The South Dakota State wrestling team lost their first Big 12 match this season to No. 1 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Three Jackrabbits were victorious Jan. 22 as sophomore Seth Gross, junior David Kocer and junior Nate Rotert all had upset wins, but the Jackrabbits fell to the Cowboys 31-9. SDSU is now 8-3 overall on the season and 4-1 in the Big 12. OSU improved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big 12.

Ranked No. 7 by InterMat, Seth Gross (19-1) beat the then-undefeated No. 2 Kaid Brock (16-1) 6-4 and the win earned him both the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week and FloWrestling Wrestler of the Week. 

“I just look at going out there and wrestling the best I can and putting points on the board and I wrestled, probably not my best match, but I was able to get the job done,” Gross said. 

Eighth-ranked Rotert beat fourth-ranked Preston Weigel 3-1, and avenged his Big 12 championship match loss from last year, where Weigel beat Rotert on a decision 4-4. 

“This match will help me become a national champion because it builds the belief in myself. I got a whole team that believes in me, a whole coaching staff, a whole university but put it in my own head that I belong there,” Rotert said. 

No. 20 Kocer defeated fifth-ranked Kyle Crutchmer 7-2, which was the same score Crutchmer beat Kocer by last year. 

“I just wanted to get to my attacks and work my stuff and wrestle my match,” Kocer said. 

For the Cowboys, Nolan Boyd clinched his 100th win as he defeated Martin Mueller by technical foul, or fifteen points. 

“We got tested in a few different matches,” Cowboys Head Coach John Smith said.

InterMat releases their individual rankings later in the week, but one could assume that, with the three victorious, the Jackrabbits will see a boost in their ranking as they all defeated guys within the top five rankings. 

The Jackrabbits will travel to Edwardsville, Illinois Saturday, Jan. 28 to take on SIU-Edwardsville and Gardner-Webb.