Wrestling squad takes on Northern Iowa

By Ryan Huber

Published Feb. 9, 2007

The stakes will be high this weekend in the Hearnes Center as the No. 2 Missouri wrestling squad takes on Northern Iowa today and No. 3 Iowa State on Sunday.

For the first time in school history, the wrestling and gymnastics squads will be competing simultaneously in the inaugural "Beauty and the Beast" event.

"I think it's awesome," wrestling coach Brian Smith said. "You have people in the community who normally wouldn't come to a wrestling match and normally would come to a gymnastics meet. You are going to get your wrestling crowd and your gymnastics crowd. They are going to be there anyway, but you are going to get more people just because of this concept."

Smith's squad is fresh off making school history with road victories over No. 4 Oklahoma St. and No. 9 Oklahoma. Redshirt freshman Max Askren had to sit out Sunday's match against Oklahoma due to sickness, but he said he feels well-rested and will be ready for this weekend.

"I'm getting there," he said. "I'm feeling a lot better. I just want to try and get back in the room and not lose too much ground."

Askren said he is looking forward to the Beauty and the Beast meet.

"The fun thing will be attendance," he said. "We are going to have a lot of people in there, and it will be loud. And the other thing is, we are doing this with the gymnastics team, if someone is boring, you can find something more interesting than the match at hand."

But the Beauty and the Beast match isn't the only thing making headlines this week, as junior Josh Wagner was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week. Wagner said he looks at the award as inspiration instead of a target on his back.

"It makes me just want to keep moving up," he said. "Obviously I've got room to move up, it just a matter of getting in the wrestling room and getting better. It might be a target, but it's all part of it. I used to be the guy that targeted."

Smith said he is proud of his "most consistent wrestler."

"He is such a confident kid," he said. "We knew he had he had talent, but when a kid with talent has a work ethic, and then gets the confidence, it's scary. And that's what he is right now. I told people he would be an All-American this year, but if he keeps wrestling the way he is and winning the matches he has, he's got a shot at winning the national title."

With four matches in nine days, Smith said the squad has begun a taper phase, which will lead up to the Big 12 Championships held at the Hearnes Center.

"It's not full throttle, but (practice) is definitely scaled back from what we were doing," he said.

Although Friday's match should be exciting, Sunday's dual should prove to be an even better match-up.

"It will be a huge match," Askren said. "I've really been impressed with the whole style the Iowa State team has come out with. They have a more exciting style, and I think that goes well with us, and let's be honest, it's going to be a good show."