Mizzou Wrestling: Tigers Beat Sooners 23-14

Mizzou Wrestling beat the Oklahoma Sooners 23-14 despite missing a starter. They won six of their ten matches, but looked a little flat after nearly a month off of competition. They didn’t get the full sweep like I expected, but all the losses were by only by one point besides Trey Crawford getting teched (losing by 15 or more) at 133lbs. The Tigers lost two close overtime matches, with Josh Edmond being upset at 149lbs and Jarrett Jacques losing at 157lbs.

In folkstyle wrestling, overtime matches begin with one 2-minute sudden victory period where any score wins. However, in both of these matches, the wrestlers went into the next stage of overtime which is often called top bottom (TB). Each wrestler gets an opportunity to start on top for a 30-second period. Usually, the winner is decided by which wrestler is able to get out from bottom more quickly. Unfortunately for the Tigers, both opponents in these matches were able to escape in under four seconds. Both Edmond and Jacques were unable to beat that time when they were the bottom wrestlers, costing them those matches.

Two big bonus point wins helped Mizzou separate and keep this one in the win column. Mizzou wrestlers are typically pretty good at scoring bonus points for the team either by pinning their opponent, getting a technical fall or tech, or winning by major decision (8 or more points). In this dual, Keegan O’Toole got a tech against his opponent and Allan Hart got a pin.

Rocky Elam won the premiere matchup of the night with a one sided 4-1 win against a fellow All-American. At 174lbs, Sean Harman stepped up in his first start of the season and nearly scored an upset of his own but just missed out on a final takedown.

While a win against a Big 12 conference opponent is great, there are some adjustments and improvements the Tigers need to make before facing higher-ranked teams and competing in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments in March.

The Tigers return to the Hearnes Center at 2PM this Saturday for another conference dual against #24 South Dakota State.

• 125: Noah Surtin (MIZZ) over Joey Prata (OU) (Decision 4-3)
• 133: Anthony Madrigal (OU) over Trey Crawford (MIZZ) (Technical Fall 16-0 4:38)
• 141: Allan Hart (MIZZ) over Jacob Butler (OU) (Fall 2:58)
• 149: Willie McDougald (OU) over Josh Edmond (MIZZ) (Top Bottom (Riding Time) 4-4)
• 157: Justin Thomas (OU) over Jarrett Jacques (MIZZ) (Top Bottom 2-1)
• 165: Keegan O`Toole (MIZZ) over Troy Mantanona (OU) (Technical Fall 19-3 6:11)
• 174: Anthony Mantanona (OU) over Sean Harman (MIZZ) (Decision 6-5)
• 184: Jeremiah Kent (MIZZ) over Darrien Roberts (OU) (Decision 6-4)
• 197: Rocky Elam (MIZZ) over Jake Woodley (OU) (Decision 4-1)
• 285: Zach Elam (MIZZ) over Josh Heindselman (OU) (Decision 4-3)

Scoring Guide:

Pin, Injury Default, DQ, Forfeit: 6 Team Points

Tech Fall: 5 Team Points

Major Decision: 4 Team Points

Regular Decision: 3 Team Points