Oklahoma State is headed to St. Louis with 10 wrestlers seeded ninth or better.

Coach John Smith also takes a team that’s suddenly riding wave of momentum again, just three weeks after suffering a tough home loss in front of a record crowd inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. Penn State seized the No. 1 ranking that had belonged to Oklahoma State most of the season, but they may have lost its 125-pounder in the process. A lower-leg injury to freshman Nick Suriano helped open the door for Ohio State to race past the Nittany Lions at the Big Ten Championships, setting the stage for a three-team battle in St. Louis.

“We didn’t have a Penn State-type team (at the Big 12 Championships), but at the same time, you are wrestling a whole bunch of teams at nationals,” Smith said. “We take pride in wrestling better in the postseason than we do in the regular season. It’s not that we change anything (or) that we don’t try to be perfect during the regular season, but we just take pride as men that we will step out and wrestle better.”

Smith’s son, Joe, missed much of the regular season due to injury. He entered the Big 12 Championships with just 12 matches under his belt. But the sophomore, an All-American as a true freshman last March, rolled the 157-pound bracket to win his second league title. He takes an 11-4 record, and a No. 5 seed, to St. Louis. A good performance from Smith will enhance the Cowboys’ chances at claiming their 35th NCAA team title.

Senior heavyweight Austin Schafer’s return to the lineup also helps the cause. Schafer (20-1) was injured in late January and did not hit the mat again until the conference tournament, where he was a champion in his first career conference meet.

“This team fed off each other both days,” said Schafer, who will make his first NCAA appearance. “To win (a national championship) it is going to take everyone, all 10 guys winning matches. We are taking momentum into (the tournament).”

TUESDAY ADDITIONS

The Big 12 Conference received 38 allocations from the NCAA. Tuesday night, an additional six were awarded at-large berths to make the field of 330. Of the six, three received seeds – Iowa State’s Earl Hall and Lelund Weatherspoon, and Wyoming’s Archie Colgan.

Hall, a two-time All-American, is the No. 13 seed at 133 pounds and opens with Princeton’s Pat D’Arcy. Hall (22-10) lost 7-4 in tough Big 12 semifinal against Oklahoma State’s Kaid Brock was then upset by Northern Colorado’s Rico Montoya. Hall eventually finished fifth. His teammate, Weatherspoon (22-11), is seeded No. 14 at 174 pounds. He was part of a bracket sent into chaos when Oklahoma’s Matt Reed, who entered the postseason at just 9-10, beat the top seed, David Kocer of South Dakota State, and made the finals.

Wyoming’s Archie Colgan (34-8) is the No. 15 seed at 157 pounds. Colgan was fifth at the Big 12 Championships in a weight that qualified four.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

It was not long ago when conference matchups didn’t exist in the first round. That’s no longer the case.

Thursday’s first round will include four Big 12 vs. Big 12 matchups, three of them involving Oklahoma State. Cowboy senior 149-pounder Anthony Collica (20-2), the No. 2 seed, faces Wyoming’s Cole Mendenhall (29-8), a foe he’s beaten twice this season. Chandler Rogers (20-6), the ninth seed at 165 pounds, meets Andrew Fogarty of North Dakota State, while Preston Weigel (18-6), the sixth seed at 197 pounds, meets Iowa State’s Marcus Harrington (9-11). At 141 pounds, Oklahoma’s Mike Longo (19-8) squares off with Wyoming’s Bryce Meredith (28-6), who drew the No. 10 seed. Three of Meredith’s six losses are to Oklahoma State opponents — two to Heil, including the Big 12 final, and at the Reno Tournament of Champions to Heil’s backup, Bo Lewallen.

Thursday night could also provide a handful of Big 12 wrestlers going head-to-head, three of them rematches of the league tournament championship bouts.

OSU’s Nick Piccininni (22-6) is seeded eighth, one spot better than North Dakota State’s Josh Rodriguez (23-2) at 125 pounds. Piccininni bested Rodriguez in a second sudden-victory overtime last Saturday in the Big 12 final. If both win in the first round, they will meet Thursday evening.

Rogers lost a video-review-filled Big 12 final to West Virginia senior Dylan Cottrell (18-4) in Tulsa. Cottrell is the eighth seed, one in front of Rogers.

Oklahoma senior Matt Reed (12-11) has a pigtail match. A win sets him up to face Oklahoma State’s Kyle Crutchmer in a rematch of the 174-pound title tilt in Tulsa.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Most agree the 165-pound bracket at the Big 12s was the deepest of the 10. The NCAA agreed, giving two at-large picks to a weight class already with five qualifiers. Oklahoma’s Yoanse Mejias (10-7) and NDSU’s Andrew Fogarty (22-11) each got the call on Tuesday. Northern Colorado’s Keilan Torres (28-14) rolled through the bracket, winning five-of-six matches to take third behind Rogers and Cottrell, with South Dakota State’s Luke Zilverberg and Wyoming’s Branson Ashworth also among the top five.

“To wrestle the way he did in that bracket shows what Keilan (Torres) is capable of,” Northern Colorado coach Troy Nickerson said. “He can get on the podium, make some noise (at the NCAA Championships).”

Torres opens against Michigan State’s Drew Hughes, the No. 15 seed.

KEEP AN EYE ON

As is always the case, the opening day of the NCAA Championships includes plenty of head scratchers, wild moments, and what are considered upsets according to seedings. The Big 12 hopes to avoid the upsets while at the same time pulling a few off.

Oklahoma State’s Dean Heil (27-0) is the defending champion at 141 pounds. The top seed opens with Clarion’s dangerous Brock Zacherl (21-3). Heil has answered all challenges over the last two seasons and leads a deep bracket that will most certainly include plenty of nailbiters. The No. 4 seed is Princeton’s Matthew Kolodzik (28-2). The gauntlet is in the bottom half of the bracket where North Carolina State’s Kevin Jack, Stanford’s Joey McKenna, and North Carolina’s Joey Ward reside. Joshua Heil, from Campbell, is also among the bottom part of the bracket at 141.

Oklahoma’s Davion Jeffries (19-13) had a great Big 12 Tournament, falling to Collica in the finals. The sophomore 149-pounder, seeded 11th, faces Oregon State’s Joey Delgado (18-10), an NCAA veteran. That same bracket includes South Dakota State’s Alex Kocer (27-8) against Edinboro’s Patricio Lugo (30-8), the No. 8 seed. Sooner 157-pounder Clark Glass (23-6), seeded 12th, takes on Penn’s May Bethea. Oklahoma senior heavyweight Ross Larson (21-8), the NCAA’s active pins leader, will be a popular pick to upend 15th-seeded Ryan Solomon of Pittsburgh in the first round at 285 pounds.

The other Kocer for the Jackrabbits, 174-pounder David, will meet freshman Mark Hall of Penn State, who is 26-3 and seeded fifth.

SLOW START, BIG FINISH?

Oklahoma opened the season 1-3, but those losses were to Michigan, Cornell, and Oklahoma State. The Sooners beat a depleted Missouri squad on Jan. 8 and finished the dual season 11-6 with one of the losses thanks to South Dakota State’s Seth Gross, who scored a decisive pin in the last bout. Seven Sooners automatically qualified for the NCAAs and coach Lou Rosselli’s group added 165-pounder Yoanse Mejias, an at-large pick on Tuesday.

“The pinnacle is the NCAA tournament, so we have to get through that to see where we’re at,” Rosselli said. “Part of it is just seeing the guys do as well as they can do. We have guys who are on the fringe, some 9-to-16-ranked athletes, so if they could get up on the stand and get two or three All-Americans that would be the topper for this season for us.

“It’s definitely possible, but that would be the icing on the cake.”

(Photo: Oklahoma State coach John Smith is taking a team with 10 wrestlers seeded ninth or better to the NCAA Championships/Austin Bernard)