Dec. 30, 2005
Greensboro, N.C. - Nine Missouri wrestlers secured top-eight finishes at the Southern Scuffle this morning, Dec. 30, at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Juniors Ben Askren (Hartland, Wis.) and Matt Pell (Luxemburg, Wis.) each remain undefeated after the second session of competition, and enter the championship round with a chance to bring home the title at 174 and 165 pounds, respectiively.
Askren, ranked No. 1 in the nation, picked up his fourth first-period pin of the tournament in the quarterfinals, dropping Appalachian State's Neal Martin in 2:21. Matching up against No. 17 Travis Frick of Lehigh in his semifinal bout, Askren utilized a series of takedowns to pick up a 22-8 major decision and advance into the championship match. The No. 4 competitor at 165 pounds, Pell decisioned Jon Cholish of Cornell, 7-2, to open the day, then beat No. 11 Matt Nagel of Minnesota, 4-0, to advance to the title bout. Pell's march to center circle will meet a familiar face in No. 16 Steve Anceravage of Cornell, the second meeting between the two this season. Pell major decisioned Anceravage at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 3.
Familiar opponents faced off against Missouri wrestlers throughout the morning session. After beating No. 19 Andrew Domingues of Minnesota, losing to No. 6 Troy Nickerson of Cornell, and beating Domingues's teammate, Travis Lang, Austin DeVoe (Columbus, Kan.) shook hands with Sean Clair of Eastern Michigan in a battle for third place. Unlike their first meeting of the season Dec. 3, in which Clair decisioned DeVoe, 6-4, the 125-pound senior Tiger pulled out a 2-1 victory.
Joining DeVoe with a third-place finish, sophomore Tyler McCormick (Leawood, Kan.) had to take on two familiar opponents to get his medal. Paired with No. 2 Shawn Bunch in the semifinals at 133 pounds, No. 15 McCormick was unable to upset the two-time All-American, dropping an 8-2 decision. Facing Cornell's Mike Mormile, ranked No. 9 in the country, McCormick was able to pull out a 7-2 victory and set up his third showdown of the 2005-06 campaign with Ohio State's Reece Humphrey. The two wrestlers split the first two matches, and Humphrey jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with a takedown and three-point nearfall. Roaring back to earn his third-place finish, McCormick scored on an escape, a takedown and his own three-point nearfall to gain the lead, which he never relinquished in a 13-7 victory.
Able to vanquish every grappler in the 141-pound bracket but one, senior Chris McCormick (Leawood, Kan.) finished the tournament with a 5-2 record and a 4th-place finish. Both losses came to No. 15 Sean Markey of the Citadel, but No. 19 McCormick scored two upsets on the day with decisions over No. 7 David Hoffman of Virginia Tech and No. 18 Kevin Artis of UNC-Greensboro.
No. 17 Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) continued his stellar redshirt freshman season at 184 pounds with a fifth-place finish in a tough division, losing bouts with No. 12 Alex Clemsen of Edinboro and No. 10 Alex Camargo of Kent State. Coming into the tournament Jordan had already wrestled Clemsen twice on the season, splitting those matches, and the two competitors met twice in the same day. Clemsen earned the victory by a close 6-5 decision in the quarterfinals, but Jordan took home fifth-place by injury default over the Edinboro wrestler.
Facing tough roads to a top-8 finish after dropping their opening bouts of the tournament, sophomore Josh Wagner (Milton, Wis.) and junior Amond Prater (Marietta, Ga.) came all the way back through the consolation brackets to claim sixth and seventh place at 149 and 133 pounds, respectively.
Wrestling unattached at 197 pounds, freshman Max Askren (Hartland, Wis.) took fourth place, nearly beating No. 9 Jerry Rinaldi of Cornell in the process. Wrestling to a 5-2 advantage through most of the match, Rinaldi scored points on a reversal and nearfall to gain the victory. Undaunted by the loss, Askren recorded his sixth top-4 tournament finish of the campaign.
Updated Records: Southern Scuffle, Season, Career 125 - Austin DeVoe: 5-1, 22-5, 63-36 125 - John Olanowski: 3-2, 20-9, NA (Redshirt Season) 133 - Tyler McCormick: 5-1, 13-4, 33-18 133 - Amond Prater: 6-2, 17-7, 59-23 141 - Chris McCormick: 5-2, 22-6, 73-48 141 - Marcus Hoehn: 3-2, 3-4, 3-4 149 - Josh Wagner: 5-3, 14-10, 32-20 165 - Matt Pell: 4-0, 16-1, 82-23 174 - Ben Askren: 5-0, 24-0, 90-8 184 - Raymond Jordan: 5-2, 20-6, 20-6 197 - Jeff Foust: 3-1, 10-3, 80-32 197 - Max Askren: 4-2, 23-4, NA (Redshirt Season) HWT - Sean Connole: 2-2, 17-12, 17-12