No. 9 Mizzou wrestling kicks off new season with road win
GREELEY, Colo. (KMIZ)
No. 9 Mizzou wrestling opened up a new season in the win column, on Saturday night. Head coach Brian Smith and his team beat Northern Colorado, on the road, 25-14 in comeback fashion.
Tiger Style won six out of the dual's 10 matches against the Bears. You can find a full list of results below.
- 197 - Mizzou's Aeoden Sinclair defeats Franklin Cruise by major decision, 19-11
- 285 - Mizzou's No. 23 Seth Nitzel defeats Remington Peterson by decision, 11-4
- 125 - No. 8 Stevo Poulin defeats Mizzou's Gage Walker by decision, 7-1
- 133 - No. 22 Dom Serrano defeats Mizzou's No. 29 Kade Moore by major decision, 16-5
- 141 - No. 1 Andrew Alirez defeats Mizzou's No. 13 Josh Edmond by major decision, 11-2
- 149 - Mizzou's No. 24 Logan Gioffre defeats Benji Alanis by decision, 7-4
- 157 - No. 17 Vincent Zerban defeats Mizzou's No. 31 James Conway by decision, 8-4
- 165 - Mizzou's No. 24 Cam Steed defeats Daishun Powe by fall, 0:29
- 174 - Mizzou's No. 1 Keegan O'Toole defeats Aydin McElhinney by technical fall, 20-4
- 184 - Mizzou's No. 14 Colton Hawks defeats AJ Heeg by decision, 9-1
Sinclair, a true freshman, recorded his first collegiate win in Saturday's dual. However, he wasn't the only one to register their first win in a black and gold singlet. Nitzel, a redshirt junior for Coach Smith, won in his first-ever dual appearance, as well. In total, four wrestlers made their dual debuts, on Saturday.
Northern Colorado made things interesting, as the Bears locked down three victories to close out the first half of the dual, including the marquee matchup between Edmond and Alirez. However, Smith and company dug themselves out of the 11-7 hole to get a win.
O'Toole, the regining Big-12 Conference champion, not only got the first win of his season, but also the first win in his new weight class. O'Toole has spent the last four seasons wrestling at 165, but made the move up to 174 for his final ride in a Mizzou uniform.
Saturday's win marks the fifth consecutive season-opening win for Tiger Style, with the program's last opening loss coming in the 2019-20 campaign against Virginia Tech.
Up next - Mizzou will return to the Show-Me state for the Tiger Style Invite on Saturday, Nov. 9. The tournament will take place at Staley High School in Kansas City. The action is set to begin at 10 a.m.
