Sooner Spirit: The Heartbeat of University of Oklahoma Athletics

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The No. 21 Oklahoma wrestling squad concluded an outstanding first day at the 2025 Southern Scuffle sponsored by Compound Sportswear on Saturday evening, finishing the opening rounds in second place as a team with 92.5 points.

The Sooners will enter the second day of the esteemed tournament with four semifinalists, marking the second highest number among all competing teams. Oklahoma has a total of nine wrestlers still in contention for tomorrow’s matches, sharing the lead with Army, who leads the team standings with 97 points.

No. 23 Antonio Lorenzo was the first Sooner to secure his spot in the semifinals after achieving a trio of bonus point victories to remain in the title chase at 125 pounds. The senior commenced his impressive day with consecutive pins of Chattanooga’s Elijah Lowe (1:31) and American’s Coen Bainey (4:27), before registering a 10-1 major decision over Gardner Webb’s Jeff Jacome in the quarterfinal bout.

At 149 pounds, No. 13 Willie McDougald concluded his flawless day by defeating Clarion’s Kyle Schickel in the quarterfinal round via an 11-3 major decision. Before that, McDougald achieved tech fall victories against Sean Pitts (Bellarmine) and Yuta Otero (Chattanooga). Competing as the top seed in his respective bracket, McDougald outscored his opponents 52-12 throughout the day.

Aiming for the fourth individual tournament title of his career, Tate Picklo displayed a strong performance in the 174-pound bracket. The two-seed clinched a 19-3 (5:26) tech fall against Little Rock’s Austin Keal, then followed up with a 10-1 major decision victory over Kylan Montgomery (Virginia Tech) and a 19-14 decision against Boeden Greenley (North Dakota State). Picklo looks to improve upon a fourth-place finish from the 2024 Southern Scuffle.

Oklahoma’s final semifinalist emerged at 174 pounds, as No. 8 Gaven Sax is poised to represent the Crimson & Cream tomorrow. Sax handled business in the Saturday evening session as the two seed to advance, defeating American’s Caleb Campos by decision, 6-1. Sax is participating in his fourth career Southern Scuffle and his first as a Sooner. The senior achieved fourth place (2022) and third place (2024) podium finishes while representing North Dakota State.

The Sooners also witnessed Beric Jordan, Mosha Schwartz, Mannix Morgan, DJ Parker, and Bradley Hill compete in the quarterfinal round, but all were eliminated to move to the consolation bracket. Cleveland Belton rounds out the group of wrestlers still in contention for the consolations heading into tomorrow’s competitions.

The Southern Scuffle will continue tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. CT, featuring the semifinals and two rounds of consolations. The tournament is slated to culminate with the finals session at 2:00 p.m. CT, with all live coverage of the event available on FloWrestling.

Complete day one results as well as updated brackets of the Southern Scuffle sponsored by Compound Sportswear can be accessed here.