#8 Mizzou (#16 Little Rock, #25 Purdue, #29 Maryland, Cal Poly, SIUE)
The Tiger Style Invite is here for a third season, and features a new team with Purdue coming in. Last season was a breakout tournament for Little Rock, who finished with champs in Nasir Bailey and Stephen Little. Purdue and Maryland have some studs, and Big 10 matches are always a great marker for rankings. This always features a random assortment of ranked starters, backups, and young wrestlers looking to make a statement. I’ve made predictions off somewhat expected lineups but there’s no telling what the brackets could look like until they’re officially released.
125lbs: #15 Noah Surtin, Gage Walker, Mack Mauger, Jake Crapps
Wrestlers to Watch: #4 Matt Ramos (PUR), Jeremiah Reno (LR), Drew Davis (SIUE)
Time will tell if Noah Surtin is healthy and ready for here. This weight isn’t the strongest weight but could have one of the bigger challenges. Matt Ramos was an NCAA finalist in 2023 but finished in the bloodround in a chaotic 125 last season. Jeremiah Reno may be a familiar name for Missouri high school fans, where he won four state titles at Liberty with a 179-0 record. He hasn’t qualified yet but has had steady progression in college and looks like he could be a qualifier this season.
Drew Davis is a true freshman at SIUE that may be redshirting. He’ll be one to look out for as he beat # Ramazan Attasauv (Illinois) at a dual recently. I’m expecting most if not all of Mizzou’s freshmen here. Walker has established himself amongst the three but there is always a question of how they’ll look against different opponents. If Surtin is in, I’ll take him against Matt Ramos. The two last faced off at the 2023 Southern Scuffle finals, where Ramos won a narrow 4-3 decision.
Prediction: 1. Matt Ramos 2. Noah Surtin 3. Jeremiah Reno 4. Gage Walker
133lbs: #29 Kade Moore, Drew Stanfield
Wrestlers to Watch: #2 Nasir Bailey (LR), #12 Braxton Brown (MARY), #20 Zeth Romney (CP)
Last season this was Nasir Bailey’s debut and breakout as champ with an overtime win over Zeke Seltzer. Kade Moore is coming off a dual loss where he had a steep fall off in the match. This tournament is filled with ranked opponents and could be a great bounce back opportunity. Braxton Brown and Zeth Romney were both qualifiers last season and recently scored ranked wins.
There’s multiple questions coming for Moore early in the year. Starting with his health, as I’m still not 100% sure if he was injured in the Serrano match and that could explain his drop off. If it is conditioning or weight cut related, that could be a concern to look out for. I think he has the ability to upset Romney or Brown, but not if he drops off again.