Wrestling Finishes Fourth at Big 12 Championship with Two Individual Titles

Saturday, March 7

Tulsa, Okla.

Noon

Missouri

Session III

Wrestling Finishes Fourth at Big 12 Championship with Two Individual Titles

3/7/2026 9:00:00 PM | Wrestling

TULSA, Okla. - No. 14 Mizzou wrestling shuts the door on the 2026 Big 12 Wrestling Championship in fourth place with 84.5 points at BOK Center on Saturday, March 7. Missouri crowned two individual champions, Cam Steed (174) and Aeoden Sinclair (184), along with five more wrestlers on the podium.

Across day two, Mizzou competed in 10 total matches, combining for a record of 6-4 on the day. None of the Tigers picked up bonus points, but all seven competitors combined for a +13 point differential across 10 bouts.

SESSION III
Consolation semifinals kicked off for the Tigers at 133 pounds, where Gage Walker dropped his match by a one-takedown margin, dropping to the fifth-place bout. Columbia native Teague Travis took an early lead over fourth-seeded Ty Watters before ultimately surrendering the fall in the second period. Mizzou fell to 0-3 in the consolation semifinal round after Jarrett Stoner dropped a decision at 285 pounds.

Five Missouri wrestlers took part in a medal match early Saturday afternoon. Mack Mauger (125) and Josh Edmond (149) both cruised to wins to lock up seventh-place finishes in a push to earn at-large bids for the national tournament. Travis attempted a late comeback effort in his fifth-place match, but his opponent's lead proved to be too large to overcome, handing the redshirt senior a sixth-place finish. Walker was handed a win and fifth-place finish at 133 pounds after his Iowa State foe medically forfeited, and Stoner secured multiple takedowns en route to a six-point win and fifth-place result.

At the conclusion of Session III, Mizzou sat in fifth as a team with 76.5 points, only one point behind West Virginia.

SESSION IV
Steed made his second consecutive conference finals appearance for the Black and Gold, this time against top-seeded Alex Facundo. After a tactical first period, Steed burst the match open with a four-point near fall in the second period. Despite surrendering a takedown to open the third period, the redshirt junior secured a takedown in the final minute, giving the Collinsville, Oklahoma, native a four-point win and his first Big 12 Championship.

In his first trip to the Big 12 Championship, Sinclair secured his first conference gold. Facing off against Eddie Neitenbach, the Edgerton, Wisconsin, native lit up the scoreboard with takedowns in both the first and second periods. Sinclair commanded all three positions en route to a seven-point win in the finals.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

This weekend's finish is an improvement upon the 2025 Big 12 Championships for the Tigers. Last season, Mizzou finished in eighth place with 65.5 points. This season's tournament concluded with 19 more points and a team standing four spots higher.
Of Missouri's seven placewinners, six finished the tournament out on a high note, concluding the weekend with an individual win.
This season's total of seven conference medalists improves upon last season's total (five). Additionally, this weekend's total of four automatic qualifications for the NCAA Championships improves upon last season's total of three.
At 125 pounds, Mauger's seventh-place match put him up against Tucker Owens of the Air Force for the second time this weekend. Mauger picked up his second win against the opponent.
Steed made his second consecutive Big 12 finals appearance. Last season, he brought home a runner-up finish after upsetting the top-seed in the semifinals.
Steed's finals bout came against Oklahoma State's Alex Facundo, a familiar foe for Steed. Facundo defeated the Tiger 2-1 at a dual meet in January.
Along his path to the Big 12 title, Steed avenged three losses from earlier in the season. He had contested bouts with Espinoza-Owens (SDSU), Schubert (OU) and Facundo (OKST) throughout the year, with each foe claiming a past win over the returning All-American. Steed beat all three this weekend by a combined nine points.
Steed and Sinclair's back-to-back performances were each wrestler's first individual conference titles. The pair are now Missouri's 25th and 26th individual Big 12 Champions, respectively.
The last time Mizzou crowned more than one conference champion in a season was the 2020-21 season, in which four Tigers earned a Mid-American Conference Championship. The last time Mizzou had multiple Big 12 champions was 2011-12, also with four.
The Black and Gold finished both the regular season dual standings (5-3) and the tournament scoring (84.5) in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference.
Mizzou finished the tournament as one of four teams to close out with multiple Big 12 individual champions, joined by Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Arizona State.

UP NEXT
Missouri returns home to Columbia to await the announcement of at-large bids for the NCAA Championships on Tuesday, March 10. The NCAA Championship bracket will be revealed on Wednesday, March 11. Mizzou's next action will be the National tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 19-21.

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GOLD BRACKET RESULTS
125 | Mack Mauger, Seventh Place (3-2)

Seventh Place Match: Win by decision over [8] Tucker Owens (AF), 6-2

133 | [6] Gage Walker, Fifth Place (3-2)

Consolation Semifinal: Loss by decision to Gunner Andrick (WVU), 4-1

Fifth Place Match: Win by medical forfeit over Garrett Grice (ISU)

149 | [5] Josh Edmond, Seventh Place (3-2)

Seventh Place Match: Win by decision over Willie McDougald (WVU), 6-1

157 | [7] Teague Travis, Sixth Place (3-3)

Consolation Semifinal: Loss by fall to [4] Ty Watters (WVU), 3:52

Fifth Place Match: Loss by decision to [5] Gavin Drexler (NDSU), 12-8

174 | [3] Cam Steed, First Place (4-0)

Finals: Win by decision over [1] Alex Facundo (OKST), 10-6