of their respective weight class at the NCAA Championships.
Day one consists of the preliminary matches and quarterfinals beginning at 11 a.m., followed by the semifinals and the first two rounds of consolation bouts commencing at 6 p.m. Sunday's action kicks off with wrestlers dueling for third, fifth, and seventh place at 1 p.m., prior to the finals at 8:30 p.m.
Fans can tune in to watch the first three sessions on Big 12 Now on ESPN+, before switching over to ESPN2 for all 10 championship bouts, while following along with live stats on Trackwrestling throughout the weekend.
"The single most important goal is to qualify for the NCAA tournament and have a chance to fulfill your dream of becoming an All-American or national champion," sixth-year head coach
Tim Flynn said. "We've had a good stretch of training, so we're looking for improvement and to see the guys go out there, compete hard and get after it."
The Mountaineers go into the conference tournament with 10 opportunities to claim some of the 57 automatic bids granted to the Big 12 Conference last week to the NCAA Division I Championships in Kansas City, Missouri on March 21-23.
| Conference |
125 |
133 |
141 |
149 |
157 |
165 |
174 |
184 |
197 |
HWT |
Total |
| Big 12 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
57 |
Wt. Seed-Name Seed-Opponent
125 | No. 7
Jett Strickenberger Tucker Owens (Air Force)
133 |
Davin Rhoads No. 5 Julian Farber (Northern Iowa)
141 | No. 4
Jordan Titus Darren Green (California Baptist)
149 | No. 3
Ty Watters Joe Fernau (Air Force)
157 |
Caleb Dowling No. 5 Brock Mauller (Missouri)
165 | No. 3
Peyton Hall Brendan Howes (North Dakota State)
174 | No. 8
Brody Conley Mahonri Rushton (Utah Valley)
184 | No. 7
Dennis Robin Bye
197 | No. 8
Austin Cooley Julien Broderson (Iowa State)
285 | No. 7
Michael Wolfgram Bye
Of note, there have been three WVU wrestlers in program history to win a Big 12 Championship. Dylan Cottrell became the first to claim the crown at 165 pounds in 2017. Three years later, Noah Adams secured the second title at 197 pounds and moved to 32-0 on the season, before two-time All-American
Killian Cardinale ran the table in 2022 at 125 pounds.
At the completion of all seven conference tournaments, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee will meet in-person to select the remaining 47 at-large qualifiers and release them on Tuesday, March 12. Final brackets and seeding are set to be announced on Wednesday, March 13, via NCAA.com at 8 p.m. ET.
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit
WVUsports.com and follow WVUWrestling on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook.
