FARGO, N.D. - North Dakota State wrestling travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend for the Big 12 Championships on Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7, at the BOK Center.
 
Weekend Schedule
Friday, March 6
Session 1: Preliminary & Quarterfinal Matches — 10 a.m. CT
Session 2: Semifinal & Consolation Quarterfinal Matches — 5 p.m. CT
 
Saturday, March 7
Session 3: Consolation Semifinals— 12 p.m. CT
Session 4: Finals — 7 p.m. CT
 
Tickets
All-session tickets are available through TicketMaster and the BOK Center Box Office. General admission seats start as low as $42, while reserved seating is $60 and premium reserved and premium center seating is available for $114 and $126, respectively.
 
Coverage
Every session of the Big 12 Championships will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Mike Leslie and Hardell Moore on the call. Live statistics for the Big 12 Championships will be available through FloWrestling. Links are available on GoBison.com.
 
Five Pre-Seeded for Big 12 Championships
Five NDSU Bison wrestlers have been seeded headed into the Big 12 Championships this weekend, led by junior Max Petersen, who was selected as a No. 4 seed at 149 pounds.
 
Junior Gavin Drexler was selected as the No. 5 seed at 157 pounds, while redshirt freshman Ezekiel Witt was selected as the No. 6 seed at 125 pounds. Sophomore 184 pounder Aidan Brenot and junior 197 pounder Devin Wasley were both selected as the No. 8 seed.
 
The five pre-seeded wrestlers are the most for the Bison since 2023 when NDSU had seven. The Bison had a combined five seeded wrestlers over the last two seasons with two in 2025 and three in 2024.
 
2x Wrestler of the Week
Devin Wasley was named the final Big 12 Wrestler of the Week last week, scooping up his second honor of the season.
 
The junior 197 pounder won his first honor on January 21 after a 3-0 weekend at the Davidson Duals, including a win over #10 Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell. Wasley picked up his second honor after helping to lead NDSU to victory over No. 19 South Dakota State with an upset of #4/5 Bennett Berge, coming from behind to win a 9-5 decision.
 
Wasley became the 10th NDSU wrestler to win the award and was the first Bison to win the award since Max Petersen in November 2023.
 
With his second honor this season, Wasley also becomes the first Bison wrestler in program history to secure the Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honor multiple times in the same season or in a career.
 
Postseason Debuts
Four Bison will make their postseason debuts this weekend, with all four making their first trips to Tulsa as redshirt freshmen. At 125 pounds, Ezekiel Witt is the only Bison ranked of the newcomers. The other newcomers include 141 Michael Olson, 174 Max Magayna and 285 Shilo Jones.
 
NDSU Big 12 Championship History
The Bison have a had three Big 12 Conference champions in the first 10 years in the league. Cam Sykora won the first championship for the Bison when he took the 133-pound title in 2020. Luke Weber then won the 165-pound title in 2021. In 2023, Jared Franek claimed the top spot at 157 pounds.
 
NDSU's nine placers and 90.5 team points in 2020 were the most by a Bison team. NDSU's highest finish in the team standings was fourth in 2017 with 82.5 points.
 
Bison Placing at Big 12 Championships
Heading into this weekend's championship, the Bison have had a total of 59 placers over the first 10 seasons, averaging nearly six placers per year. Aside from the three champions, NDSU has also had 12 second-place finishers and seven third-place finishers.
1st - 3 | 2nd - 12 | 3rd - 7 | 4th - 6 | 5th - 6 | 6th - 11 | 7th - 8 | 8th - 6
 
Big 12 Allocated 58 NCAA Qualifying Spots
The Big 12 Conference has been pre-allocated 63 qualifying spots for the NCAA Division I wrestling championship. The top eight placers at 133, 184, and 197 pounds will receive automatic qualifying berths.
 
The top seven placers at 141 and 174 pounds, along with the top six at 285 will also receive AQs. The top five placers at 125, 149, and 157 pounds, along with the top four at 165 will receive the final AQs slotted for the Big 12.
 
There will be four at-large berths granted at all weight classes except 125 and 165, which will receive five at-large berths.
 
Battle Tested
Nine of NDSU's 16 Division I opponents this season are currently ranked in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll. NDSU had the fifth strongest strength of schedule in the fall semester and the 22nd strongest overall after the dual season.
 
Ranked Bison
Entering the Big 12 Championships, six Bison appear in some or all of the major rankings. Four Bison are unanimously selected in the five major rankings, including FloWrestling, InterMat, WrestleStat, the RPI and the Coaches ranking.
 
Max Petersen leads the way for NDSU, ranked as high as #13 by InterMat at 149 pounds. Petersen is also ranked in the top 20 at #15 in the RPI, #16 by WrestleStat and #17 by the Coaches. He enters Big 12s at #21 in the FloWrestling rankings.
 
Ezekiel Witt (125), Aidan Brenot (184) and Devin Wasley (197) also appear unanimously in all five of the polls. Witt comes in as high as #20, appearing there in InterMat, WrestleStat and the Coaches poll. He also sits at #23 by Flo. Brenot also comes in as high as #20 in the RPI. He ranks in the 20s in three other polls as well. Wasley ranks as high as #18 in WrestleStat. Wasley also ranks #20 in the RBI and #24 or #25 in the other three polls.
 
Gavin Drexler (157) appears in all but FloWrestling and ranks as high as #19 in the RPI. Tristan Daugherty (133) appears in two rankings, coming in at #33 in both Flo and WrestleStat.
 
Border Bell Back in Fargo
After losing four-straight in the Battle for the Border Bell series with South Dakota State, the Bison upset No. 19 South Dakota State 20-13 on February 22 in Brookings to reclaim the traveling trophy, a 100-pound kettle bell, which was introduced during the 2013-14 season.
 
Wasley Riding Tough
Devin Wasley moved up two weight classes in 2025-26, making the jump from 174 to 197. After a pair of tough defeats to start the year, Wasley reeled off eight-straight wins, including a title at the Daktronics Invitational and avenging one of the two losses from earlier in the season in the dual at Minnesota.
 
Wasley continued to impress, topping #29 Wolfgang Frable of Army at the Southern Scuffle then won eight-straight duals, including a 5-0 win over #10 Dillon Bechtold of Bucknell in January. The streak came to an end after losing back-to-back decisions against #5 Joey Novak of Wyoming and #6 Justin Rademacher of Oregon State. However, Wasley rebounded with his highest ranked win of his career in the dual finale, scoring two takedowns in a 9-5 win over #4/5 Bennett Berge of South Dakota State.
 
Petersen Recording Key Wins with Tough Schedule
Max Petersen continued to add to his resume this season with a dominating win at Oregon State. Going up against #25 Noah Tolentino, Petersen secured six takedowns in a 19-4 tech fall victory.
 
Petersen has three top-25 wins this year, as he secured a 6-5 win over #16 Caleb Rathjen of Northern Iowa to start his season and an 8-3 win over #20 Lucas Kapusta of Lock Haven.
 
Petersen has wrestled the 12th toughest schedule at 149 in the country and reeled off a 13-5 record. All five of Petersen's losses have come to wrestlers currently in the top 18 of the WrestlingByPirate Index, including four in the top eight.
 
Petersen has wins against five wrestlers currently in the Top 33, which also included a key win in his home state at Minnesota against Drew Roberts. Petersen also has seven wins against the top 50 of 334 wrestlers in the weight class in Division I.
 
Mr. Gator Bacon
Ezekiel Witt has used the gator bacon to secure multiple victories this season, beginning with a splash on the big stage at the Southern Scuffle to defeat Andrew Binni of Navy in the semifinal. Witt then pulled the move again at the Davidson Duals, using it to secure a pin of Bucknell's Kade Davidheiser, which proved to be the decisive point in a win for NDSU.
 
Witt has recorded three Top-20 victories this season, beginning with an upset of #14 Trever Anderson of Northern Iowa and #12 Nico Provo of Stanford. In the dual finale, Witt scored a major decision over #20 Brady Roark of South Dakota State. Witt has had narrow defeats to #8 Jore Volk at Minnesota, and a 6-5 loss to #2 Luke Lilledahl of Penn State in Nashville. At the Southern Scuffle, Witt reached the final, taking two-time All-American #4 Eddie Ventresca of Virginia Tech to sudden victory.
 
Drexler Closing Strong
Following an All-American campaign and a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships last season at 149 pounds, Gavin Drexler made the move up to 157 pounds in 2025-26. Drexler had growing pains early, losing his first four matches, albeit to four wrestlers currently in the Top 25.
 
Following a stretch of going 5-4 with another top five loss, Drexler has generated momentum heading into the postseason with seven-straight dual victories, including a pair of ranked upsets. Drexler started the streak with a 9-3 win over #29 Drayden Morton of California Baptist. The junior continued the streak and ended the regular season with a 6-3 win over #17 Cael Swensen of South Dakota State.
 
Brenot Generating Momentum
Following a blood-round finish as a redshirt freshman last season, Aidan Brenot struggled early this season, going 6-6 over the first 12 matches with five defeats to currently ranked wrestlers.
 
Over his last seven appearances, Brenot has generated momentum, going 6-1 in duals with the lone loss to #11 Eddie Neitenbach of Wyoming. He finished Big 12 duals at 5-2, scoring a pin and two major decisions during the run over the last six weeks.
 
Team Captains
Gavin Drexler, Tristan Daugherty, Devin Wasley, Boeden Greenley, Andrew McMonagle and Brayden Canoyer have been named the team captains for the 2025-26 season.
 
NCAA D1 All-Americans
The Bison have 13 All-Americans at the Div. I Championships, including a best finish of 3rd by Steven Monk at 165 in 2014. In 2015, Kurtis Julson and Hayden Zillmer both placed in the top 8, while Jared Franek and Michael Caliendo earned All-American honors in 2023. Gavin Drexler is the most recent, earning All-American honors last season at 149 pounds.
 
NCAA D1 Qualifiers
The Bison have had 69 NCAA Div. I qualifiers in 17 years of postseason eligibility, including 25 over the last five seasons. Rich in wrestling history, the Bison sent 27 to NCAA Div. I Championships from 1971 to 1991, bringing the total to 96.