Recapping the Tiger Style Invite

Mizzou Wrestling started off the new season strong by placing first with 188.5 points at the Tiger Style Invite in Kansas City on Saturday. Brian Smith and Co. entered the invite ranked fourth in the country, and they lived up to the lofty expectations by bringing home five individual titles.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

125lbs.

Preston Spray: Playing the role of backup this year to Surtin, he finished seventh in his weight class. Spray was defeated by fall in his quarterfinal match against Dom Mendez of Cal Poly, who eventually advanced to the finals. Spray, moving on to consolation round three, fell via a 14-4 major decision to Mendez’s teammate Koda Holeman.

Noah Surtin: Entering this season ranked 18th in his weight class (via InterMat), Surtin laid waste to the rest of the weight class. He began his Saturday with two consecutive victories via fall over Koda Holeman in round one and Deion Johnson (SIUE) in the quarterfinal.

His closest match of the day came in the semifinals in a 6-1 decision over Jeremiah Reno (Little Rock) before a commanding 17-0 tech fall facing Dom Mendez in the finals. You couldn’t ask much more out of the junior, who is now 4-0 this season.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

133lbs.

Korbin Shepard: Shephard only completed one match in the tournament, losing by fall to Jayden Carson (Little Rock). During his consolation round two matchup with Brandon Eusebio, he was injured and unable to continue in a medical forfeit.

Zeke Seltzer: Seltzer, expected to jump into a starting role this season, placed second in the weight class. After a 17-4 major decision over Conner Quinn (Maryland) in the quarterfinals, Seltzer won in an 11-10 nail-biter over Zeth Romney (Cal Poly) that came down to the final seconds. However, he was denied a title by Little Rock’s Nasir Bailey in an 8-5 decision in the finals.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

141lbs.

Owen Uhls: Uhls had a tumultuous experience at the Tiger Style Invite, executing a pin to win by fall in the first period of his first round match against Gunnar LeGrand before losing to 22nd-ranked Kal Miller of Maryland by decision 4-1 in the quarterfinal. Following a medical forfeit by Ben Bohr in consolation round two, Uhls defeated Brennan Van Hoecke (Little Rock) 12-9 in the third consolation round. However, he was unable to continue and was a medical forfeit in his final two matches to place sixth.

Josh Edmond: Everything went very well for Edmond until the final match of his day. After tech falls of 22-5 and 20-5 over Clayton Gabrielson and Michael Pizzuto of Maryland in the quarterfinal and semifinal, the sophomore ran into fellow top-25 wrestler Kal Miller in the finals. The match went to a tiebreaker which ended up going Miller’s way, denying Edmond first place.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

149lbs.

Carter McCallister: McCallister had a respectable showing on the weekend, placing fifth and ending the tournament with a 3-2 record. After a 6-3 decision over Santino Robinson (SIUE) in the first round, he was defeated via a 25-8 tech fall by Kyle Dutton (Little Rock) in the quarterfinal. After two straight victories in the consolation bracket, one by a 5-1 decision and one by fall, McCallister was narrowly defeated 12-10 by Eric Almarinez (SIUE) in the consolation semifinals. Facing off again against Dutton in his final match of the day, he won by medical forfeit.

Joel Mylin: After a 11-6 loss to Eric Almarinez in the quarterfinal to begin his day, Mylin scored four consecutive victories to finish in third. Mylin won by a 13-5 major decision over Santino Robinson and then a narrow 5-4 decision facing Jacob Adams (Little Rock) to advance to the consolation semifinals. He advanced to the finals via medical forfeit (Kyle Dutton), and won the third place match via a 4-1 decision over Eric Almarinez.

Logan Gioffre: Gioffre placed second in the weight class. Following a victory by fall over Alec Peralta (SIUE) in the quarterfinal, he won by injury default over Kyle Dutton in the semifinals. Moving on to the finals against top-10 wrestler Chance Lamer of Cal Poly, he was defeated via major decision 15-6.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

157lbs.

James Conway: Conway started off with a 20-2 tech fall over Jorden Johnson (SIUE) before advancing to the semifinal after a 11-6 decision facing Michael North of Maryland. His first loss of the tournament came to teammate Cam Steed, who won a close 3-2 decision. Conway win a low-scoring match against Chase Tebbets (Little Rock) in the consolation semifinals before losing 5-2 to Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) in the fourth place match.

Cam Steed: The only match in which Steed didn’t face a teammate was the quarterfinals, where he beat Legend Lamer of Cal Poly by fall only 26 seconds into the match. Advancing past Conway in the semifinals, Steed fell 7-2 to Brock Mauller in the finals, earning second place.

Brock Mauller: Mauller opened up his matches with two straight tech falls, 17-2 over Kevin Schorck (Maryland) and 23-5 over Andrew Doehring. He picked up a semifinal victory 8-4 against Matty Bianchi before proceeding to the finals and defeating Cam Steed to earn first place and finish the tournament 4-0.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

165lbs.

Keegan O’Toole: The world champion made his return to college wrestling in style, taking home yet another title and finishing 4-0. O’Toole won by fall in both the first round and quarterfinal, facing Bilal Bailey (Little Rock) and Ryan Money (Maryland). In the semifinals, he finished off Joseph Bianchi with a 19-4 tech fall, and improved on that result in the finals where he took down Brendon Abdon (Little Rock) 20-4.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

174lbs.

Ellis Pfleger: Pfleger sandwiched his three wins of the day with losses in the first round and third place match. After an 11-7 defeat to Tyler Brennan (Little Rock) in the quarterfinal, Pfleger won by tech fall, decision, and then major decision over Hayden Shepherd(SIUE), Jared Shafer (Lindenwood), and Dominic Solis of Maryland. In the third place match, Brennan once again got the best of Pfleger, winning by fall.

Peyton Mocco: Mocco opened up his tournament with two consecutive victories by major decision over Austin Keal of Little Rock (14-2) and Dom Solis (17-4). In the finals, he was upset in a close 8-7 decision by Adam Kemp of Cal Poly, finishing second in the weight class with a 2-1 record.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

184lbs.

Sean Harman: After a victory by fall over Mckinley Kemper (Lindenwood) in the quarterfinal, Harman was handed his only defeat of the day by teammate Clayton Whiting in a 4-2 decision in the semifinal. Harman recovered to finish strong, defeated Kendall La Rosa (Cal Poly) 8-2 in the consolation semifinals and Chase Mielnik (Maryland) in a 5-2 decision to earn third place.

Colton Hawks: Hawks began his day with a 20-3 tech fall over Luke Shaver (Lindenwood) before adding advancing to the finals via a victory by fall against Triston Wills of Little Rock. In the finals, he faced off against Clayton Whiting, where he was defeated 4-1 to finish in second.

Clayton Whiting: Whiting completed the Mizzou sweep of the top three places in the weight class with a 4-0 run through the tournament. In round one, he defeated Brooks Sacharczyk of Little Rock by a tech fall (18-2) before earning a major decision, 14-4, against Chase Mielnik in the quarterfinal. In the final two rounds, he ran into the aforementioned Sean Harman and Colton Hawks, and emerged with the title.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

285lbs.

Jarrett Stoner: Stoner finished 2-2, losing to Josiah Hill 7-3 in the quarterfinal before bouncing back with a victory by tech fall over Sam O’Brian (Maryland) 19-3 in the second consolation round. He was defeated by teammate Cole Gripka 14-10 in consolation round three before finishing his matches with an 18-2 tech fall facing David Hernandez (Lindenwood) in the seventh place match.

Cole Gripka: Gripka was defeated in the first round in a 17-0 tech fall facing Seth Nevills (Maryland) before winning by major decision over Joshua Harkey (Cal Poly) 13-5. After defeating Stoner, he lost to Keith Miley of Little Rock 4-1 in the consolation semifinals. Gripka’s day ended with a 6-5 loss to Cole Jackson of Cal Poly to finish in sixth place.

Zach Elam: Elam steamrolled his way through the first two round, defeating Joshua Harkey by fall less than a minute into the first period before taking down Jordan Gabriel of Maryland in a 21-2 tech fall. Following another quick victory by fall, this time over Keith Miley, Elam avenged his teammate Cole Gripka by beating Seth Nevills 8-1 to take home the title and win all four of his matches.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mizzou showcased its talent and depth at several weight classes during this tournament, emphasizing just how impressive this program is at the moment. The Tigers will look for their first dual win of the season when they face #13 Arizona State at the Hearnes Center on Sunday.