Dec. 16, 2011
Coming off a dominating 34-12 win at No. 20 Kent State last Friday, the No. 12 Missouri wrestling team closes out the 2011-portion of their schedule with the Big 12 home opener, as Iowa State comes into town on Sunday, Dec. 18. Action will get underway at Noon CT from the Hearnes Center. For those who cannot attend, live results will be available for free at mutigers.com, while Mizzou Network subscribers can watch online at mizzounetwork.com
SCOUTING IOWA STATE
Iowa State has struggled a bit this season, as they enter the weekend still looking for their first dual win of the season. At 0-7 (0-2 Big 12), the Cyclones have gone through a tough schedule of squads that includes Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Iowa and Minnesota.
Overall, the Cyclones have four wrestlers ranked in the top-15 of Intermat's latest individual rankings, highlighed by No. 4 Andrew Sorenson at 165 pounds, who stands at 11-0 on the season. Joining him are No. 15 Ryak Finch at 125 pounds, who is 8-3, 174 pounder Chris Spangler, who is ranked seventh and stands at 4-1 on the season and No. 14 Boaz Beard, the squad's 184 pounder who is currently 5-1.
Head Coach Keith Jackson leads the way for Iowa State, who enters his third season at the helm of the Cyclone squad. Last year the team went 9-10 in duals, while finishing 20th at NCAA's, highlighted by National Champion Jon Reader at 174 pounds. Iowa State is 44-5-0 all-time against Missouri.
LAST TIME THEY MET
Missouri finished off their regular season last year with a 23-11 victory over Iowa State at the Hearnes Center to close the year at 15-9 in duals. The Tigers won four straight matches to close the dual, including two by major decision at 125 and 133 pounds, to overcome an 11-9 deficit.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
•125: No. 3 Alan Waters (MU) vs. No. 10 Ryak Finch (ISU) - Finch, a redshirt freshman, is 8-3 this year as a starter and comes in at No. 10 at Intermat. Waters is on a roll right now, standing at 8-0 with all of his wins coming with bonus points. Finch has lost all three of his matches to ranked wrestlers.
•165: No. 12 Zach Toal (MU) vs. No. 4 Andrew Sorenson (ISU) - A pair of unbeatens go head-to-head at 165, as Sorenson, 11-0 on the year and ranked fourth, faces up against Toal, who is ranked 12th and sits at 9-0. Toal has won all of his dual matches against unranked opponents (according to Intermat) by decision, while Sorenson is coming off a victory over Minnesota's Cody Yohn, who was ranked eighth at the time. Sorenson beat Toal by a 7-3 decision last year in Columbia.
•174: No. 3 Dorian Henderson (MU) vs. No. 7 Chris Spangler (ISU) - Another top-10 matchup will come at 174 pounds, as Henderson, 8-1 on the year and ranked third, is set to face Spangler, the No. 7 wrestler in the class with a 4-1 record. Henderson's recorded pins in two of his dual matches, with his only defeat coming 3-0 against the No. 1 wrestler in the class. Spangler knocked off then-No. 10 Logan Storley of Minnesota last weekend, with his only defeat coming against then-No. 10 Te Edwards of Old Dominion earlier in the season. He's won four straight dual matches since that loss.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Tigers will get a few weeks off before opening the New Year at the Southern Scuffle. The 30-team invitational tournament will be held on Sunday, Jan. 1 and Monday, Jan. 2, and is hosted by the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga at McKenzie Arena.
WATERS NAMED BIG 12 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK
Mizzou sophomore Alan Waters was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week, as announced Monday afternoon by the league office. It's the first career weekly honor for Missouri's 125 pounder, and the first honoree for the Tigers since Todd Schavrien won last December. Waters went 5-0 at the Kaufman-Brand Open last Sunday, Dec. 4, with four of his matches coming via first period falls. His fifth win, coming in the championship bout, was won by technical fall.
On Friday against No. 20 Kent State, Waters opened the dual with a dominating 12-1 major decision victory over No. 2 Nic Bedelyon. Waters opened the scoring with a takedown midway through the first period, and tilted Bedelyon to the mat twice for a pair of three point nearfalls to take a commanding 8-0 lead. After a scoreless second period, Waters worked an escape and another takedown to go with riding time.
MIZZOU PINS THEIR WAY PAST KENT STATE, 34-12
The No. 12 Missouri Tigers (4-1) scored a huge victory over No. 20 Kent State (2-3) on Friday night, blasting the Golden Flashes by a 34-12 final. No. 5 Alan Waters kicked off the evening with a major decision over No. 2 Nic Bedelyon, while Nathan McCormick, Kyle Bradley, Dorian Henderson and Mike Larson each pinned their opponents. McCormick and Henderson both recorded their falls in the first period, while Bradley and Larson earned their falls with under a minute left in each of their contests. Zach Toal defeated his opponent by a 5-2 decision, while redshirt freshman Devin Mellon upset No. 15 Brendan Barlow by a 5-3 score to close out the evening.
FOLLOW MIZZOU WRESTLING ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER
If you're on Facebook or Twitter, make sure to follow the official University of Missouri Wrestling team to get exclusive updates, pictures, video content and live results throughout the entire season. Head to facebook.com/MizzouWrestling or twitter.com/MizzouWrestling and follow us today.