TULSA, Okla. – For two years, Chase Straw needed to win one match at the Big 12 Championships for an automatic NCAA berth.

And in back-to-back years, Straw did the improbable.

One year after defeating Oklahoma’s Justin Thomas for the conference title at 157 pounds, the redshirt senior recorded a match-winning takedown to beat Fresno State’s Adam Kemp 10-8 in sudden victory in a true fourth place match at 165 to claim the final auto bid Sunday inside the Bank of Oklahoma Center.

“I think it’s just a lot of hard work, so I guess you can call it a clutch gene, just a lot of grit,” Straw said. “I wasn’t supposed to be in and look at where I’m at now. That’s the sum of my whole career.”

Kemp blistered to a 6-3 first period lead on the strength of three takedowns. Straw never wavered.

After an escape to open the second, the Independence, Iowa, native registered his first takedown on the edge of the mat to tie the match at six entering the third.

Kemp escaped to retake the lead, but was quickly answered by Straw’s second takedown then Kemp escaped for the final time to send the bout into sudden victory.

“He started to feel my pace, staying on my attacks and slowly break him,” Straw said. “He’s got a pretty good double, just being ready for a double coming my way. If I got my hands locked, I knew I was going to finish.”

Straw shot in first and recorded the final takedown in between the two coaching corners that secured Straw’s spot in Minneapolis and caused an eruption from the Iowa State corner.

When asked if March is his favorite month, Straw said July still takes the cake due to his birthday, but it’s a close second.

“It takes a lot to get for me to get into my groove,” Straw said. “Being with the team, fighting for those late points.”

In an odd turn of events, it was Straw who was rooting for the person he beat in the consolation semifinals.

Kemp defeated Wyoming’s Cole Moody, whom Straw beat 9-5, to set up the true fourth place match as South Dakota State’s Tanner Cook pinned Straw in the third place match at 4:58.

It’s the second time this season Straw was either leading or close with his conference foe before getting pinned.

“He’s got one of the weirdest feels in college wrestling,” Straw said of Cook. “Hopefully I get to wrestle him again, third time’s the charm.”

Straw was not the only Cyclone to nab an auto bid as they sent four more to NCAAs in two weeks.

Marcus Coleman, after falling to Oklahoma State’s Anthony Montalvo in the consolation semis, pinned Wyoming’s Tate Samuelson at 5:47 to secure the fifth and final bid at 184.

Prior to the fall, the match was tied at one following an escape from each.

“He shot a single leg, I rolled him through and got in between his legs and able to crawl up,” Coleman said. “[…] It was a move I used to do when I was younger. Not my best wrestling, but something positive to end on the weekend.”

An exciting first period involving reversals and tilts between Coleman and Montalvo ended with the latter winning 10-4. The former had a quick turnaround, less than an hour for his fifth place match.

Coleman preferred it that way.

“Put a little stress and some nerves on it, but you gotta keep a level head,” Coleman said. “You can’t sit on your defeats, you have to move forward. I was already warmed up, so I was like ‘Alright, let’s do this.'”

Sam Colbray (174) went through a rollercoaster of emotions in a short time span.

He got the game-winning takedown in the second sudden victory period against Utah Valley’s Kimball Bastian to win 4-2 and solidify his spot at NCAAs. Then, after getting taken to his back in the third place match by Oklahoma State’s Joe Smith, he was down on one knee.

Trying to toughen it out, Colbray was taken down again and called it quits. With noticeable tears in his eyes and a limp, the redshirt junior placed fourth.

“Luckily, it’s just a hip pointer,” Head Coach Kevin Dresser said. “If it was the NCAA Tournament, we probably have to finish that match. It was too sore, just ere on the side of being safe.”

At 149, Jarrett Degen pinned Fresno State’s Greg Gaxiola for the second time this year then defeated Northern Colorado’s Andrew Alirez in the third place match for the second time in as many days, 5-3.

The redshirt junior locked Gaxiola in a cradle for the fall then rode out Alirez for the entire third period leading by only one point.

“That’s his middle name, gritty,” Dresser said. “Nothing surprises me when it comes to toughness with that guy.”

Todd Small (133) lost his ninth place match against Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont, 5-3 in sudden victory and was officially eliminated from the tournament.

Leading 3-2 in the final 15 seconds of the third period, a scramble to the edge of the mat resulted in Small getting called for stalling and awarding a point to LaMont to force the overtime period.

The Wolverine executed a takedown to win the match and force a true eighth place bout at 133, where he tech failed West Virginia’s Lucas Seibert 17-2 to snare the last auto bid.