Oklahoma State Wrestling Supporting Benji Mower During Cancer Fight

For four seasons Benjamin Mower — who goes by "Benji" — has wrestled for Oklahoma State. But he likely won't be on the mat this season.

During his preseason press conference, Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor talked about why. Mower, who has a career record of 29-12 in four seasons with the program, was diagnosed with cancer this summer. Recently, the team visited him in the hospital after a surgery and posted it to social media.

Like most wrestlers, he’s tough, Taylor said.

“He wrestled last week — actually two Tuesdays ago — and he was getting surgery the following week,” Taylor said. “He was like, ‘Coach can we wrestle live one more time before I go to surgery?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, Benji, we can do that.’”

Benjamin Mower’s Cancer Fight

Always in your corner, Benji 🧡 pic.twitter.com/6tIkVb1VIH
— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) September 26, 2026

The Cowboys are coming off a season in which they finished second in the NCAA Championships and had three freshmen win individual national titles, a first in college wrestling history. Mower was on the outskirts of that success. He only wrestled in 10 matches and went 6-4. He competed at the Cougar Clash and the Cyclone Open.

But Mower remains in the thoughts of his head coach and his teammates as he fights cancer.

“He’s just an awesome dude, and he's so mentally tough,” Taylor said. “He has unbelievable perspective on life and how he approaches things. And he just loves the sport of wrestling and it's all we could talk about. He couldn't wait to get back to wrestling practice when I saw him the other day, which is just what wrestling can mean to somebody, which is pretty great. What he means to our program is pretty significant.”

Mower is an Oklahoma native who ended up at OSU instead of Oklahoma. He prepped at Edmond Memorial High School for coach Willie Delk and went 34-5 as a senior while placing second at the Oklahoma state tournament at 170 pounds.

Now often Mower will be around the program this year will depend on his treatment. But the Cowboys have their first match in less than a month. Oklahoma State will host its first OSU Invite on Nov. 1. The invite will feature the Cowboys, along with Gardner-Webb, Little Rock and SIU-Edwardsville. There will be three mats on the floor with matches going on simultaneously.

Taylor is using the invite as a revenue generator and — he hopes — a chance to have all of his wrestlers compete in one meet. In dual matches he’s limited to 10 wrestlers.

Add us as a preferred source on Google