Missouri Wrestling
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Wrestling will compete at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational December 4 & 5 at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nev. The Invitational tournament will feature 40 Division I teams from around the country, including 13 teams ranked in the December 1 edition of the NWCA/USA Today Top-25 Coaches Poll.
Competition will begin at 9 am PT on Friday and Saturday. FloWrestling.com will stream the Invitational. In total, eight rounds will take place on Friday, four championships and four consolation. A short break will take place before the Championship Quarterfinals and the Consolation Quarterfinals, which are slated to begin at 6 PM PT. Three more consolation rounds will take place on Saturday, while two championship rounds are scheduled. The semi-finals are slated for 10 am PT and the finals at 3 PM PT.
Three teams from Mizzou’s dual schedule will participate in the tournament, including No. 25 Northern Iowa, who Mizzou defeated 24-19 on Saturday, Nov. 28. Mizzou’s dual home-opener opponent No. 3 Ohio State and No. 7 Oklahoma will also wrestle in the Invitational. #TigerStyle hosts Ohio State on Dec. 12 and Oklahoma on Jan. 30.
Eight Mizzou wrestlers who will wrestle over the weekend were ranked in at least one national individual ranking this week. Those publications include Intermat, W.I.N. Magazine, The Open Mat, and FloWrestling. Junior 197-pounder J’den Cox (Columbia, Mo.) ranks the highest among #Tigerstyle grapplers, ranked No. 2 in all four rankings. After a 9-1 start to the season and 2-0 start in the dual season, redshirt junior Zach Synon (Cary, Ill.) made his first appearance of the season in the top-20 individual rankings, coming in at No. 15/17/14 in the Intermat, W.I.N. Magazine, and The Open Mat rankings, respectively.
Projected Mizzou Lineup:
WT Name Year ’15/16 Record/Dual Record
125 Barlow McGhee R So. 5-1/1-1
133 Zach Synon R Jr. 9-1/2-0
141 Matt Manley R Jr. 10-2/2-0
149 Lavion Mayes R Jr. 6-0/2-0
157 Luke Fortuna Fr. 10-2/0-1
165 Daniel Lewis R Fr. 3-1/1-0
174 Blaise Butler R Sr. 1-0/1-0
184 Willie Miklus R So. 2-0/2-0
197 J’den Cox R Sr. 7-0/2-0
HWT James Romero Fr. 9-7/0-2
Top-25 teams at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational:
No. 3 Ohio State
No. 6 Virginia Tech
No. 7 Oklahoma
No. 8 Missouri
No. 9 Michigan
No. 14 Cornell
No. 15 Wisconsin
No. 17 Iowa State
No. 18 Minnesota
No. 19 Virginia
No. 23 Oregon State
No. 24 West Virginia
No. 25 Northern Iowa
For all the latest on Mizzou Wrestling, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MizzouWrestling).
