OSU Wrestling: Daton Fix finishes freshman season as NCAA Finalist and All-American
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Sand Springs native Daton Fix added another pair of impressive accolades to his ever-growing resume Saturday. The Oklahoma State University redshirt freshman earned All-American status with a second-place finish at the NCAA Wrestling Tournament.
Fix was a four-time undefeated State Champion at Charles Page High School and recently won the Big 12 title at 133 pounds.
In the NCAA finals he fell 4-2 in sudden victory overtime to Nick Suriano, who he has a longstanding rivalry with.
Suriano shares a nearly identical resume with the Cowboy. Four-time undefeated New Jersey Champion, Big Ten Champion, and NCAA finalist. Both have spent time ranked first in the nation throughout high school and college, and now they have a split 2-2 record.
Fix won their first meeting in an ultimate tie-breaker at the 2014 Cadet National finals, but Suriano paid it back later that year. The Jersey wrestler scored a takedown 26 minutes into overtime for a 3-1 win at the FloWrestling Who’s Number One event. The two set the all-time record for longest high school match at 32:12.
Five years later, Fix took the lead in the series in a dual between Oklahoma State and Rutgers in January. He got the win in overtime after Suriano was penalized for hands to the face.
Saturday’s bout went the way of the first three. Each wrestler scored a single escape in regulation and went scoreless in the first sudden victory period. Fix took a 2-1 lead with a stalling point in the second tiebreaker, but Suriano got the escape in the final moments to force another overtime. Finally, Suriano scored a takedown for the win.
The match was not without controversy. Fix fans objected to a stalemate call in overtime that led to Suriano’s escape, and wanted a penalty on Suriano for contact with Fix’s headgear moments before the takedown. On the other side of the fence, Suriano backers criticized Fix’s lack of aggression, believing he should have been called for stalling on multiple occasions.
Fix started the season 21-0 with a 26-straight win streak dating back to his 2018 redshirt season, and ended with a 35-2 overall record. He had the second-best win percentage (.945) at 133 pounds, trailing only third-place finisher Stevan Micic (19-1), and the second-most total wins, trailing only DJ Fehlman (36-8).
In addition to his Big 12 title, Fix also won the Oklahoma City Open, the Reno Tournament of Champions, and the Southern Scuffle. His only loss besides Suriano was to ACC Champion Micky Phillippi (21-4), who was eliminated one round-short of All-American status. He defeated five of the eight 133-pound All-Americans this season, including Suriano, Luke Pletcher, Austin DeSanto, John Erneste, and Ethan Lizak.
Fix was the tenth Oklahoma State freshman to make it to the NCAA finals. He had the best NCAA finish for an OSU freshman since 2003, and he is the 38th All-American freshman in OSU history.
Oklahoma State placed third in team standings with 84 points, trailing Penn State (137.5) and Ohio State (96.5). Iowa finished fourth with 76. The Pokes didn’t crown any champions, but had five All-Americans in Fix (2nd), Derek White (2nd), Preston Weigel (3rd), Nick Piccininni (5th), and Dakota Greer (7th).
The Pokes went 15-0 in dual action and won their seventh-straight Big 12 Title. They will graduate three of their nine NCAA qualifiers, including Weigel and White.
Per usual, the Pokes will bring in a solid recruiting class next season, including
132 No. 4 Reece Witcraft, two-time State Champion from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
132 Colt Newton, three-time State Finalist from Choctaw, Oklahoma.
152 Chance McLane, three-time State Champion from Bozeman, Montana.
160 No. 2 Brevin Balmeceda, three-time State Champion from South Dade, Florida.
160 No. 11 Dan Manibog, three-time State Champion from Katy, Texas.
170 Cade Lindsey, State Champion from Derby, Kansas.
182 Triston Wills, two-time State Champion from Derby, Kansas.
2019 NCAA All-Americans
125
1st - Spencer Lee (Iowa)
2nd - Jack Mueller (Virginia)
3rd - Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern)
4th - Vitali Arujau (Cornell)
5th - Nicholas Piccininni (Oklahoma State)
6th - Pat Glory (Princeton)
7th - RayVon Foley (Michigan State)
8th - Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State)
141
1st - Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
2nd - Joey McKenna (Ohio State)
3rd - Jaydin Eierman (Missouri)
4th - Dom Demas (Oklahoma)
5th - Nick Lee (Penn State)
6th - Mitch McKee (Minnesota)
7th - Kyle Shoop (Lock Haven)
8th - Chad Red (Nebraska)
157
1st - Jason Nolf (Penn State)
2nd - Tyler Berger (Nebraska)
3rd - Alec Pantaleo (Michigan)
4th - Hayden Hidlay (NC State)
5th - Kaleb Young (Iowa)
6th - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)
7th - Christian Pagdilao (Arizona State)
8th - Larry Early (Old Dominion)
174
1st - Zahid Valencia (Arizona State)
2nd - Mark Hall (Penn State)
3rd - Myles Amine (Michigan)
4th - Daniel Lewis (Missouri)
5th - David McFadden (Virginia Tech)
6th - Mikey Labriola (Nebraska)
7th - Jordan Kutler (Lehigh)
8th - Devin Skatzka (Minnesota)
197
1st - Bo Nickal (Penn State)
2nd - Kollin Moore (Ohio State)
3rd - Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State)
4th - Patrick Brucki (Princeton)
5th - Josh Hokit (Fresno State)
6th - William Miklus (Iowa State)
7th - Jacob Warner (Iowa)
8th - Benjamin Honis (Cornell)
133
1st - Nick Suriano (Rutgers)
2nd - Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)
3rd - Stevan Micic (Michigan)
4th - Luke Pletcher (Ohio State)
5th - Austin DeSanto (Iowa)
6th - John Erneste (Missouri)
7th - Ethan Lizak (Minnesota)
8th - Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State)
149
1st - Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers)
2nd - Micah Jordan (Ohio State)
3rd - Austin O’Connor (North Carolina)
4th - Mitch Finesilver (Duke)
5th - Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton)
6th - Brock Mauller (Missouri)
7th - Jarrett Degen (Iowa State)
8th - Pat Lugo (Iowa)
165
1st - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
2nd - Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)
3rd - Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven)
4th - Evan Wick (Wisconsin)
5th - Isaiah White (Nebraska)
6th - Joshua Shields (Arizona State)
7th - Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
8th - Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa)
184
1st - Drew Foster (Northern Iowa)
2nd - Maxwell Dean (Cornwell)
3rd - Myles Martin (Ohio State)
4th - Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)
5th - Emery Parker (Illinois)
6th - Chip Ness (North Carolina)
7th - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
8th - Zachary Zavatsky (Virginia Tech)
285
1st - Anthony Cassar (Penn State)
2nd - Derek White (Oklahoma State)
3rd - Gabe Steveson (Minnesota)
4th - Jordan Woods (Lehigh)
5th - Amar Dhesi (Oregon State)
6th - Youssif Hemida (Maryland)
7th - Matt Stencel (Central Michigan)
8th - Trent Hillger (Wilsconsin)
