ST. LOUIS, Mo. – After the first day of action at the NCAA Championships, Mizzou Wrestling sits in fifth place with 20 team points. Five Tigers punched their tickets into Friday's quarterfinals at the Scottrade Center, including senior 197-pounder J'den Cox (Columbia, Mo.) and redshirt junior 157-pounder Joey Lavallee (Reno, Nev.), who each recorded their second bonus point win of the day.
The Tigers will begin the second day of competition in fifth place, trailing only Penn State (30.5 points), Ohio State (26 points), Oklahoma State (25.5 points) and Iowa (24.5 points) in the race for a team trophy.
Joining Cox and Lavallee in the quarterfinals will be redshirt freshman 141-pounder Jaydin Eierman (Columbia, Mo.), redshirt senior 149-pounder Lavion Mayes (Mascoutah, Ill.) and redshirt sophomore 165-pounder Daniel Lewis (Blue Springs, Mo.).
Cox recorded his 30th career major decision in his second round bout against Navy's Steban Cervantes, scoring a 12-3 result. After scoring takedowns in each of the opening two periods to obtain a 5-1 lead, Cox scored back points in the third period to ensure the major decision.
With a fall over Virginia Tech's Sal Mastriani, Lavallee recorded his second fall of the day, tripling his fall total on the season. Lavallee had just one period heading into the tournament. The Tiger junior and Mastriani were tied, 1-1, after three periods when Lavallee was able to roll through a takedown attempt in the sudden victory overtime and score the pin. Cox will face off against Rider's Ryan Wolfe in Friday's quarterfinals, while will wrestle Stanford's Paul Fox.
"I just kept myself composed," Lavallee said following the match. "I kept believing in the system our coaches have taught me and got me prepared for. Going down to the end of the match, it was just believing in my coaches who said that I am ready for this. That made me think, 'ok, my coaches believe in me' and that made me feed off of it and believe in myself."
In Eierman's match, the Tiger freshman held off a furious comeback from Nebraska's Colton McCrystal to clinch his spot in the quarterfinals. Eierman led 4-2 heading into the third period before a wild, 11-point third period where Eierman came out on top, 9-6. Tomorrow, Eierman will wrestle No. 1-seed Dean Heil from Oklahoma State, a rematch of a Jan. 27 dual where Heil narrowly escaped with an 8-6 win.
Mayes and Lewis each won matches over MAC opponents to clinch their trip to the quarterfinals, as Mayes defeated Northern Illinois' Steve Bleise, 2-1, and Lewis beat Northern Iowa's Bryce Steiert, 6-0. Mayes moves on to wrestle Virginia Tech's Solomon Chishko, while Lewis Penn State's Vincenzo Joseph.
Falling in the round of 16, but still alive on the consolation side of the bracket is redshirt sophomore 133-pounder John Erneste (Kansas City, Mo.), who fell to Nebraska's Eric Montoya by a score of 14-2.
Redshirt junior 125-pounder Barlow McGhee (Rock Island, Ill.) and redshirt freshman heavyweight Austin Myers (Alexandria, Ky.) each dropped their second match of the tournament and was eliminated.
Mizzou will be back in action tomorrow for day two of the NCAA Championships at the Scottrade Center. Session three is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CT, with a live broadcast to take place on ESPNU and a live stream on ESPN3.com and through the WatchESPN app.
For all the latest on Mizzou Wrestling, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MizzouWrestling).
First Round Results
125: Barlow McGhee
Consolation pigtail: Dylan Peters (Northern Iowa) dec. Barlow McGhee (Mizzou): 4-3
133: John Erneste
Second Round: Eric Montoya (Nebraska) major dec. John Erneste (Mizzou): 14-2
141: Jaydin Eierman
Second Round: Jaydin Eierman (Mizzou) dec. Colton McCrystal (Nebraska): 9-6
149: Lavion Mayes
Second Round: Lavion Mayes (Mizzou) TB-1 Steve Bleise (Northern Illinois): 2-1
157: Joey Lavallee
Second Round: Joey Lavallee (Mizzou) fall Sal Mastriani (Virginia Tech): 7:27
165: Daniel Lewis
Second Round: #6 Daniel Lewis (Mizzou) dec. Bryce Steiert (Northern Iowa): 6-0
197: J'den Cox
Second Round: #1 J'den Cox (Mizzou) major decision Steban Cervantes (Navy): 12-3
HWT: Austin Myers
Consolation First Round: Cody Crawford (Oregon State) dec. Austin Myers (Mizzou): 6-0
