Two shoulders were forced onto the mat. The hand of the referee slapped the orange surface. The 2,169 fans inside Gallagher-Iba Arena roared. Then, Cormier sprung to his feet and pointed up high above to honor his friend who had died, basketball player Daniel Lawson.
That moment, above all others in the 35-6 win over the No. 12-ranked Beavers (9-5 overall), shined brighter than anything else. Even above the two other pins from 133-pounder Johnny Thompson and 165-pounder Chris Pendleton.
For the No. 2-ranked Cowboys (14-1), it was their first time back on the mat since they heard of the plane crash which killed 10 people associated with the OSU men’s basketball team.
OSU coach John Smith said it was good for the team to get back into their own wrestling room and concentrate on the dual against Oregon State, even as Gallagher-Iba was morphing from a sporting venue to a memorial site. “I thought they looked pretty sharp,” Smith said. “It was a tough week, it was a struggle all week. Everywhere you go, it appears that everyone has lost someone. It’s something that I’m sure will still take some time to heal, but I thought we wrestled pretty well considering the week.” When the news hit the squad, they too were on the road, only in Iowa. The Cowboys had just come off a sweep of Iowa State and Northern Iowa. The weather there was icy and cold as well. Smith decided that the team wouldn’t fly out of Cedar Falls and instead stay over for the night. On Sunday, the team flew from Cedar Falls to Des Moines, then drove the rest of the way back to Stillwater.
Friday night, every OSU singlet had a black circular patch with an orange 10 on the right thigh of the uniform. Those patches will be worn for the remainder of this season.
“Not a lot of people know how close the basketball team and the wrestling team are, but we’re very close,” said the freshman Pendleton, who won his first-ever match in Gallagher-Iba Friday night. “Cormier dropped out of the All-Star dual because he was really good friends with Lawson. That 10 just reminds us of them and ourselves and out own mortality. You have to think about your life and your family and friends. It’s a good reminder.”
Thompson agreed.
“Coach talked to us a little bit before the match, and he said (the patch) was to honor the 10 who died in the place crash,” Thompson said. “And also to remember that we are family too and not to take for granted the way we feel about each other and how that’s important and we need to realize that after this happened. It’s permanent for the rest of the season.
“It’s an honor to be able to show something like that for the 10 people.”
Coach Smith said the idea for the patch was originally suggested by Josh Maxson, the wrestling contact for OSU media relations.
“I thought it was a great idea,” Smith said. “One, it’s something that will honor these people for the rest of the season and this is a way we can remember them. At the same time, it’s something to remind us of what we have in our opportunities and to never lose sight of our families and our teammates.
“It symbolizes even more than the 10, but that was the main purpose, to honor them in a way they deserved to be honored.”
And on Friday night, OSU’s wrestlers did all they could to honor the fallen 10, winning eight matches. Cormier posted a pin for his friend. Pendleton got the second pin of the dual and Thompson scored another — his third-straight pin in as many duals. Major decisions were also scored by No. 1 Reggie Wright at 149 pounds and No. 4 Mark Muñoz at 197 pounds. And Tyrone Lewis, the third starting freshman in the lineup (Pendleton and Thompson are the others), clawed his way back from a 3-1 second round deficit to defeat Nathan Coy 8-5.
“In that match, it looked like nothing was happening for him and he was struggling that first period,” Smith said. “All of a sudden, he mentally had a change of thought and said he had to get to work. Then he picked up three takedowns in the second and third.
“It was good to see him wrestle hard through that match and get the takedowns when it was really important to get them. Those are the type of matches you may not want to have or you feel like you could wrestle better, but those are the type of matches that will really benefit you down the line.”
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