The collegiate-level wrestling has proved to come across as one of the eventful programs of the season. Holding a strong base, the OSU Cowboys, North Carolina, and Iowa State are already coming out as established parts of the NCAA. Making prominence in dual meets, the Oklahoma State Cowboys have been holding the strong uphold for a long time, and that too under David Taylor’s coaching time.

An upcoming event of the season is, however, expected to bring in quite the buzz among fans. Top collegiate wrestling teams are set to participate in the intercollegiate wrestling tournament, which is going to serve as a major platform for the participating teams going head-to-head against one another. With just the announcement made, Iowa State coach is already in excitement for his team to join in.

Iowa State Coach is excited

It’s the National Duals Invitational meet that has got everyone on the hook. Attracting some of the top talents from the collegiate wrestling teams, the full and final selected roster of the event is yet to be released. The BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is booked as the location for the event from November 15-16th, has one of the Division-I team coaches in excitement over the news.

Crediting David Taylor’s idea of the dual meet plan, Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser, soon after the national duals announcement, comes to share over his feelings over the news in one of his interviews. The amount of adrenaline rush felt by the coach on the dual meet providing a new platform to showcase their team’s skills was clearly seen from the video.

“The dual meet concept is, uh, something that, you know, a lot of division 1 coaches have, uh, wanted to do and for very, very political reasons. Um, it’s kind of always got squashed, but I think, you know, again, there’s a lot of excitement right there, when you get a new higher, and it’s a perfect time for David to step up and say, you know what, these duels are pretty darn fun. Uh, let’s make them happen.”

With a whopping budget of a total of $1 million, the OSU Cowboys, who are itself hosting the event, have the Iowa State also signing up for the fun ride. Unworried and unstressed, coach Dresser is already carrying on the attitude that whatever comes, they will be ready to handle.

“So, I can tell you right now, we’re signing up. Um, you know, you throw some money on top of it, and it’s really exciting. But we’d love to go to Tulsa. And, you know, I don’t care if we, who, who the heck we wrestled?”

Quite similarly, Mike Moyer, the National Wrestling Coaches Association executive director, feels that the event could bring out big changes from the teams coming into major attention of the fans. “Due to the unprecedented challenges in NCAA Division I athletics today. It is more imperative than ever to have more big moments in intercollegiate wrestling so we can substantially grow our fan base and viewership.”

For David Taylor, the dual meet is something much more than just a competition. But opposing the view is Cael Sanderson, who carries the same mindset as 10 years ago. As stated by him, the participation of every NCAA wrestling team in the national duals is not the only big thing that needs to happen. The fun experience for every team can, however, come with various other events that are already in schedule.

Hosting the duals, however, comes as an added pressure for the Oklahoma State team. Besides the participation, the franchise has to prepare themselves with all the necessary arrangements required to conduct the event, including the sponsorships.

Oklahoma State to host the duals

It’s a wish come true moment for OSU Cowboys head coach David Tylor. Carrying his vision to bring in a big change in collegiate wrestling, it is a much-awaited opportunity for Taylor and his team to showcase their dominance out in such an event. With 34 NCAA championships, the Oklahoma State serving as the host school showcases its weightage among other teams of today.

The NCAA Wrestling National Duals is, however, said to kick off as a warmup competition for the collegiate teams before they enter the regular season games. A total of 16 collegiate wrestling teams will get featured, including the top Division I teams, all receiving a sum of $20,000 for their participation.

With 16 teams entering the competition, only the top 8 teams will qualify for payouts, and the winner will take away the prize of $200,000. But for the teams coming in second and third, prize money of $150,000 will be given, respectively, with the fourth-place team getting worth $75,000. The lowest prize money, however, comes for the fifth-to-eighth place finishers, earning the prize money ranging between $50,000 and $20,000.

Chad Richison’s sponsorship via Paycom also adds valuable support for the Oklahoma State to host the event, as said by Oklahoma State Vice President Chad Weiberg.

“Bringing a prestigious wrestling tournament of this magnitude to Oklahoma is exciting for the sport, and the winnings will be significant in helping universities build out their programs at an even higher level. We continue to be grateful for Mr. Richison and Paycom’s support of wrestling in the state of Oklahoma and nationally.”

However, carrying feelings of skepticism over David Taylor’s dream of a national dual’s meet, Cael Sanderson’s Nittany Lions won’t be a part of this, as clearly stated by him before. Whether Taylor’s visionary event can somehow turn out to be one of the biggest events is an anticipated question that remains until the event.