Wrestling holds Black and Gold scrimmage

By Nick Forrester, Reporter
Oct. 30, 2007

Darren Milosevich

Junior Emanuel Brooks tries to turn freshman Brad McCarter to his back during their match in the 157-pound weight class as part of the annual Black and Gold scrimmage Sunday at the Hearnes Center. After finishing third at the 2007 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, the Tigers are ranked No. 6 in W.I.N. Magazine's preseason poll.

The No. 6 Missouri Tigers opened up their wrestling season on Sunday at the Hearnes Center with the annual Black and Gold scrimmage. The match was never close, though, with coach Brian Smith's Gold squad pulling out a 30-13 win.

One of the key matches in the scrimmage was the 157-pound match between junior Emanuel Brooks of the Gold squad and junior Michael Chandler of the Black squad. Brooks got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first period after a technical penalty by Chandler.

In the second period, Chandler received a point for escaping to tie the match up at one point. Brooks got an escape in the third period, and with 30 seconds left in the match, Brooks held a 2-1 advantage over favorite and two-time NCAA Championship qualifier Chandler.

"I was just focusing on staying in good position and not getting taken down," Brooks said.

With Chandler taking shot after shot, Brooks said he was doing all he could to hang on before he heard the horn to end the match with a win against Chandler.

"He's a really tough wrestler," Brooks said. "But at the same time, it can't mean anything because you still have to go out there and wrestle tough either way."

Although Brooks' win against Chandler might have been considered an upset, Smith said he didn't think it was.

"For the past six weeks, Chandler has been beating Brooks pretty consistently," he said. "After today though, they're probably even."

Two-time All-American senior Tyler McCormick, who weighs 133 pounds, also helped the Gold squad with a 9-3 win against redshirt freshman Nick Velliquette.

"I expect McCormick to win the national title," Smith said. "He's that good."

McCormick placed seventh at the 2006 NCAA Tournament and sixth at the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

"This year, I plan on being at the top of the podium at the end of the day," McCormick said. McCormick is ranked second in the nation at 133 pounds.

In his match against Velliquette, McCormick had three takedowns in the first period alone.

"It's been a big focus of mine this off-season to get my motor going in the first period instead of the third because that was one of my main problems last season," said McCormick.

This year's freshman recruiting class was ranked by Rivals.com as one of the top in the nation, highlighted by the nation's No. 1 high-school heavyweight recruit, Dominique Bradley. On Sunday, Bradley defeated sophomore Tyler Perry of the Gold squad by a score of 3-1 in overtime. Once the match got to overtime, Bradley immediately took a shot to bring Perry down.

"Once it got to overtime, I knew that I just wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible," Bradley said.

Besides Bradley, sophomore Maxwell Askren and senior Josh Wagner were the only other wrestlers to win matches for the Black squad.

The Tigers will face their first opponent this season when they take on No. 27 Rider in Lawrenceville, N.J., on Nov. 9. They then wrestle No. 16 Hofstra on Nov. 10. The first home meet will be at the Hearnes Center on Nov. 18 for the Missouri Open.

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Wrestling holds Black and Gold scrimmage

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