Four Missouri wrestlers remain undefeated
After the first day of the NCAA Tournament, Missouri currently stands in tenth place and still has four guys in the champions bracket.
After a tight first match with unseeded Kuer Kinser of Indiana in which senior Michael Chandler won 4-3, Chandler came out and completely dominated No. 11 Chase Pami of Cal Poly. After a scoreless first period, Chandler scored five consecutive points to win the match by a score of 6-1.
"That first match was a little closer than I wanted it to be," Chandler said. "But you do what you got to do. You get the win and you advance."
Chandler will now wrestle Cornell's No. 3 seed and defending national champ Jordan Leen in the quarterfinals on Friday morning.
"I wrestled (Leen) up in New York and it was a real controversial match," Chandler said. "Leen had an interview and he said that he felt like I won that last match. That gives me a load of confidence because I know that he's going to have trouble sleeping tonight knowing that he's got to wrestle me in the morning."
Senior Raymond Jordan also got off to a fast start, defeating Bucknell's Shane Riccio 11-3 and Iowa State's Ryan Burk 7-1.
"Today was a good day," Jordan said. "They weren't the prettiest matches, but I've got to look at the positives. I got majors in both of them, so I've got a lot of confidence going into tomorrow."
Jordan will now wrestle the No. 4 seed, Iowa's Jay Borchel on Friday morning.
"Im real excited to wrestle him," Jordan said. "It's always good to wrestle someone who beat you previously to see how far you've come. I didn't have the best match last time against him, so I'm really looking forward to this one."
Junior Max Askren also went 2-0 on the day, defeating Millersville's Raymond Bennet and Cornell's Cam Simaz. Askren will now wrestle No. 3 seed Brent Chriswell of Boise State.
"You just have to go out there and do what you can do," Askren said. "That's all you can really do."
In addition to Chandler, Jordan and Askren, junior Mark Ellis is also still alive in the champions bracket.
Junior Nick Marable lost in his opening match to Stanford's Nick Amuchastegui 5-2, but defeated Michigan State's Rex Kendle 5-1 to stay alive in the tournament. 165 lb. No. 1 seed Mack Lewnes of Cornell was eliminated from the tournament after going 0-2.