Beauty and the Beast - Wrestling: Wrestlers claim victory

By Ryan Huber

Published Feb. 13, 2007

Talking tea cups and candlesticks aside, the beasts showed up huge Friday night in the first Missouri version of "Beauty and the Beast" with a 36-13 victory against Northern Iowa in front of a record-setting crowd of 6,197.

The concept was created at Boise State University five years ago. MU athletic officials decided to showcase the gymnastics and wrestling teams side-by-side because both programs are doing well.

"From a marketing stand point, we looked at it as a unique thing," event spokesman Andrew Grinch said. "(We have) two programs that are successful but maybe not always on the agenda for typical Missouri fans, and they may not be aware that we have such quality programs in other sports. When you have a chance to tie the two together it's an exciting thing."

But with two sporting events going on simultaneously, some wrestlers said it was hard to focus on the task at hand. But coach Brian Smith said the distractions weren't necessarily a bad thing.

"I was hoping to see our team keep focus with the two events going on at the same time," he said. "It's good for the fans. Its good for our kids to have the craziness going on because if you ever go to the NCAA Championships, there are eight mats going, and you really have to work to stay focused because the crowd is going crazy."

No. 1-ranked redshirt freshman Max Askren, who had one of three Tiger pins on the evening, said the organized chaos was a distraction at first.

"Honestly, when I first started to warm up it was, but by the end when I started going out (for the match), I got used to it and I was fine," he said.

The pin kept Askren's perfect 26-0 record on the season intact and proved to be a crowd pleaser as well.

"(The pin) wasn't done in too bad a fashion either," Askren said. "Getting a pin is always nice because people actually know what it means. You get a takedown and people are like 'oh yeah, he did something good' but most everyone knows a pin even if you've never seen WWE."

As for the fans, Grinch said he's heard nothing but compliments.

"I think it really resonated with folks," he said. "To have over 6,000 the first time, I think it's safe to say we will be doing it again."