Mizzou wrestling starts off important month at the Big 12 Championship

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

There's no 'new message' from the coaching staff, as Mizzou wrestling is headed into a critical month of March. No, the team is focused on doing what they've been doing all season: training hard.

"The intensity that they're bringing is great, so they're prepared," head coach Brian Smith said. "I'm excited to get down to Tulsa and get it going."

You can watch the full press conference with Coach Smith in the video player below.

Mizzou's massive month of March will begin in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday. The Tigers will take center stage at the Big 12 Championship in an effort to capture some conference hardware.

This time in 2025, Coach Smith and company were dealing with some injuries headed into the conference championship, however, in 2026 he said the team is at full health.

The leader of Tiger wrestling said his team has grown a lot over the course of this season, even after getting off to an up and down start.

"I just think they've learned how to be tougher in matches, "Smith said. "There were those early season duels where we just didn't look our best and through, you know, their training, they've stepped it up and through continued tough competition, they found a way to battle in those and won some and just continue to grow. But ,you know, there's little areas that each guy has gotten better and I think when I go through the weight classes, we have grown at every weight."

Mizzou wrestlers will head into the Big 12 Championship with a ton experience under their belt, as most of Coach Smith's guys boast either the most or second-most matches in their weight classes, this season.

That's especially benefitted young talents like redshirt freshman Mack Mauger, who wrestles at 125 pounds. In his first year starting for the Tigers, the Idaho native went 11-9 on the season and ranked in the Top-30 of his weight class.

"I mean, I can get as good as I can in the [practice gym], but I think where I get the best is in competition, wrestling the best guys. So, having that confidence of, like, I've wrestled Top-10 guys in the country multiple times this season that I know what it takes and I can I can get it done," Mauger said.

You can watch the full press conference with Mauger in the video player below.

Mauger wil head to Tulsa to compete in the Big 12 Championship for the first time in his young career, alongside fellow redshirt freshman Aeoden Sinclair.

Sinclair has been one of the most dominant forces in wrestling through the 2025-26 campaign. At 184 pounds, he's only lost one match, going 22-1 through his first full season of competition. As the No. 3 overall wrestler in his weight class, needless to say, Sinclair has a lot of confidence. However, he's just looking forward to facing starting-caliber talent in the conference championship.

"I wrestle a lot of backups and I've wrestled some Top-10 guys, but I just feel like in this postseason I'll get to wrestle the starters, which will be nice," he said. "I could choose to be frustrated about [wrestling backups], but honestly, [I'm] not really. I think I'm I'm prepared. I was talking about it with coach before this, but I'm prepared to step on the line today. If today was the national finals, I'm prepared to do that, you know? I think I was prepared in November. You know, it's nice to have that time to make those changes, but realistically I'm always ready to compete. That's never going to change. I can be bedridden, whatever it is, just put me on the line and something's going to change. I'm gonna fight for every point. So, it's, kind of, how my mind works."

You can watch the full press conference with Sinclair in the video player below.

Coach Smith emphasized just how important the experienced guys on his roster will be headed into the month of March. The Tigers have plenty of guys who have been to the Big 12 and NCAA Championships before. They know what it takes to get there and they expect to win and they've been passing down their wisdom to the younger wrestlers on the roster.

Cam Steed, who wrestles at 174, is one of the experienced guys that Mizzou will lean on, this month. Just last year, he ended the season as an All-American at 165 pounds, as well as the Big 12 Championship runner-up.

This go-around, the redshirt junior has faced quite a bit of adversity through the 2025-26 season, battling injury and the challenges of jumping up in weight class. He said he's learned a lot about himself through the trails of the season and has grown in his maturity, something that could help him when he takes the main stage.

"Last year, I did take everything like a little too serious. Obviously, last year I got on the podium, but I feel like if I would have honestly opened up more and just let it fly, I could have done significantly better and I mean, I learned from that now, and I'm still obviously learning from it," Steed said. "I'm having a lot more fun. Like, I get the wrestler of the Big 12s, I get to go back home, like get to wrestle in front of all my friends and family. It's just, I don't know, I think every wrestler has it eventually and I think mine's coming about now."

You can watch the full press conference with Steed, as well as Josh Edmond (149 pounds) in the video players below.

Up and down the roster, the confidence heading into the Big 12 Championship is high, as it will prove a critical step for qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

The conference championship will get going on Friday, March 6.