Todd Porter

Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
House Springs, Mo.
High School:
Northwest

2012-13: Wrestling at 174 pounds, Porter ended his career as a Tiger with a record of 34-12 and a NCAA Championship appearance. Porter began the season with seven straight wins before losing to No. 1 Chris Perry of Oklahoma in the finals of the Joe Parisi Open at Lindenwood University. On Nov. 24, Porter won two more matches, one by major decision against John Nething II (South Dakota State) and one by decision against Tommy Kimbrell (Stanford). Porter competed hard in day one of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, with a highlighted win over No. 16 Jon Fausey of Virginia. After winning 3 of his first 4 matches, Porter dropped his final two, claiming the eighth place title. Porter continued to improve at the Grapple at the Garden, winning both bouts and bringing his season record to 14-4. Porter kicked off 2013 with a 5-2 showing at the Southern Scuffle, with one of those losses coming via a medical forfeit. Feb. 1 was arguably the best day of his career with top-ranked Oklahoma State making their way to Columbia. In what was his third meeting with (then) No. 1 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State), Porter dominated the match in front of a raucous home crowd, and as time was close to expiring, Porter turned Perry for back points and a 9-1 major decision. The victory was big enough to award Porter with MAC Wrestler of the Week honors. Two more major decision wins followed in the month of February, setting up Porter for the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals. His first match on Feb. 17 against No. 5 Josh Asper (Maryland) unfortunately ended his 8 matching winning streak. Porter came back, though, with a major decision win over Purdue's Chad Welch to close out the day. During the National Duals Finals, Porter continued to thrive in his role as underdog, defeating No. 6 Nick Heflin (Ohio State) by decision, 4-3. Porter took home the third place title at the MAC Championships after dropping a close match to No. 19 John-Marti Cannon of Buffalo, but did receive a bid to his first ever NCAA Championships. The first day of the NCAA Championships started off with a loss for Porter against No. 2 Mathew Brown (Penn State), but was closed out by Porter winning his match against Billy Curling (Old Dominion) with whom his first match of the season was against. The second day of the Championships began with two wins, the second of which was against No. 10 Patrick Yates of Michigan. His third match of the day, however, would also be his last of the season, as it resulted in a loss against No. 3 Mike Evans of Iowa. Porter's career record at Mizzou ended at 82-37 with 23 major decisions, 3 falls, and 5 technical falls. He led the squad in 2013 in takedowns (in duals) with a total of 58. Following the season, Porter received the award for "Most Improved Wrestler".

2011-12: Porter competed in four opens as a junior and compiled a record of 14-5 on the season with three top-three finishes at 174 pounds. In the opening tournament, the UCM Open, Porter finished in second, going 4-1 with his only loss coming in the finals to Oklahoma State's Chris McNeil. He took third the next weekend at the Lindenwood Open with a 5-1 record. He started the tournament with a first period fall over Taylor Di Trolio of Missouri Valley and majored Iowa's Josh Haug in the second round. After a close 9-7 loss to 2012 All-American Ethan Lofthouse of Iowa, Porter dominated his last two matches to take third, winning with a technical fall and a 7-0 decision. Porter placed third again at the Kaufman-Brand Open in December, closing out the day with back-to-back major decisions over teammates Dustin Williams and Cody Johnston. Porter won one match at the Southern Scuffle, defeating Cheney Dale of Indiana by a 10-1 major. He finished the season with six major decisions.

2010-11: As a sophomore, Porter wrestled in six tournaments at 174 pounds during the season and placed in five of them, compiling a 20-8 record in the process. He placed second at the Lindenwood Open to open the season, recording three decisions and a major to advance to the finals. At the UCM Open, Porter finished 4-2, good for a fifth place finish, with all four of his victories coming by bonus points. He scored a 14-5 major decision to open the tournament, and then pinned AJ Stephens of Ouachita Baptist University in 5:15. He picked up two more majors, one by a 13-2 score and the other 10-2. He finished out his season with three straight runner-up finishes, going 10-3 during that span. He won three straight matches by decision at the UNI Open to advance to the finals before falling to Mike Evans of Iowa. Two months later, Porter took second at the MVC Open, pinning his first opponent in 4:36, scoring a 9-0 major decision in his second match and winning 6-0 in the semifinals before forfeiting to teammate James Houchins in the championship. At the National Collegiate Open two weeks later, Porter once again advanced to the finals, tech falling his first opponent, 18-2, and then scoring a 13-9 win over Cal Poly's Dominic Kastl. Two defaults helped advance Porter to the finals, where he lost to Rutgers' Greg Zanetti, 3-2. 12 of Porter's 20 victories during the 2010-11 campaign came with bonus points.

2009-10: Wrestled at both 174 and 184 pound weight classes during his redshirt freshman season, winning 14 of his matches and placing at two tournaments. Porter won his first three matches of the season at the University of Central Missouri Open, outscoring his first opponent 18-3 in a tech fall victory and then rallying off two straight wins by decision. After dropping his next two matches, Porter took a decisive 7-1 victory over Shawn Kuhlman of Fort Hays State to earn fifth place. The following weekend, Porter took third place in front of the hometown crowd at the Missouri Open. After losing his first match, Porter bounced back and claimed victory in his next four matches to fight back to third place. He would win three matches a week later at the Nittany Lion Open, which included a 17-2 tech fall win. He closed out the season by wrestling up to 184 pounds and defeating George Mason's Andrew Rock by a 22-7 score on Jan. 23.

2008-09: Porter opened his season with a third place showing at the Lindenwood Open, Nov. 1, finishing the day with a 5-1 record that included two wins by fall and one by 12-1 major decision. Porter went on to take third at the Missouri Open and fourth at the Missouri Valley College Open. The Tiger grappler won 21 matches during his redshirt season, 10 decided by eight or more points.

High School: Coached by Ron and Bob Wilhelm at Northwest High School in House Springs, Mo., Porter wrestled in the Missouri High School Championships his sophomore year (2006) placing fifth at 190 pounds, and his senior year (2008) placing third at 160 pounds.

Personal: Born to parents Kevin and Kim Porter on Nov. 15, 1989, in House Springs, Mo., Todd has one brother, Ron (21) and three sisters, Brandy (27), Ashley Schmittling (26), and Kayla (19). Porter intends to join the Navy after college.