March 19, 2005

Live Results St. Louis, Mo. - Missouri senior Tyron Woodley (165) and sophomore Matt Pell (184) finished seventh in their respective weight classes at the 75th annual Division I Wrestling Championships at the Savvis Center in St. Louis this morning. The honor is the second for Woodley and first for Pell. At the close of session five, Missouri stands 11th in team points with 43, while defending NCAA Champions Oklahoma State holds 133.

Woodley, a two-time captain and 2003 All-American from Ferguson, Mo., was awarded seventh-place at 165-pounds after Matt Palmer of Columbia turned in a medical forfeit. The victory is an improvement over Woodley's prior NCAA finish of eighth place in 2003. Over the course of his five years with the Missouri wrestling program, Woodley tallied 110 victories, 37 coming this season. A two-time All-American, Woodley is only the sixth Tiger in the 61-year history of the Missouri wrestling program to be awarded honors twice.

Wrestling on mat number five of the dog-bone layout, Pell (Luxemburg, Wis.) competed for seventh-place and won a 5-2 decision over Purdue's Ben Wissel at 184-pounds. It was the third meeting of the season between the two grapplers and the third victory by Pell. In today's bout, Wissel jumped to the early lead, scoring on a single-leg takedown in the first period. Pell quickly escaped and the two closed the first period, 2-1. Entering the second period, Wissel chose down and Pell rode the Boilermaker for over a minute to earn the advantage point, but neither wrestler was able to complete a shot and score for points. In the end, Pell turned up the intensity and managed an escape, followed with a takedown. Owning 3:18 of riding time, Pell secured his first All-America honor, 5-2.

Fellow Wisconsin native Ben Askren (Hartland, Wis.) is Missouri's sole representative in the Championship finals held tonight beginning at 4 p.m. (CT), and aired live nationally on ESPN. Askren will battle with Oklahoma State's senior Chris Pendleton at 174-pound for the fourth time of the season and eighth of his career. Pendleton holds a 7-1 lead over MU's co-captain and topped Askren last season in the Championship bout 11-4.

Team Scores At The End of Session Five: 1 Oklahoma State, 133 2 Michigan, 79 3 Oklahoma, 73.5 4 Minnesota, 72.5 4 Cornell, 72.5 6 Illinois, 70.5 7 Iowa, 66 8 Lehigh, 60 9 Iowa State, 57.0 10 Indiana, 54.6 11 Missouri, 43.0

Fifth Round Matches: 165: Tyron Woodley (MU) win by medical forfeit over Matt Palmer (Columbia) 184: Matt Pell (MU) decision Ben Wissel (Purdue): 5-2

Fourth Round Matches: 165: Tyron Woodley (MU) major decision Justin Nestor (Pittsburgh): 11-0 165: Matt Nagel (Minnesota) decision Tyron Woodley (MU): 4-2 174: Ben Askren decision Pete Friedl (Illinois): 7-2 184: Matt Pell decision Roger Kisch (Minnesota): 10-7 184: Eric Bradley (Penn State) decision Matt Pell (MU): 8-4

Third Round Results: 157: Brad Cieleski (MU) major decision Colton Salazar (Purdue): 15-3 157: C.P. Schlatter (Minnesota) decision Brad Cieleski (MU): 8-3 165: Mark Perry (Iowa) decision Tyron Woodley (MU): 3-0 174: Ben Askren major decision E.K. Waldhaus (Oklahoma): 17-4 184: Greg Jones (West Virginia) major decision Matt Pell (MU): 13-4

Second Round Results 149: Tyde Prater (Va. Tech) decision Cody Greene (MU): 9-7 157: Brad Cieleski (MU) decision Marcus Effner (Cleveland State): 9-3 165 Tyron Woodley (MU) decision Mike Patrovich (Hofstra): 6-1 174 Ben Askren (MU) major decision Brady Richardson (Indiana): 9-0 184: Matt Pell (MU) decision Paul Bradley (Iowa) 7-6

First Round Results 149: Mark DiSalvo (Central Michigan) decision Cody Greene (MU): 7-4 157: Chris Horning (Clarion) decision Brad Cieleski (MU): 2-0 165: Tyron Woodley (MU) fall Donny Reynolds (Illinois): 4:46 174: Ben Askren (MU) tech. fall Mark Himes (Duquense) 18-2 (6:25) 184: Matt Pell (MU) Shane Webster (Oregon): 5-1

Updated MU Records 149 Cody Greene: 27-10 (66-27) 157 Brad Cieleski: 25-10 (109-30) 165 Tyron Woodley: 37-6 (110-38) 174 Ben Askren: 34-2 (66-7) 184 Matt Pell: 35-10 (66-22)