Friday, December 8
Stillwater, Okla.
8:00 PM
Lehigh University
at
Oklahoma State
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
No. 20 Lehigh To Visit No. 11 Oklahoma State Friday Night
12/6/2023 4:08:00 PM | Men's Wrestling
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - No. 20 Lehigh will close out fall semester dual action with its third ranked opponent in as many duals when the Mountain Hawks visit No. 11 Oklahoma State Friday night at historic Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Mountain Hawks are searching for their first dual win of 2023-24 after falling 30-10 at No. 1 Penn State on Sunday. Wins by sophomore Sheldon Seymour (125) and first-year Ryan Crookham (133) staked Lehigh to an early 6-0 lead, but Penn State won seven of the final eight bouts, scoring bonus points in four of those wins. Michael Beard also picked up his second dual win of the season for Lehigh. Crookham is now ranked No. 1 in the nation at 133 by both InterMat and FloWrestling after defeating No. 3 Aaron Nagao for his second top five win of the season.
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Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings InterMat 12/5/23)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)Â Â
      Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)  Â
133 No. 1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 11 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)Â
      Carter Bailey (So., Livermore, Calif.)
149 Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
157 No. 25 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)Â
165 No. 33 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
174 Thayne Lawrence (So., Perryopolis, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
184 Caden Rogers (Fy., Lancaster, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
      Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 9 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â
285 No. 16 Nathan Taylor (So.. Brookville, Pa.)Â
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No. 20 Lehigh started fast and battled throughout the afternoon, but No. 1 Penn State had too much firepower in the end as the defending national champion Nittany Lions knocked off the Mountain Hawks 30-10 Dec. 3 at Rec Hall. First-year Ryan Crookham picked up his second top-five win of the early season, while junior Michael Beard earned a major decision victory in his return to his former school. Sophomore Sheldon Seymour opened the dual with a 4-1 win over Gary Steen at 125, with the winning takedown awarded by the officials after review after time expired. Crookham used two second period takedowns to defeat No. 3 Aaron Nagao 6-4 at 133. Beard stopped a six-match Penn State run with a major decision win over Lucas Cochran.
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Deferred first-year Ryan Crookham picked up his second win over a top five-ranked wrestler of the season with a 6-4 decision over Penn State's Aaron Nagao on Dec. 4. The win moved Crookham into the No. 1 spot in the latest InterMat rankings. Last month, Crookham earned EIWA and nationals after knocking off Cornell's then top-ranked Vito Arujau, the defending NCAA champion and a recently-crowned world champion, in the finals of the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. The win was the first ever for a Lehigh wrestler over a reigning world or Olympic champion. He was recognized as the EIWA Wrestler of the Week and the NCAA Wrestler of the Week. Crookham became the second Lehigh wrestler in as many seasons to knock off a top-ranked wrestler. Michael Beard defeated then-No. 1 Max Dean of Penn State last December. That win vaulted Crookham to No. 1 in the FloWrestling rankings. Crookham is off to an 8-0 start this season, after going 8-1 last year and earning Lehigh's Deferred Eligibility Wrestler of the Year award at the year-end Lewis Dinner. He is the first Lehigh wrestler to be ranked No 1 since Darian Cruz in the 2017-18 season. Crookham could face another top five foe Friday in Oklahoma State's Daton Fix.
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Four Mountain Hawks have made their first dual appearances in the Brown and White through two duals. True first-years Luke Stanich (125) and Matt Repos (149) and deferred first-year Caden Rogers (184) made their first career dual appearances against Pittsburgh, while sophomore Jack Wilt wrestled his first career dual when he got the nod at 184 against Penn State.
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Six Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from InterMat, FloWrestling and WrestleStat, while, four Mountain Hawks are ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat. Ryan Crookham's win over Penn State's Aaron Nagao was his second this season over a wrestler ranked in the top five and vaulted Crookham into the No. 1 spot according to both InterMat and FloWrestling. Crookham, juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are ranked across all five outlets.
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Oklahoma State kicks off a busy weekend of action by hosting Lehigh on Friday night. The 11th-ranked Cowboys will visit rival Oklahoma on Sunday for one of their annual Bedlam duals. Oklahoma State defeated Bucknell 38-6 at home on Nov. 10. Last weekend, the Cowboys competed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where they finished in ninth place. Izzak Olejnik won the title at 165 and was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week. Oklahoma State has eight wrestlers ranked by InterMat, led by Olejnik, who is No. 2 at 165. Daton Fix (133) and Dustin Plott (184) are both ranked third at their respective weights. Oklahoma State has won a NCAA-best 34 team national championships in wrestling and has a Division I-best 143 individual national champions and 485 All-Americans. American wrestling legend John Smith is in his 33rd season as head coach at his alma mater.
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This will be the 15th all-time meeting between Lehigh and Oklahoma State with the Cowboys leading 13-2. Lehigh's wins were at Stabler Arena in November 2019 and the 2008 Northeast Duals in Pat Santoro's first season. Lehigh is 2-4 against Oklahoma State under Santoro.
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Friday's dual begins at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT from Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. The dual will be streamed on ESPN+ with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 7:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. CT.
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Lehigh will pause for final exams and will return to action when the Mountain Hawks host the Sheridan Tournament, Friday, Dec. 22 at Stabler Arena. The Sheridan Tournament returns for the first time since December 1999 with Lehigh welcoming wrestlers from Army, Binghamton, Brown, Central Michigan, Cornell, Franklin & Marshall, Indiana and Rutgers. Action begins at 10 a.m.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on X/Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Lehigh Probable Starters (Rankings InterMat 12/5/23)
125 Sheldon Seymour (So., Troy, Pa.)Â Â
      Luke Stanich (Fy., Roxbury, N.J.)  Â
133 No. 1 Ryan Crookham (Fy., Hellertown, Pa.)
141 No. 11 Malyke Hines (Jr., Kissimmee, Fla.)Â
      Carter Bailey (So., Livermore, Calif.)
149 Drew Munch (Jr., East Stroudsburg, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
157 No. 25 Max Brignola (Jr., Fair Haven, N.J.)Â
165 No. 33 Jake Logan (Jr., New Rochelle, N.Y.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
174 Thayne Lawrence (So., Perryopolis, Pa.)Â Â Â Â
184 Caden Rogers (Fy., Lancaster, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
      Jack Wilt (So., Madison, N.J.)
197 No. 9 Michael Beard (Jr., Reading, Pa.)Â Â Â Â Â Â
285 No. 16 Nathan Taylor (So.. Brookville, Pa.)Â
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No. 20 Lehigh started fast and battled throughout the afternoon, but No. 1 Penn State had too much firepower in the end as the defending national champion Nittany Lions knocked off the Mountain Hawks 30-10 Dec. 3 at Rec Hall. First-year Ryan Crookham picked up his second top-five win of the early season, while junior Michael Beard earned a major decision victory in his return to his former school. Sophomore Sheldon Seymour opened the dual with a 4-1 win over Gary Steen at 125, with the winning takedown awarded by the officials after review after time expired. Crookham used two second period takedowns to defeat No. 3 Aaron Nagao 6-4 at 133. Beard stopped a six-match Penn State run with a major decision win over Lucas Cochran.
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Deferred first-year Ryan Crookham picked up his second win over a top five-ranked wrestler of the season with a 6-4 decision over Penn State's Aaron Nagao on Dec. 4. The win moved Crookham into the No. 1 spot in the latest InterMat rankings. Last month, Crookham earned EIWA and nationals after knocking off Cornell's then top-ranked Vito Arujau, the defending NCAA champion and a recently-crowned world champion, in the finals of the Journeymen Collegiate Classic. The win was the first ever for a Lehigh wrestler over a reigning world or Olympic champion. He was recognized as the EIWA Wrestler of the Week and the NCAA Wrestler of the Week. Crookham became the second Lehigh wrestler in as many seasons to knock off a top-ranked wrestler. Michael Beard defeated then-No. 1 Max Dean of Penn State last December. That win vaulted Crookham to No. 1 in the FloWrestling rankings. Crookham is off to an 8-0 start this season, after going 8-1 last year and earning Lehigh's Deferred Eligibility Wrestler of the Year award at the year-end Lewis Dinner. He is the first Lehigh wrestler to be ranked No 1 since Darian Cruz in the 2017-18 season. Crookham could face another top five foe Friday in Oklahoma State's Daton Fix.
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Four Mountain Hawks have made their first dual appearances in the Brown and White through two duals. True first-years Luke Stanich (125) and Matt Repos (149) and deferred first-year Caden Rogers (184) made their first career dual appearances against Pittsburgh, while sophomore Jack Wilt wrestled his first career dual when he got the nod at 184 against Penn State.
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Six Lehigh wrestlers appear in the latest rankings from InterMat, FloWrestling and WrestleStat, while, four Mountain Hawks are ranked by Amateur Wrestling News and The Open Mat. Ryan Crookham's win over Penn State's Aaron Nagao was his second this season over a wrestler ranked in the top five and vaulted Crookham into the No. 1 spot according to both InterMat and FloWrestling. Crookham, juniors Malyke Hines (141) and Michael Beard (197) and sophomore Nathan Taylor (285) are ranked across all five outlets.
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Oklahoma State kicks off a busy weekend of action by hosting Lehigh on Friday night. The 11th-ranked Cowboys will visit rival Oklahoma on Sunday for one of their annual Bedlam duals. Oklahoma State defeated Bucknell 38-6 at home on Nov. 10. Last weekend, the Cowboys competed at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where they finished in ninth place. Izzak Olejnik won the title at 165 and was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week. Oklahoma State has eight wrestlers ranked by InterMat, led by Olejnik, who is No. 2 at 165. Daton Fix (133) and Dustin Plott (184) are both ranked third at their respective weights. Oklahoma State has won a NCAA-best 34 team national championships in wrestling and has a Division I-best 143 individual national champions and 485 All-Americans. American wrestling legend John Smith is in his 33rd season as head coach at his alma mater.
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This will be the 15th all-time meeting between Lehigh and Oklahoma State with the Cowboys leading 13-2. Lehigh's wins were at Stabler Arena in November 2019 and the 2008 Northeast Duals in Pat Santoro's first season. Lehigh is 2-4 against Oklahoma State under Santoro.
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Friday's dual begins at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT from Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. The dual will be streamed on ESPN+ with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 7:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. CT.
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Lehigh will pause for final exams and will return to action when the Mountain Hawks host the Sheridan Tournament, Friday, Dec. 22 at Stabler Arena. The Sheridan Tournament returns for the first time since December 1999 with Lehigh welcoming wrestlers from Army, Binghamton, Brown, Central Michigan, Cornell, Franklin & Marshall, Indiana and Rutgers. Action begins at 10 a.m.
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The 2023-24 Lehigh wrestling season is presented by the Historic Hotel Bethlehem.
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| Date: | December 8, 2023 |
| Opponent: | No. 11 Oklahoma State Cowboys |
| First match: | 7 p.m. (CT) |
| Arena: | Gallagher-Iba Arena |
| Location: | Stillwater, Okla. |
| Lehigh's record: | 0-2 overall, 0-0 EIWA |
| Oklahoma State's record: | 1-0 overall, 0-0 Big 12 |
| Series: | Oklahoma State leads 13-2 |
| Streak: | Oklahoma State was won the last two duals |
| Television: | None |
| Radio: | Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM in Easton |
| Internet broadcast: | Video on ESPN+ Audio at LVFoxSports.com |
Like Lehigh Wrestling on Facebook and follow on X/Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
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Players Mentioned
133/141
/ Men's Wrestling
197
/ Men's Wrestling
157
/ Men's Wrestling
133
/ Men's Wrestling
141
/ Men's Wrestling
174
/ Men's Wrestling
165
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
149
/ Men's Wrestling
184
/ Men's Wrestling
125
/ Men's Wrestling
125/133
/ Men's Wrestling
285
/ Men's Wrestling
184
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