- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 411,582
- Reaction score
- 43
PHILADELPHIA — For weeks, Teague Travis believed his wrestling season was over.
A knee injury in his second match of the year seemed to have sealed his fate.
So the Oklahoma State redshirt junior went to work on the rehabilitation process — which turned out to take less time than anyone expected.
On Thursday morning, Travis was the first Cowboy on the mat at the NCAA Championships, winning his preliminary-round match at 149 pounds via major decision at the Wells Fargo Center.
With his points contribution, the third-ranked Cowboys ended the opening session of the tournament in second place with 15.5 points, trailing heavy favorite Penn State at 24.
Travis was set to wrestle again Thursday night in an elimination match against 16th-seeded Trae McDaniel of Army. Having earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships despite having wrestled just seven matches all season, Travis was given the bottom seed in the bracket, No. 33.
More: Inside Wyatt Hendrickson's unique journey from Air Force to Oklahoma State wrestling
He defeated 32nd-seeded Wynton Denkins of Campbell in the preliminary round — affectionately known as the pig-tail match — before losing a hard-fought 4-0 decision against top-seeded and undefeated Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech. That dropped Travis into Thursday night’s elimination round.
But the fact that Travis was at the NCAAs at all remains the more impressive feat.
Travis was OSU’s starter at 157 pounds to begin the year, but the injury on Nov. 17 appeared to end his season. He didn’t step on a mat for eight weeks, and was similarly limited in the workouts he could do to stay in shape.
“He had his injury and guys can take two routes,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “He could’ve said he was done until next year, but he started feeling good and just followed his plan.
“He would always work it. As he could get on the bike, he was on the bike. As he could train, he was training. He took the initiative to get his weight down and to get in great shape. He’s hungry and excited to compete.”
Travis slimmed down to 149 pounds, leading Taylor to insert him in the lineup over year-long starter Carter Young ahead of the Big 12 Championships.
Despite having not wrestled at the weight all season, Travis won three matches to finish fourth and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
That was the big risk. Without an automatic bid, Travis would not have qualified as an at-large candidate. Had he not qualified, the year would have been lost.
More: NCAA wrestling championships scores, live updates: How to watch OSU wrestling on Day 1
“We were talking about trying to get a medical redshirt,” Travis said. “Then I started feeling better around January.
“I was with our strength coach, Nick (Montoni) and we were just making up workouts every day, thinking of the hardest stupid thing we could do. And I would do it every day.”
When Travis was cleared to wrestle, his weight was higher than he wanted, but he went to work cutting the extra pounds. Then he had to make the decision if he really wanted to wrestle.
And that might’ve been the easiest part.
“It was a lot of pressure, but it was worth the risk,” Travis said. “It was good to know that it was for something.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Gamble paid off for Teague Travis, OSU wrestling at NCAA Championships
Continue reading...
A knee injury in his second match of the year seemed to have sealed his fate.
So the Oklahoma State redshirt junior went to work on the rehabilitation process — which turned out to take less time than anyone expected.
On Thursday morning, Travis was the first Cowboy on the mat at the NCAA Championships, winning his preliminary-round match at 149 pounds via major decision at the Wells Fargo Center.
With his points contribution, the third-ranked Cowboys ended the opening session of the tournament in second place with 15.5 points, trailing heavy favorite Penn State at 24.
Travis was set to wrestle again Thursday night in an elimination match against 16th-seeded Trae McDaniel of Army. Having earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships despite having wrestled just seven matches all season, Travis was given the bottom seed in the bracket, No. 33.
More: Inside Wyatt Hendrickson's unique journey from Air Force to Oklahoma State wrestling
He defeated 32nd-seeded Wynton Denkins of Campbell in the preliminary round — affectionately known as the pig-tail match — before losing a hard-fought 4-0 decision against top-seeded and undefeated Caleb Henson of Virginia Tech. That dropped Travis into Thursday night’s elimination round.
But the fact that Travis was at the NCAAs at all remains the more impressive feat.
Travis was OSU’s starter at 157 pounds to begin the year, but the injury on Nov. 17 appeared to end his season. He didn’t step on a mat for eight weeks, and was similarly limited in the workouts he could do to stay in shape.
“He had his injury and guys can take two routes,” OSU coach David Taylor said. “He could’ve said he was done until next year, but he started feeling good and just followed his plan.
“He would always work it. As he could get on the bike, he was on the bike. As he could train, he was training. He took the initiative to get his weight down and to get in great shape. He’s hungry and excited to compete.”
Travis slimmed down to 149 pounds, leading Taylor to insert him in the lineup over year-long starter Carter Young ahead of the Big 12 Championships.
Despite having not wrestled at the weight all season, Travis won three matches to finish fourth and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
That was the big risk. Without an automatic bid, Travis would not have qualified as an at-large candidate. Had he not qualified, the year would have been lost.
More: NCAA wrestling championships scores, live updates: How to watch OSU wrestling on Day 1
“We were talking about trying to get a medical redshirt,” Travis said. “Then I started feeling better around January.
“I was with our strength coach, Nick (Montoni) and we were just making up workouts every day, thinking of the hardest stupid thing we could do. And I would do it every day.”
When Travis was cleared to wrestle, his weight was higher than he wanted, but he went to work cutting the extra pounds. Then he had to make the decision if he really wanted to wrestle.
And that might’ve been the easiest part.
“It was a lot of pressure, but it was worth the risk,” Travis said. “It was good to know that it was for something.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Gamble paid off for Teague Travis, OSU wrestling at NCAA Championships
Continue reading...
