Nebraska
Cowboy Wrestling Set to Scrap With No. 6 Nebraska – Oklahoma State University Athletics
The No. 5 Oklahoma State wrestling team heads to Lincoln, Nebraska, to face No. 6 Nebraska at 1 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network at the Devaney Sports Center. The Cowboys met up with the Cornhuskers earlier this season at the National Duals Invitational and defeated them, 33-6. The premier bout of the night is without a doubt No. 2 Sergio Vega vs. No. 3 Brock Hardy at 141 pounds. Vega defeated Hardy by major decision at the National Duals. This marks the 58th meeting between the storied programs.
On the Air
Sunday’s dual is scheduled for a 1 p.m. CT start and will be available for streaming on the Big Ten Network. Rex Holt also returns as the voice of Cowboy wrestling to provide live radio coverage, which will be carried on Pete 94.3 KSPI-AM. Live stats and results can be found on trackwrestling.com.
The Series
The Cowboys have dominated the Cornhuskers in their 57 meetings, leading 52-4-1. Oklahoma State is 19-2 in Lincoln, and won the last road contest, 22-10, in 2011. Oklahoma State comes into the matchup having won the previous three by a combined score of 86-22. Despite the history between the squads, before this season’s contest at the National Duals Invitational, OSU and Nebraska had not met since 2011.
About the Cowboys
The David Taylor era is in full swing after a third-place finish with a pair of individual champions at the NCAA Championships in March. The Cowboys return six NCAA qualifiers and added three more out of the portal, including Richard Figueroa II, Casey Swiderski and Alex Facundo. Despite losing NCAA champions Wyatt Hen- drickson and Dean Hamiti Jr., the Cowboys are primed for another deep run in March.
Affectionately known as “Sparky,” Troy Spratley is back and ready for another deep run this season in the Cowboys’ leadoff spot. A 2025 national finalist, Spratley holds down the 125-pound slot and is ranked seventh in the nation. Sparkey avenged his Big 12 title bout loss to WVU’s Jett Strickenberger on December 14, where he defeated Strickenberger on the road, 6-2.
The Cowboy lineup this season features multiple transfers who have made immediate impacts, including 2024 All-American Casey Swiderski, Alex Facundo and Zack Ryder. Konner Doucet retakes the reins at heavyweight after sitting behind Hendrickson in 2025.
Coach Taylor’s first freshman class has already left its mark on the 2025-26 squad. The hometown hero LaDarion “Dee” Lockett put the country on notice at 165 pounds. Other freshmen who have made an immediate impact are 157-pounder Landon Robideau, 141-pounder Sergio Vega and 133-pounder Ronnie Ramirez. Lockett, Robideau and Vega are all undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country.
Last year’s highly touted freshman Cody Merrill has had a dominant start to his 2025-26 campaign, starting his season off 7-1 and ranked No. 7 in the country.
An Oklahoma State Win Would…
• Make OSU 53-4-1 against Nebraska.
• Make OSU 20-2 in Lincoln.
• Give OSU its seventh ranked win of the season.
• Make OSU 29-3 against ranked opponents since the 2023-24 season.
• Improve OSU’s record to 52-6 in its past 58 duals.
• Improve David Taylor‘s record against Nebraska to 2-0.
• Improve OSU to 10-1 on the road under David Taylor.
• Improve OSU to 21-2 in dual matches under David Taylor.
• Improve OSU to 17-2 against ranked opponents under David Taylor.
The Opening Act
David Taylor‘s opening season for the Cowboys brought the Cowboy faithful a new hope. Taylor’s Cowboys dominated the competition by going 13-1 in dual action, finishing the season unblemished at home in seven matches and winning 10 matches against ranked opponents, including Oregon State, Arizona State, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, NC State, West Virginia, Northern Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri and Little Rock in dual action. Taylor also led the Cowboys to a Big 12 title for the first time since 2021. On the biggest stage of collegiate wrestling, Oklahoma State had a pair of Cowboys, Wyatt Hendrickson and Dean Hamiti Jr., crowned national champions. It marked the first time since 2016 the Cowboys had multiple NCAA champions in the same season. Taylor’s Cowboys never left the top three in the rankings, climbing as high as two in the polls.
Hey Now, You’re an All-Star
On November 1, Zack Ryder and Casey Swiderski competed in the NWCA All-Star Classic. Casey Swiderski led off the night for the Cowboys by facing Michigan’s three- time All-American Lachlan McNeil. Swiderski controlled the match and nabbed the lone takedown of the bout to win, 4-2. The win vaulted Swiderski up to No. 2 in the poll at 149 pounds. Ryder dominated what was considered the match of the weekend, as he took down Maryland’s Jaxon Smith at 184 pounds. Ryder collected the only bonus-point win of the event with his major decision over Smith, 14-4. He took down Smith four times and did not allow a takedown. Smith, a three-time national qualifier, had only given up bonus points twice in his career – once to Carter Starocci and the other to Aaron Brooks, who have nine national titles between them. Ryder’s win turned heads around the country, and it was seen in the polls as he climbed to fourth at 184 pounds.
The Spark
The Cowboys have one of, if not the most, vaunted lead-off man in the country in Troy Spratley. Spratley, a returning NCAA finalist from last season now ranks seventh in the latest poll after his win on December 14 against No.
7 Jett Stickenberger. The 125-pounder is 5-2 on the young season. Spratley’s incredible season in 2024-25 included five wins over top-five opponents, gaining bonus points for the Cowboys in over half of his matches as the leadoff man.
Fab Freshmen
The freshmen on the OSU roster have been the story of the 2025-26 season. 141-pounder Sergio Vega, 157-pounder Landon Robideau and 165-pounder Dee Lockett are all 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country at their respective weight classes. Other true freshman Ronnie Ramirez is 6-1 with a Cougar Clash title in the 133-pound division. Other freshmen making an immediate impact are 184-pounder Zack Ryder
and 197-pounder Cody Merrill. Ryder started his season with an impressive win at the NWCA All-Star Classic. Ryder currently ranks No. 10 in the country with an 8-3 record, while Merrill holsters a 7-1 record on the year and is ranked No. 7.
New Kids On the Block
David Taylor took the recruiting world by storm, as he brought in the second-ranked recruiting class in the country entering his second season at the helm. The Cowboys led the nation with eight signees ranked inside FloWrestling’s Top 100 Big Board. The group is spearheaded by blue-chip prospects LaDarion “Dee” Lockett, Landon Robideau and Sergio Vega, who make up half of the top six overall spots. Of the 10 wrestlers in the class, six are in-state products while the others hail from Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona and California. The full list includes Kruz Goff, Ishmael Guerrero, Beau Hickman, Austin Johnson, Lockett, Ronnie Ramirez, Robideau, Kody Routledge, Ethan Teague, and Vega.
The Douce(t) is loose
A familiar face for Cowboy fans, Konner Doucet is back in the lineup for the 2025 season after sitting behind Hodge Trophy winner Wyatt Hendrickson last season. Doucet started the season ranked ninth and has now climbed to seventh. The two-time NCAA qualifier is primed for a breakout season after going 1-0 in his only dual action against Air Force last season and collecting four wins at the Michigan State Open, where he took first.
Made for the Moment
True freshman Landon Robideau and Dee Lockett made their Cowboy debuts on November 7 against Stanford, both facing All-Americans in Daniel Cardenas and Hunter Garvin. Unafraid of the moment, Robideau picked up a major decision victory and Lockett used a gutsy second period ride out to pick up a 2-1 win. Other true freshman Sergio Vega was incredible in his debut as well, picking up a technical fall win. Of the Cowboys’ 33 points in last Friday’s opener, the true freshman accounted for 12 of them. The trio is now a combined 21-0 and all are ranked No. 2 in the country in their respective weight classes.
The Power of the Pivot
The Cowboys brought in transfers Richard Figueroa II, Casey Swiderski, Alex Facundo, Zack Ryder and Gary Steen to bolster the lineup this season, and if last year’s transfers are any indication of what they can do in David Taylor‘s program, the sky is the limit for those five. Last year’s transfers that started for the Cowboys were Caleb Fish, Cam Amine, Dean Hamiti Jr. and Wyatt Hendrickson. All four of them earned All-America status and two of them went on to win national titles.
Wrestling’s House of Horrors
No venue in America has a richer wrestling tradition than Gallagher-Iba Arena, home of the Oklahoma State wrestling program since 1939. In its beginning as Gallagher Hall, the gymnasium was named for Ed Gallagher, but when renovations were completed in January 1988, it was renamed Gallagher-Iba Arena to honor the late Mr. Henry P. Iba, Oklahoma State’s legendary basketball coach. Alongside 54 NCAA championship banners, Gallagher and Iba’s names have looked over Oklahoma State’s historic venue for nearly 40 years.
Since 1939, Oklahoma State has captured 25 NCAA team titles, completed 45 perfect campaigns at home and won over 90% of its duals inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. The building’s opening coincided with the longest home unbeaten streak in program history, as the Pokes won their first 37 duals inside GIA as part of a 67-dual unbeaten streak at home. That stretch still stands as the program’s longest home unbeaten streak, as OSU never suffered defeat from 1933 to February 1951.
Oklahoma State’s next-longest home unbeaten streak 1. occurred from the 1959 finale to the middle of the 1967 2. season, going undefeated for 57 duals in a row.
Not far 3. behind, the Cowboys won 51 consecutive duals inside
Gallagher-Iba Arena from 1986-1993, good for the third-longest such streak in program history. More recently, John Smith guided the Cowboys to a 26-dual home winning streak from 2018-2022. Not long after the streak was snapped, Oklahoma State defeated South Dakota State on February 4, 2022, for the program’s 500th victory inside the venue.
The Home of Wrestling
Oklahoma State is the gold standard in the college wrestling world. On the national level, the Cowboys have won 34 NCAA team titles, crowned 145 NCAA individual champions and earned 492 All-America honors. No other program comes close to those astounding numbers. It’s a similar story on the conference level, with OSU winning 56 team titles and Cowboy wrestlers combining for 297 individual championships.
From an individual perspective, any list of the greatest wrestlers in NCAA history must include Oklahoma State’s Yojiro Uetake, who was a perfect 57-0 with three NCAA titles, and Pat Smith, the first four-time NCAA champion in history. Pat’s older brother, John Smith, was a two-time NCAA champion for the Cowboys and went on to win six straight world gold medals from 1987-92. His OSU teammate, Kenny Monday, also won gold in 1988 and 1989 as part of his four world medals. That group is just part of Oklahoma State’s consistent representation on the Olympic stage every four years. Since 1924, 32 Oklahoma State wrestlers have fought their way to Olympic team membership a total of 41 times, with nine athletes winning 11 gold medals.
All told, 40 members of the Cowboy wrestling family have been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the most in the country.
NCAA Team Championships
- Oklahoma State 34
- Iowa 24
- Penn State 13
NCAA Individual Champions
- Oklahoma State 145
- Iowa 85
- Iowa State 71
NCAA All-Americans
- Oklahoma State 492
- Iowa 367
- Iowa State 310
Olympians
- Oklahoma State 41
- Iowa 23
- Oklahoma 22
The Nebraska State Fair is celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with a special 72-hour flash sale on Season Passes.
From July 3 through July 5, fans can purchase a 2026 Season Pass for just $50—a significant discount from its regular value of $132.
The pass includes one admission per day for all 11 days of the 2026 Nebraska State Fair, making it ideal for visitors who plan to attend multiple days.
Fair officials say the promotion is one of the biggest Season Pass discounts offered in years and will not be extended.
After July 5, Season Passes will remain available at a higher discounted price.
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Legalizing online sports betting has met with resistance in the Nebraska Legislature for years.
Tax Relief Nebraska, a group backed by Nebraska casinos and online sports betting groups, took the issue to the people of the state through a petition drive.
Those petitions are now in, and casino officials say they expect to have enough signatures to make the November ballot — but also expect pushback through Election Day.
The case for online betting
Currently, legal sports bets cannot be placed on a phone in Nebraska. Casino operators say people who choose to wager are finding other ways to do it.
“They’re just doing it illegally through a virtual private network, or they’re driving over to the first exit between Iowa and Nebraska, placing a bet and then driving back to their home,” said Lynne McNally of Warhorse Casino.
Nebraska casino operators say the state has already collected millions of dollars in state taxes and property tax relief from casino gambling, and that online sports betting would add to that total.
A majority of Nebraskans voted for casino gambling to enter the state in 2020, and casino operators expect similar support if the online betting petition makes the November ballot.
“As you know, we got 65% on the constitutional amendment and actually got nearly 70% on the tax portion of the statute when the casinos were legalized in 2020. I think that we’ll be in that area, if not maybe a little higher than that,” McNally said.
“There’s always going to be a sector of the public that doesn’t want to gamble. They don’t want to go to our facilities and that’s just fine. I guess I have an objection with trying to tell other people what to do,” McNally said.
The opposition
The Nebraska Family Alliance stands against online gambling and plans to campaign against the initiative across the state. The nonprofit group issued a statement that reads in part: “Online sports betting has been a massive public policy failure that benefits national sportsbooks at the expense of kids, student-athletes, families and businesses. While they have more money, they don’t have the truth.”
Pat Loontjer, director of Gambling with the Good Life, has opposed expanded gambling in Nebraska for 30 years.
“They’re telling the same lie — property tax relief. Well in Nebraska you say property tax relief and everybody says where do I sign,” Loontjer said.
Loontjer also raised concerns about the impact on young people.
“Sports betting on the phone is the most addictive thing for young people, young men especially. You’ve got kids that are going to lose their scholarships, lose their future,” Loontjer said.
What comes next
If enough signatures are verified and the issue is placed on the November ballot, Warhorse Casino officials say Nebraskans could be able to make sports bets on their phones by spring of next year.
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Along with marching in the parade, the high schools will tour the U.S. Capitol, visit Mount Vernon and other monuments and museums.
Around 80 Grand Island students are making the trip. Lee said the students cover their own costs, with fundraising largely run though the school’s booster program helping offset the expense.
Bishop Neumann’s 53 students benefited from community donations, along with a holiday greenery sale and fundraisers, which Kellett said helped cover airfare and other costs.
For both directors, the trip carries extra weight tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“That’s a pretty big milestone,” Lee said. “And to be able to be a part of that is pretty neat.”
Kellett said the moment will stay with students long after the parade ends.
“These kids, they’ll be around for the 300th anniversary of the country, and they’ll be able to look back and tell their grandkids, ‘you know, I was there at 250 and was able to march in the National Independence Day Parade,’” Kellett said.
Both bands have spent the summer preparing. Grand Island started working on its music after its final spring concert in May, rehearsing its marching and music together on Tuesday evenings.
Bishop Neumann has rehearsed continuously over the summer and marched in two parades to prepare, a 150th anniversary celebration in Weston and the Papillion Days parade.
Kellett said the band’s last rehearsal in Wahoo drew residents who lined the streets holding signs and cheering the students on.
“The students have come in, and they’ve worked really hard,” Kellett said. “They have their music memorized and they’ve worked on their marching skills, and so all that effort into this they’re ready to go for the parade.”
The parade starts at 9:30 a.m. CT Saturday at Third Street and Constitution Avenue.
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