Wrestling to Open Postseason at Big 12 Championship

Friday, March 6

Tulsa, Okla. | BOK Center

All Day

University of Oklahoma

Big 12 Championship

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Wrestling to Open Postseason at Big 12 Championship

March 05, 2026 | Wrestling

Watch Live Stats Tickets Oklahoma Notes Full Brackets

By: OU Athletics Communications

NORMAN – The No. 23 Oklahoma wrestling team heads to Tulsa, Okla., for the 2026 Big 12 Championship presented by Allstate on March 6–7 at the BOK Center. All sessions will be streamed on ESPN+. All-session, as well as single-session tickets, are on sale and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.

Six Sooners received pre-seeds: No. 5 Condrad Hendriksen (125), No. 6 Tyler Wells (141), No. 2 Carter Schubert (174), No. 6 Brian Soldano (184), No. 5 DJ Parker (197) and No. 5 Juan Mora (285). This marks the 11th neutral-site conference championship for the sport and the 10th held in Tulsa.

OU is led by third-year head coach Roger Kish, who will look for his team to improve on back-toback seventh-place finishes at the Big 12 Championships in 2024 and 2025, which qualified five wrestlers for each NCAA tournament. OU will also seek to crown its first Big 12 champion since Dom Demas won the 141-pound title in 2021.

The Sooners (10-6, 3-5 Big 12) capped their regular season with a pair of signature top-15 wins, most recently a 23-18 home victory over No. 13 Northern Iowa on Jan. 31. Oklahoma's first marquee win came Dec. 13, when the Sooners rallied from a 14-6 deficit to defeat No. 12 Rutgers, 19-14, at Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway. The victory marked the program's highest-ranked dual win since 2015. Overall, Oklahoma finished the season with nine dual victories against Division I opponents — the most under Kish.

OKLAHOMA FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS

125: No. 5 Conrad Hendriksen received a bye
133: Carter Schmidt vs. No. 5 Gunner Andrick (WVU)
141: No. 6 Tyler Wells vs. Joel Aguilar-Guerrero (UNC)
149: Hunter Hollingsworth vs. No. 4 Maxwell Petersen (NDSU)
157: Layton Schneider vs. No. 1 Kaleb Larkin (ASU)
165: Peyten Kellar vs. No. 3 Nicco Ruiz (ASU)
174: No. 2 Carter Schubert vs. Mason Espinoza (CBU)
184: No. 6 Brian Soldano received a bye
197: No. 5 DJ Parker vs. John Gunderson (UNI)
285: No. 5 Juan Mora vs. Tristan Kemp (CBU)

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & INFO

The championship is split into four sessions over two days of competition.

Friday, March 6
Session 1: Preliminary & Quarterfinal Matches — 10 a.m. CT (ESPN+)
Session 2: Semifinal & Consolation Quarterfinal Matches — 5 p.m. CT (ESPN+)

Saturday, March 7
Session 3: Consolation Semifinals — Noon CT (ESPN+)
Session 4: Finals — 7 p.m. CT (ESPN+)

Live stats for the tournament will be available on FloWrestling. Live video streams of all sessions will air on ESPN+, including individual mat streams and a wraparound feed covering Sessions I, II and III.

NCAA ALLOCATION BREAKDOWN

The NCAA announced the pre-allocation spots for the 2026 Division I Wrestling championship with the Big 12 Conference earning 63 bids, the second most behind only the Big Ten.

The bids are distributed across all 10 weight classes, with three receiving a conference-high eight allocations (133, 184 and 197). Two classes earned seven spots (141 and 174), 285 received six, three classes were awarded five (125, 149 and 157) and the remaining class received four (165).

Allocations determine the number of automatic qualifiers each conference receives per weight class.

LIVING ON TULSA TIME

Oklahoma has collected 24 overall conference championships and three Big 12 titles, in 1999, 2002, and 2021. The Sooners' three Big 12 championships are tied for the third most in league history.

The Sooners boast 186 individual conference champions in school history, including four in the past decade, most recently with Dom Demas' 141-pound title in 2021.

Five Sooners have been named the Big 12's Most Outstanding Wrestler at the championship: Dom Demas (2019; 141 pounds), Jarrod Patterson (2010; 125 pounds), Sam Hazewinkel (2007; 125 pounds), Teyon Ware (2003; 141 pounds), and Shane Valdez (1999; 125 pounds).

OU has earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors four times: Jack Spates won the award three times (1999, 2002, 2006), and Lou Rosselli earned the accolade in 2021.

Former Sooner Kendric Maple (2009–13) holds the Big 12 record for weekly conference award selections with seven.

Current Oklahoma assistant coaches Austin Marsden and Cam Sykora also enjoyed standout Big 12 Championship careers. As a heavyweight at Oklahoma State, Marsden captured three consecutive Big 12 titles (2014, 2015, 2016). Under Kish, Sykora became North Dakota State's first Big 12 champion in 2021, edging then–Northern Colorado freshman and former Sooner Mosha Schwartz, Dec. 5-4.