Four Losses Fuel Taylor's Focus Heading Into Cleveland

David Taylor glanced around him and took a moment to relish everything transpiring.

The spectacle of confetti falling from the ceiling, funneling around him. The reality of his Cowboys clinching their second-straight conference title at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships, which took place last weekend in Tulsa. The roar of Oklahoma State fans present at the BOK Center to witness it. All of it was a sight Taylor said he appreciated.

But through it all, the OSU coach, now in his second season manning the program, never lost sight of the main focus — nationals.

The NCAA Wrestling Championships take place this week from March 19-21 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland. A season ago, the Cowboys posted their best placing since 2021 with a third-place finish. They haven’t clinched a team title since 2006, and while Banner 35 might be put on hold a little longer — largely due to the dynasty that is Penn State — the group’s outing in T-Town might be indicative of another prolific outing awaiting.

And yet, Taylor remained hypercritical of his team. Even through success.

“You have some heartbreakers in there, and there’s some sweet matches in there — just got to reset and get ready for the next guy,” Taylor said. “We’ve got some adjustments that we’ve got to make and get a little bit better for the national tournament.”

OSU went 32-7 on the weekend, scoring 176 team points and cleared second-place Iowa State by 32 points. That total fell only 0.5 short of a tournament record (176.5), which the Cowboys set in 2017.

Concurrently, OSU sent eight wrestlers to the title round. Four were crowned champions. Yet, four dropped their title bouts.

That, Taylor said, will be a focal point heading into nationals. Finishing matches, fine tuning some technicalities and ultimately, taking advantage of the moment. And his wrestlers echoed that.

“We came in here kind of overlooking it, I feel like a couple of us,” Forrest said. “We’re so focused on the nationals and, ‘What’s my seed gonna be when I win?’ Instead of, ‘I need to go take care of business and my seed will take care of itself.'”

Oklahoma State freshman 133-pounder Jax Forrest has his hand raised after winning a bout at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa on Friday, March 6, 2026. – Photo by Luke Tolbert

Forrest, OSU’s freshman 133-pounder, bullied his way through his bracket. Each of his four wins came by bonus points, three of which were tech falls. In the finals round, he downed second-seeded Kyler Larkin of Arizona State with a 15-2 major decision. Thus, he was the lone Cowboy wrestler to earn a top seeding in his respective weight class ahead of nationals.

Still, Forrest was self-critical for not finalizing a clean sweep of tech falls.

Troy Spratley (125), freshman Sergio Vega (133) and Casey Swiderski (149) also clinched individual titles. Each acknowledged that a 4-4 finish in the title round won’t suffice on the sport’s biggest stage. And moving forward, calibrated blemishes that were exposed at Big 12s is vital.

“We’ll see in two weeks,” Spratley said. “That’s it.”

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Ultimately, the Big 12 Championships was merely another step in Taylor’s long-term vision. He acknowledged that after the tournament.

The day of his hiring, Taylor outlined his blueprint for the program. There, he preached his desire to return OSU to national prominence in a sport it reigned over for most of its existence. He highlighted the importance of re-establishing program dominance. That, of course, entails winning national championships.

Conference titles are validating, sure, but not entirely fulfilling.

Which is why Taylor’s team was already putting the weekend behind it, even as the confetti was falling. And by the time it had stopped, full focus was on nationals.

March Matness week has arrived at long last. Now, a prime test awaits Taylor and his wrestlers.

“This is great, but we’ve never one time talked about winning this tournament,” Taylor said. “We’re focused on being our best version at the end of the year. I think we had a good tournament. We just gotta keep making improvements. Keep making adjustments for the next thing.

“We’ve got 10 guys that’ll go to the national tournament believing they can win nationals. We just gotta keep helping them get a little bit better.”