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DallasSmithvsUCO
Dr. Wesley Kluck

Wrestling Josh Fink

Ouachita Wrestling Suffers Loss In First Home Meet Of Season

ARKADELPHIA, Ark.- The Ouachita Tigers hosted what was just their second home meet in the history of the program on Saturday, as No. 6 University of Central Oklahoma came to town. Coming into the match, the Tigers knew that they were in for a battle and the Bronchos gave them just that. As the match came to its conclusion and the dust finally settled, the Tigers saw themselves trailing in the overall team score by a final score of 29-12.

"We got what we expected from UCO - a tough match, but I was hoping for a little more from some of our guys," said Head Coach Kevin Ward. "They are a very good team and they out wrestled us in every way in 7 out of 10 matches.  We are going to grow and learn from this loss and keep making strides. We have a resilient group of guys so I'm not worried about that."
Ouachita's Garrett Evans, number seven in the nation in the 125 lb weight class coming into the meet, started things off on the right foot, taking a 3-2 decision over Ryan Brooks of UCO. In the 133 lb weight class, Cole Bundy was unable to continue the trend, taking a loss to the Broncho's Dustin Reed by a score of 13-5.

In the 141 lb weight class, Ouachita's Josh Myers, who came into the match ranked number eight in the nation, was upset by UCO's Casy Rowell by a score of 4-3. Dexter Carter faced off against Ky Corley from UCO in the 149 lb weight class and was unable to keep up, as Corley took the match by a score of 18-6. Due to an injury in a previous event, the Bronchos were forced to forfeit the 157 lb weight class, giving Bobby Williams the win for Ouachita.

The only fall of the day came in the 165 lb class, as UCO's Chris Watson was able to pin Ouachita's Phillip Dolan at the 4:26 mark of the match. Following the pin by Watson, Ouachita's Gabe Musser took the mat in the 174 lb class, taking on Kelly Henderson from UCO. Henderson was just too much for Musser, taking their match by a score of 12-3 and setting the stage for what might have been the most anticipated match of the day.

Ouachita's Dallas Smith came into the meet ranked number five in the nation in the 184 lb weight class while UCO's Tanner Keck came in ranked number two. Both wrestlers fought hard, but in the end, Ouachita's Smith walked away with a hard-earned victory by a score of 4-0.

"Dallas wrestled with a lot of energy and showed a lot of toughness out there," said Ward.  It was a good win against the No.2 guy in the country."

CJ Hays took the mat for the Tigers in the 197 lb weight class, slated to face off with UCO's Jarrett Edison. Hays was unable to counter Edison's energy, falling by a score of 10-0 in the match heading into the heavyweight class. Taylor Poe stepped into the circle for the Tigers in the heavyweights, while Cody Dauphin occupied the position for the Bronchos. Poe was unable to get anything going against Dauphin and ended up falling by a final score of 8-0, closing up the match.

"What's important for our team to understand is that our schedule doesn't get much easier, and we need to prepare ourselves mentally for these types of battles," commented Ward. "I am looking forward to seeing how we rebound against a very tough Oklahoma City team."

-Josh Fink, Sports Information Director

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