Oklahoma State Wrestlers Dreshaun Ross, Landon Robideau Star at World Championships

The Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestling team was well-represented at the U-20 World Championships in Slovakia this weekend.

Fort Dodge's Dreshaun Ross. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Both Oklahoma State wrestlers competing at the U20 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, advanced to the final day of action on Sunday.

Incoming freshman Dreshaun Ross, one of the top recruits in the country, competed for a gold medal in the 125 kg class, while sophomore Landon Robideau was competing for a bronze medal in the 70 kg class.

Ross fell to Iran’s Abolfazl Mohammad Nezhad in the gold medal match after he was down 3-0 at the break. Robideau won his bronze medal with a 3-1 decision over Kyrgyzstan's Zalkarbek Tabaldiev.

The last Cowboys wrestler to win a gold medal at the U20 World Championships was Daton Fix in 2017.

Oklahoma State’s U-20 Results

Oklahoma State Cowboys Landon Robideau. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ross cruised to the championship match. He won his semifinal over Azerbaijan's Yusif Dursunov with a 4-1 decision on Saturday. It was the first point he allowed in his four matches and he outscores his opponents, 36-1.

Ross is a freshman heavyweight who the Cowboys landed on the recruiting trail last year. He is the No. 1 overall heavyweight recruit out of Fort Dodge, Iowa.

He landed his spot in Slovakia at the U.S. Open, where he had to overcome an 8-6 loss to Coby Merrill in the 120kg championship match. That did get him to the U20 World Team Trials, where he pinned Dean Bechtold in 53 seconds and then beat Michael Mocco, 11-0, which set up a rematch with Merrill.

In that best-of-three showdown, Merrill won the first match on an 11-0 technical fall. Then, Ross won the next two matches, 9-2 and 7-1, to secure his spot on Team USA.

While in high school, Ross won four individual state titles, three of which were at different weight classes. He became the 34th Iowa high schooler to win four state titles, finished his prep career with a 146-2 record. He won 144 straight matches after two losses his freshman year. He’ll be competing alongside senior Benjmain Mower, freshman Kruz Goff and Konner Doucet, who recently received a waiver to compete for a fifth season, among heavyweights for OSU this season.

Robideau defeated Russia's Mairbek Merov in a 7-4 quarterfinals decision to advance to the semifinals on Saturday, where he fell in a 3-2 decision to set up his bronze medal matchup.

Robideau was one three true freshmen to win an NCAA championship for the Cowboys last spring as he claimed the title in the 157-pound weight class. The Saint Michael, Minn., product went 21-2 in his first year as a Cowboy and 14-1 in duals. At the NCAAs he beat the two wrestlers that beat him during the regular season and earned all-America honors.

After the season Robideau went to work in the 70 kg class and went 7-0 in the U.S. Open and defeated Seth Mendoza, 8-2, in the championship match. That clinched his berth in the best-of-three final series at the U20 World Team Trials. There, he swept Melvin Miller, the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2027, to advance to the world championships.