David Taylor's Oklahoma RTC wrestlers achieve major feat at 2025 US Open

By Shantnu Dobhal

Modified Apr 28, 2025 01:52 GMT

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David Taylor's Cowboy RTC had a dominating campaign at the 2025 U.S. Open Championship. Three of the Oklahoma State Wrestlers clinched titles at the championship.

Wyatt Hendrickson impressed everyone with his NCAA Championship performance. Hendrickson continued his form and repeated the winning streak in the tournament. Three of the four matches he played were won with a technical fall.

Zahid Valencia was the tournament's biggest underdog, winning 8-4 over the four-time world champion Kyle Dake. Joey McKenna had a smooth, undefeated run at the championship, and Jax Forrest also produced a huge upset by beating Seth Gross.

A recent Instagram post by Cowboy RTC celebrated the winning wrestlers in one frame. Sharing the frame were Zahid Valencia, Joey McKenna, Wyatt Hendrickson, and Jax Forrest. The caption read:

"OUR COWBOY RTC U.S. OPEN CHAMPS! 🤠."

Wyatt Hendrickson, Zahid Valencia, and Joey McKenna only need to win the best-of-three series at Final X to represent the USA at the 2025 Senior World Championships.

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A look at David Taylor's journey from wrestler to coach

David Taylor representing USA Wrestling - Olympics: Day 13 - Source: Getty

Before taking the position of head coach at Oklahoma State, David Taylor cemented his legacy as one of the most decorated wrestlers in the United States of America. David was awarded the Dave Schultz High School Award for his impressive 180-2 record. He was also a four-time state champion during his time with Graham High School in Ohio.

Under the guidance of Cael Sanderson, David won two NCAA Division 1 Championships at Penn State. He dominated the wrestling division, winning gold at the World Championship in 2018 (Budapest), 2022 (Belgrade,) and 2023 (Belgrade).

David was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy twice in his collegiate career. He also won gold at the Ivan Yarygin Golden Grand Prix, which is considered one of the toughest open tournaments.

One of the biggest wrestling bouts that David victoriously embarked on was against his wrestling rival, the Iranian player Hassan Yazdani, who was the reigning Olympic and world champion at the time. Making a late comeback in the bout, David Taylor won 9-3 and clinched the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

After an unsuccessful attempt at the 2024 Olympic trials for the US National team, David made the decision to hang up his wrestling shoes and become a coach. David Taylor replaced John Smith as the head coach of Oklahoma State in May 2024.