James Hackney
Mizzou had some late scratches that made winning a title tough, but came through with a third place finish. From a Coach Smith interview, Mauller missed due to flu and O’Toole/Rocky were banged up. It doesn’t sound like anything too serious so they should be back. The team had six placers overall, including four in the finals. The shorthanded Tigers put up a lot of points with bonus, and had a good number of ranked wins.
Injuries were an issue for the Tigers on day two. Four wrestlers suffered head injuries, and Seth Nitzel had a knee injury. Head injuries aren’t predictable, but hopefully everyone comes back healthy. Cam Steed had a breakout tournament, and Nate Pulliam notched a ranked win. Aside from them however the back ups struggled. Here are some takeaways from the 2023 Scuffle tournament.
No answers at 184
Coming into the tournament there was only one wrestler ranked above Harman. With that I thought it was a good opportunity for he or Hawks to come out and impress to lock down the spot. However, neither even managed to make the podium after quarterfinals losses. Harman had the 2 seed, but lost to NDSU’s Deanthony Parker and Sam Fisher of VT. Hawks majored Parker in the dual, and Fisher has been a career backup at VT.
Hawks lost to the top seed Travis Wittlake 2-0, but it felt like he had opportunities to at least escape in the third period. On the backside he got pinned early after a failed attempt at a cement mixer in the first. With neither guy separating, there’s still a question of who starts by the end of the year.
