James Hackney
Missing eight typical starters the Tigers dropped back to back duals for the second time this season. With a mix of injuries and illness the Tigers limped to Iowa without most of their team and without Kendric Maple. In both duals Missouri was forced to forfeit at 125 as the only backups are Luqman Masud (In Redshirt) and Preston Spray who has struggled with injuries. Josh Edmond and Zach Elam both had solid ranked wins, while Colton Hawks made a statement with a win over All-American Will Feldkamp.
There were some bright spots for the Tigers throughout the weekend however. Drew Stanfield gave up bonus points but had some solid moments for an unheralded true freshman. I’m not sure what his future is at this level but he showed a lot of grit stepping up recently. Ellis Pfleger had some opportunities with matchups against fellow scramblers and came close a few times, but struggled to keep up for the full seven minutes.
J Conway has had tough draws in duals this season, dropping matches at three different weight classes. At his typical 157 this weekend he had two top 15 opponents and wasn’t able to break through. He had some moments with solid offense, but again just seemed to be a step behind. While a tough weekend he is someone that I could see stepping into the lineup next season so this is hopefully a valuable weekend for him and his development.
Edmond had a solid weekend with a top eight upset over Cael Happel. He had some solid offense to score and used some wild defense late to avoid giving anything up. Edmond didn’t make it easy however as he gave up two stall calls for a point in the third, and if the two didn’t end up in a long scramble it would have been easy to ding him again. His Echemendia match was wild, as he countered Echemendia with a big throw to put him on his back for a 7-0 lead early. Unfortunately Edmond couldn’t handle Echemendia’s pressure, giving up two takedowns and two stall points to lose 10-9.
In both matches it was clear that Edmond has the offense to score on almost everyone. However when he has a lead he does not open up the same way. Both wrestlers forced at least two stall calls against him, and Edmond did not do a lot to give the refs an argument to not hit him with it. He broke through with…
