Division 1 Wrestling Championships at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
This was supposed to be Missouri’s weekend. A chance to silence some of the experts who didn’t think Tiger wrestling could bring home the national title this weekend. Mizzou came in with the number one ranking in the country. NCAA tournament in their own backyard at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. It was the perfect setup to cap a perfect season. Somebody forgot to tell Ohio State.
The Buckeyes are poised to take the 2015 NCAA championship and to make matters worse, they delivered a double blow Friday evening, ending the individual title hopes for two Mizzou wrestlers.
Number one ranked Alan Waters at 125 pounds lost his semifinal match to Ohio State’s fourth ranked Nathan Tomasello, 4-2. Tomasello, who improved to 32-4, hasn’t lost a match since early January. Back on December 14th in Columbus, third-ranked Alan Waters earned an 11-8 decision over the Buckeyes’ Nathan Tomasello in the Tigers win over the Buckeyes.
At 197 pounds, top ranked J’den Cox was also stopped by number four seed Kyle Snyder of the Buckeyes, 3-2. There will be no repeat championship for Cox, who attempted several take downs in the final minutes, but to no avail.
Missouri head coach Brian Smith
One bright spot for Mizzou is at 149, top ranked Drake Houdashelt. He finally got over the hump on his third straight semifinal appearance by winning 4-0 over #5 Christop Villalonga of Cornell. The St. Louis area native will take on No. 3 David Habat of Edinboro in the finals.
Drake Houdashelt on his semifinal win and look to the finals
Team Scores (Top 10)
1. Ohio State – 86.5
2. Iowa – 73.0
3. Cornell – 66.5
4. Edinboro – 64.5
5. Missouri – 60.0
6. Penn St. – 58.0
7. Oklahoma St. – 55.5
8. Michigan – 51.0
9. Minnesota – 49.0
9. Nebraska – 49.0
11. Illinois – 42.5
Missouri did tie a school record. Mizzou has five All-Americans matching the program record set in 2009 and again in 2013 for most All-Americans in a single season.
Waters, Cox and Houdashelt are joined by redshirt sophomore Lavion Mayes (141), and redshirt freshman Willie Miklus (184). Both battle for 7th place on Saturday.
