PHILADELPHIA - No. 25 Missouri wrestling travels to the City of Brotherly Love for the 2025 NCAA Championship on March 20 - March 22. The tournament will take place in Wells Fargo Center and be streamed on the ESPN family of networks. 

BIG 12 RECAP

• Missouri took eighth place at the Big 12 Conference tournament last weekend, tallying 65.5 points.
• Senior Keegan O'Toole won his third Big 12 and fourth total conference title by defeating top-seeded Dean Hamiti Jr. of Oklahoma State.
• At 165 pounds, Cam Steed battled his way to a second-place finish, coming up short against West Virginia's Peyton Hall in the championship match.
• Kade Moore picked up the win of the tournament, knocking off third-ranked Evan Frost of Iowa State en route to a third-place finish and automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
• Two more Tigers ended their conference tournament on the podium, with J Conway bringing home seventh place and Colton Hawks taking eighth.

SIX IN THE MIX

• The Tigers will take six qualifiers to the national tournament, with three earning automatic bids (Kade Moore - 133, Cam Steed - 165 and Keegan O'Toole - 174) and three getting at-large (Josh Edmond - 141, J Conway - 157 and Colton Hawks - 184). 
• Missouri has had seven or more qualifiers every year since 2009-10, qualifying all 10 starters six times in that time frame.
• The most recent season with six qualifiers was the 2009-10 season when the Black and Gold finished in 10th place with 48 points.
• In 2005-06, Mizzou brought six wrestlers to the championship, bringing home a 15th-place finish with 40 points.
• In both seasons, the Tigers secured two individual All-Americans and had one individual champion, with brothers Ben Askren and Max Askren winning in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

TOP-10 TEAMS

• Mizzou has 13 total top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championship, with two being top-4 finishes that earned the program a team trophy. The two trophies came in 2006-07 when Missouri took third place, and in 2014-15 when it finished in fourth place.
• 12 of the 13 top-10 finishes came under current head coach Brian Smith, who took the helm in 1998-99. The Tigers most recent top-10 finish came in the 2022-23 season, finishing in fifth place.
• Missouri's only top-10 finish prior to the hiring of coach Smith came in the 1983-84 season, in which the boys in Black and Gold placed tenth with 29 points under the leadership of head coach Bob Kopinsky.

HISTORY OF SUCCESS

• Six individuals have brought home 10 total national titles in a Mizzou singlet. J'den Cox leads the way with three (2014, 2016, 2017), just ahead of Ben Askren (2006, 2007) and Keegan O'Toole (2022, 2023) with two each. Mark Ellis (2009), Max Askren (2010) and Drake Houdashelt (2015) round out the bunch with one apiece.
• Mizzou is still seeking their first tournament with multiple NCAA National Champions.
• B. Askren holds a special place in Mizzou history. He is the only Tiger to win the Hodge Trophy, bringing the award home twice, in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. He is also the only Missouri wrestler to be named the Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Championship, to go along with his 2006 title.
• Three Tigers have won the Gorriaran Award, given to the wrestler who secures the most falls in the shortest time at the national tournament. The honor was given to Matt Pell in 2007, Daniel Lewis in 2019 and O'Toole in 2024.

TOURNEY HIGHS & LOWS

• Missouri's highest team finish came in the 2006-07 season when it scored 80 points to finish third. The 2007 team tallied three All-Americans: Tyler McCormick (133) placed sixth, Matt Pell (165) placed third, and Ben Askren (174) brought home the hardware with his second national title.
• The Black and Gold's highest point total at a national tournament was 86.5 in the 2016-17 season when it scored 86.5 points in a fifth-place effort. That season, Lavion Mayes (149) and Joey Lavallee (149) made the national finals, and two other Tigers finished on the podium.
• The Tigers' lowest tournament finish under head coach Brian Smith came in his first season, 1998-99, in which the Tigers did not place and scored zero points. The next season, Mizzou scored 4.5 points to finish in 41st place.

LAST TIME AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

• Missouri finished in 11th place with 49.5 points, falling 6.5 points shy of a top-10 finish.
• Three Tigers earned All-American honors, with Keegan O'Toole (165) finishing in third place and brothers Rocky Elam (197) and Zach Elam (285)  placing sixth and fourth, respectively.
• The 2023-24 tournament marked the first NCAA Championship with the Black and Gold finishing outside of the top-10 since the 2013-14 tournament, when they finished 14th.
• Mizzou graduated All-American talent following the 2023-24 season, with past place winners Z. Elam, Brock Mauller (157) and Peyton Mocco (174) all ending their college careers.
• The Tigers took another hit when returning qualifier Noah Surtin (125) medically retired and multi-time All-American R. Elam (197) took a redshirt this season due to injury. 

CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

• The NCAA Championship will return to Philadelphia for the first time since the 2010-11 season. The 2025 tournament will be only the second to be hosted in the city.
• At the 2010-11 tournament, Missouri finished 19th, with current assistant coach Dom Bradley taking third place at 285 pounds. 
• The national tournament has been held in the State of Pennsylvania 15 times, most recently in Pittsburgh in the 2018-19 season. 
• Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have hosted the event twice, and Bethlehem and State College have held it five times on Lehigh and Penn State campuses. 

GIVE US MOORE 

• Allen, Texas native Kade Moore will see action in his second national tournament as a 31 seed at 133 pounds. He will look to improve upon a 0-2 performance at last season's championship as the 26 seed.
• Heading into the NCAA Championship, Moore sits one spot above his final ranking of No. 32 in the NCAA Coaches Poll.
• Moore's first match of the tournament will come against second-seeded Drake Ayala of Iowa, a returning national finalist at 125 pounds
• The redshirt sophomore currently has a 2-11 record against the 133-pound bracket, with the two wins coming over No. 30 seed Derrick Cardinal of South Dakota State and No. 11 seed Evan Frost of Iowa State.

ENTERING THE EDMOND ERA

• Redshirt junior Josh Edmond will head to his third National Championship as a No. 23 seed at 141 pounds. This marks the third time in his career with a national seed in the 20's, following a No. 26 seed in 2022 and a No. 21 seed in 2024.
• Edmond settled in at No. 19 in the last NCAA Coaches' Rankings following a 0-2 performance over conference weekend.
• The Detroit, Michigan native looks to improve upon his blood-round finish last season, in which he came one match short of earning All-American honors, losing a battle to Minnesota's Vance VomBaur.
• His first-round match will be against CJ Composto of Penn, a senior with a 23-3 record. Composto earned All-American honors in 2021-22, finishing eighth, and won an Ivy League title this season.

J FINDS A WAY

• Entering his first career NCAA Championship, redshirt sophomore J Conway slots in at the No. 30 seed at 157 pounds. His first-round match will be against third-seeded Antrell Taylor of Nebraska. 
• Conway is seeding two spots below his final ranking of No. 28 in the most recent NCAA Coaches' Rankings.
• The Charlestown, Indiana native currently sits in a tie with Keegan O'Toole (174) for the Mizzou wrestler with the most wins on the season at 16.

FEED THE STEED

• Coming off a Big 12 finals match appearance, Cam Steed will enter his first national tournament as the No. 9 seed. His opening match will be against Columbia's Cesar Alvan.
• The Collinsville, Oklahoma native's conference performance bumped him up to No. 6 in the final coaches' rankings, three spots higher than his seed.
• Steed could potentially face No. 8 seed Cam Amine of Oklahoma State in the second round, who handed the Tiger a 2-1 loss on February 2.
• The redshirt sophomore's only non-injury default losses on the season have come to the No. 2 and No. 8 seeds, and he holds a win over the No. 4 seed.

O'TOOLE ONLINE

• Two-time National Champion Keegan O'Toole enters his fifth NCAA Championship with the No. 1 seed. This marks the second No. 1 overall seed of his career, previously earning the honor in the 2023-24 season as well.
• The Hartland, Wisconsin native has earned a top-10 seed in all five of his tournament appearances, with his lowest seed being a No. 6 spot in his true-freshman season of 2020-21. He followed this up with consecutive seasons as a No. 2 seed before earning the top seed in his final two championships.
• Both of O'Toole's titles came as the No. 2 seed, knocking off No. 5 seed Shane Griffith of Stanford for his first and Iowa State's No. 1 seed David Carr the following year.
• The 174-pound favorite holds wins on the season over both the second and third seeds at the weight and victories over seven other wrestlers in the 174-pound field. 
• Penn State's Levi Haines is the reigning 157-pound National Champion and holds the No. 2 seed due to an overtime loss to O'Toole at December's Collegiate Duals. Another sudden victory takedown for the Tiger handed Dean Hamiti Jr. of Oklahoma State his first loss of the season, knocking the Cowboy down to the No. 3 seed.
• O'Toole became the 32nd member of Mizzou Wrestling's 100-Win Club with a win over Iowa State's Cade Schmidt in February. Heading into the postseason, he sits in a tie with 2010 National Champion Max Askren with 104 wins. The senior has the opportunity to tie Brad Cieleski for 18th on the leaderboard with 109 total wins.

HAWKS' HUSTLE

• 184-pounder Colton Hawks enters the tournament as the No. 31 seed, set to face off against Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa.
• The No. 31 seed is the lowest of the Wentzville, Missouri native's career. He earned the No. 22 spot in the bracket as a freshman in 2022-23 and the No. 11 seed at last season's tournament.
• Hawks sits at No. 19 in the final NCAA Coaches' Rankings heading into the tournament, 12 spots ahead of his seed.
• At the 2023-24 tournament in Kansas City, Hawks picked up three wins on his way to the blood round, where he lost a heartbreaker to 25th-seeded David Key of Navy. 

MOST WINS (active, 50+) 

• Keegan O'Toole (104), Rocky Elam (70),  Noah Surtin (65) and Luqman Masud (65).