BROOKINGS – In a Big 12 Conference dual that featured an unprecedented matchup between top-ranked wrestlers, No. 15 South Dakota State topped No. 22 Wyoming 20-18 on Thursday night at Frost Arena.

The Cowboys’ Bryce Meredith defeated the Jackrabbits’ Seth Gross 4-2 in the final bout of the dual at 141 pounds. Meredith is No. 1 at 141, while Gross is on top of the polls at 133.

“First off, a big thanks goes out to Wyoming and Coach (Mark) Branch and Bryce Meredith; they were great with setting this thing up,” said SDSU coach Chris Bono. “I think it’s great for college wrestling.

“We came out on the wrong end of it with Seth, but I think it’s great. You saw the turnout, I don’t know what the crowd was, but it was big. You see the coverage all over the Internet; I think we need to do this to grow wrestling.

“Outside of that, our other nine guys performed very well and I’m really happy with what they did. It’s a big conference win for us.”

Bonus-point wins by ninth-ranked David Kocer (174 pounds) and 23rd-ranked Martin Mueller (184) helped SDSU get going after falling into a 10-0 hole.

Kocer picked up a 9-1 major decision over No. 32 Kyle Pope. He led 2-0 after a period and 6-0 through two, before adding another takedown in the third. A riding-time advantage of more than 5 minutes completed the eight-point victory.

Mueller led 6-2 late in the opening period and then converted a move that put Chaz Polson on his back to knot the dual score at 10-all.

“It was good to keep that momentum going,” Mueller said. “(An opportunity for a pin) was there, it was there. Coach Bono told us in the pre-match meeting to let it fly, so it was there and it worked out.”

Mueller’s post-bout celebration helped the 2,236 in attendance get even more fired up.

“It was unexplainable,” he added. “I probably should have got off the mat a lot earlier, but God gave me an opportunity, so it was good. A lot of fun.”

Added Gross, “that was awesome. It was exciting and got us fired up and going as a team. We were in the hole but that brought us right back, tied the score up and we got rolling after that. It was good.”

Nate Rotert, ranked ninth, kept it going with a 13-2 major decision over Cody Vigoren in the 197-pound matchup. The Jackrabbit senior was ahead 4-1 and, following a scoreless second, pulled away in the final period, using a takedown and four-point nearfall to pick up bonus points.

Crowd-favorite Alex Macki came through again at 285 pounds.

With the crowd chanting “Macki! Macki! Macki,” the senior’s late takedown lifted him to a 3-1 decision over Sam Eagan, leaving the dual score at 17-10.

“You have no idea what this 11th man does for us – our guys love it, the way the crowd gets involved in the matches,” Bono said. “We always tell them we’re a couple points better because of the crowd getting involved.

“I can’t thank these guys enough for getting out there and doing what they’ve done. I’m just happy we’re able to perform a little bit and show them a great … and you know what, not that we owe them or anything but for them to witness history tonight – No. 1 in two different weight classes – is our way of saying ‘hey, stay with us, thanks for what you do, we’re going to try to keep doing special things here and you’re going to see special things.’

“(2,200) people got to see No. 1 versus No. 1 live plus they had a good dual meet in this environment. It’s very special.”

Freshman Connor Brown, ranked 29th, pushed the advantage to 20-10 with an 8-6 defeat of Drake Foster at 125.

Wyoming won the first three bouts of the dual – No. 24 Sam Turner earned a 3-0 decision over Colten Carlson at 149 pounts, No. 10 Archie Colgan dropped No. 11 Luke Zilverberg 5-3 at 157 and No. 14 Brandon Ashworth tallied an 11-3 major decision over Zach Carlson – to open up the 10-0 lead.

The Cowboys got back on the board via eighth-ranked Montorie Bridges’ 22-7 technical fall in 6:11 versus Tyler Pieper in the 133-pound match.

That left the score at 20-15 heading into the bout of the night, or possibly year – or maybe even longer.

“It never happens,” Bono added of the 1 vs. 1 matchup. “It never happens, especially in today’s day and age with – weight descent plans, and this and that, and people ducking people, and people not wanting to ruin their seed, and kids not having enough fortitude to fricking challenge themselves.”

Gross escaped 30 seconds into the second period to grab a 1-0 advantage but Meredith quickly escaped in the third to knot the score at 1-all. The match’s only takedown – by Meredith – came soon thereafter, and the senior was able to build his riding time advantage above the 1-minute mark.

Gross eventually escaped but couldn’t muster a takedown down the stretch in the two-point loss.

“I planned to go out there and wrestle and win that match, obviously; get after it,” said an upbeat Gross. “I wanted to score early and try to get to that ankle. We do a lot of similar things and it’s hard for either one of us to score unless somebody gets to the leg, so it makes it tough.

“I’m just blessed for the opportunity to do that. You know, 99 percent of coaches in the country aren’t going to let that happen; you’re never going to get that chance, so I thank God and thank my coach for giving me that opportunity. I think that’s a huge match – I lost it, but huge for March, you know.

“I haven’t really gotten tired like that all year, so getting that was a lot of fun and just something to build off of. I know I still have to get in better shape and make sure I don’t get tired like that again. He was getting tired, too; a little more condition on my end, I think I would have got him. It was a good match though; it was fun.”

Bono agreed.

“That is the best thing that can happen to Seth Gross tonight on his way to hopefully being a national champion,” he noted. “That is the best thing. … That’s going to do wonders; it’s perfect timing and that’s why I was all for it. Win or lose, that was a great lesson for Gross in where we need to be at the end of March.”

How will Gross respond?

Well, for starters: “He just asked me to be in here at 6:30 tomorrow morning to put him through some extra conditioning, so right there that’s a way he responds,” Bono said.

Wyoming dropped to 7-3 (1-2), their other conference loss a 20-15 home setback to Oklahoma State on Dec. 19.

South Dakota State (8-2, 3-0), which has won eight in a row, is host to 11th-ranked Northern Iowa in another Big 12 dual Sunday at 2 p.m.

Notes: Individual rankings are from the NCAA Division I coaches’ panel. … Wyoming leads the all-time series 15-4, but SDSU has won four of the past five matchups.

Gross vs. Meredith

Meredith leads 2-1, with all the bouts coming at 141 pounds.

Meredith was the last wrestler to beat Gross in a dual – 6-4 on Jan. 29, 2016 in Brookings – as he snapped the junior’s 28-match winning streak in duals on Thursday.

Gross, who wrestled at 141 as a freshman, later beat Meredith 8-3 in the Big 12 Conference Championship semifinals on March 5, 2016.

Gross, the runner-up at 133 with a 34-2 mark last season, now has a career record of 75-17 (35-7 duals), including 15-1 (6-1 duals) this season.

Meredith, who took fourth in 2017 and second in 2016 at the national tournament, improved to 20-1 on the season.

No. 15 SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 20, No. 22 WYOMING 18

149 pounds – No. 24 Sam Turner, UW, dec. Colten Carlson, 3-0 [0-3]

157 – No. 10 Archie Colgan, UW, dec. No. T11 Luke Zilverberg, 5-3 [0-6]

165 – No. 14 Brandon Ashworth, UW, maj. dec. Zach Carlson, 11-3 [0-10]

174 – No. 9 David Kocer, SDSU, maj. Dec. No. 32 Kyle Pope, 9-1 [4-10]

184 – No. 23 Martin Mueller, SDSU, wbf Chaz Polson, 2:49 [10-10]

197 – No. 9 Nate Rotert, SDSU maj. dec. Cody Vigoren, 13-2 [14-10]

285 – Alex Macki, SDSU, dec. Sam Eagan, 3-1 [17-10]

125 – No. 29 Connor Brown, SDSU, dec. Drake Foster, 8-6 [20-10]

133 – No. 8 Montorie Bridges, UW, tech. fall Tyler Pieper, 22-7 (6:11) [20-15]

141 – No. 1 Bryce Meredith, UW, dec. *No. 1 Seth Gross, 4-2 [20-18]

   *Gross is ranked No. 1 at 133 pounds

   Note: Individual rankings are from the NCAA Division I coaches’ panel.