James Hackney
#12 Mizzou (4th – 115.5 Points)
After a long two days the Tigers finished in 4th place, the first time they haven’t won a conference title in 12 years. The streak had to end at some point and the conference saw stellar performances from both Iowa State and Oklahoma State. Two of their wrestlers had to medically forfeit after qualifying, which was a big hit to the team points. They ended up automatically qualifying at least nine wrestlers for the 4th consecutive year and continue to be one of the most consistent teams as far as qualifiers go. I was at the tournament and not able to fully watch every match as close as usual, so I’ll keep it to some takeaways.
- The team is still recovering from injuries and illness.
After the majority of the team missed the last two duals, it has continued to affect the Tigers. Noah Surtin is still wearing the neck brace, and the team wasn’t sure if he’d be able to compete at Big 12’s a few weeks ago. That sentiment echoed with Logan Gioffre and his ribs, wearing trimmed football padding to provide some extra protection. Peyton Mocco was in clear pain through his last few matches, frequently rolling out his shoulders in matches and struggling in positions that he normally wins.
Those are just the injuries, not to mention that it sounds like for a handful of the team they are still recovering from the flu effects. No one is truly healthy at this point in the year, but for a team that hasn’t had issues like this so publicly it is tough to see.
- Josh Edmond had one of the more impressive tournaments.
I thought Edmond had upside coming into the tournament but thought it would come from him beating Cael Happel again in the quarters. After that didn’t happen I was nervous about his odds to qualify through the consolations. That ended up not mattering as he won a controlled match against Haiden Drury before Jordan Titus appeared to suffer from a concussion and ended their match early. I liked Edmond in that rematch, but it did automatically qualify him for NCAA’s.
Where he really impressed me was the Jamison match. A style matchup that I thought would give Edmond trouble, he wrestled a smart match with some good exchanges between the two. Edmond hit a great counter at the end of the match, nearly scoring his second career pin in the same tournament. That win was a cherry on top of the NCAA qualification, but also should give Edmond a big bump in the seedings.
- Keegan O’Toole is potentially separating himself.
Whenever you have someone at the level of David Carr it is hard to put him too far behind anyone. However O’Toole has now beaten him by a score of 8-2 in two consecutive matches.
O’Toole’s single leg defense was absurd, winning two scrambles to get two takedowns of his own and get a minute of riding time along the…
