7 wrestlers remain at nationals

By Ryan Huber

Published March 16, 2007

Since the inception of Missouri athletics in 1873, the Tigers have played in 1,089 football games, crowned 20 basketball players All-Americans and is one of just two Big 12 programs to offer every conference-sponsored Division 1 sport to its students.

Yet a national team championship is the one small commodity that has eluded all but the 1954 MU baseball team. And as athletics have advanced into the modern era, the champion's pedestal has become seemingly unattainable.

Eight men from the No. 3-ranked Tiger wrestling team hope to change that fate this weekend in Auburn Hills, Mich., for the NCAA Wrestling Championships.

"Everything we have done this season is preparation for this weekend," MU coach Brian Smith said. "With that preparation, I think we had one of the toughest schedules. We went to a lot of major tournaments and fared well at all those tournaments. One of the things with preparation is that it builds confidence. I really believe with the group of eight young men we are taking to the nationals, it's the most confident we've ever taken out there. That confidence is what you need to win at the NCAAs."

Brothers senior Max and redshirt freshman Ben Askren entered the competition as top seeds for the Tigers. Sophomore 184-pounder Raymond Jordan is a fifth seed, junior 133-pounder Tyler McCormick holds an eight-seed and senior 165-pounder Matt Pell is a nine-seed. Redshirt freshman heavyweight Mark Ellis, junior 141-pounder Josh Wagner and sophomore 157-pounder Michael Chandler enter the competition unseeded.

After day one, Missouri has three wrestlers in the quarterfinals and is second to Minnesota, trailing by 4.5 points. No. 1 seed Max Askren lost twice, eliminating him from competition. All seven of MU's other wrestlers remain in the tournament.

The three-day competition should be stiff with conceivably five squads in contention for a national championship. The No. 1-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers will battle against Big 12 Champion and No. 2-ranked Iowa State, No. 3 Missouri and three-time defending national champion Oklahoma State.

"This year it is a very balanced tournament," Smith said. "There are a lot of teams that are in the hunt to win it, where it really hasn't been that way in the past decade."

The final eight grapplers for Missouri appeared more confident in a new conference held Monday than they had been all season.

"I look at every guy who wears a Missouri singlet, and I think we are the most dangerous wrestlers in the nation," McCormick said. "We aren't trying to go out there and beat you, we're trying to go out there and pin you."

Saturday marks the last day of collegiate competition for defending national champion 174-pound senior Ben Askren. Ben Askren has been a figurehead of Missouri wrestling for four strong years. Odds are in his favor to repeat, but he might run into some grapplers that won't want to go after him.

"Hopefully people are going to try to wrestle me," he said. "And if so, I don't think good things are going to happen to them."

The meet will also be the final competition for Pell, who has struggled to wrestle to his potential due to nagging injuries and sickness.

"I've kind of ripped the rear-view mirror off," he said. "I'm not even focusing on the past at all. I've got one tournament left, and I want to make it happen."

With MU's regular season schedule strength, Smith said close matches against the best in the country are nothing new for his young wrestlers.

"Physically, these guys have been preparing their whole lives for this," he said. "The mental part is just going in there with the mindset of staying relaxed at this point, and when its time to turn it on, you turn it on.