James Hackney
#3 Mizzou – 1st (188.5 Points)
The statement I heard from every Mizzou wrestler and head coach Brian Smith for this event was that their season was starting and ending in Kansas City.
The start was the second annual Tiger Style Invite at Staley High School, where the Tigers dominated with 12 in the finals and five champs.
The other teams included Lindenwood, SIUE, Cal Poly, Little Rock, and #29 Maryland. Not every team brought every starter, but there were a number of ranked matches. With that, here are some of my takeaways.
- Tournaments are fun, but duals are better
I love tournaments, watching wrestling all day is a blast and there’s always matches going on.
At the same time, they’re hard for many fans. I’ve only been to a few college tournaments (hoping that number jumps this year), and it’s a much harder sell to fans. The tournament started at 10 AM, and wasn’t done until around 7PM.
The tournament was well run and never stopped moving, but a dual that takes two hours max and can have much more fanfare should be the future for wrestling to bring in more casual fans…
