Wrestling team brings home third

Senior Ben Askren repeats as 174-pound champ.

By Ryan Huber

Published March 20, 2007

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — It has been an agonizing 42 years since Missouri has claimed a NCAA team trophy in any sport. But that changed Saturday afternoon as senior 165-pounder Matt Pell pinned his fourth opponent of the tournament to take third place individually and give the Tigers a program-high third place finish at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

Senior 174-pounder Ben Askren stormed the collegiate stage for the final time later that evening and claimed his second individual title in two years with an 8-2 victory against junior Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh. Askren became only the second Missouri athlete ever to win back-to-back titles.

"It feels great," Athletic Director Mike Alden said while holding the distinguished plaque after the championship round. "It's great for the fans of Missouri, it's great for all the wrestlers and other athletes we've had at Mizzou for so many years, and it's great for the direction that hopefully all our programs will follow. This is something special for Mizzou, and we are really proud to take it home to the state of Missouri and to Columbia."

The tournament finish is not only the highest place of any Brian Smith-coached Missouri team but also the highest place of any Missouri wrestling team, besting the 2003 Tiger squad that finished 10th.

"It's a great day for the program," Smith said at the end of the three-day tournament. "Our ultimate goal was to win the national title, but Missouri hasn't brought home a team trophy in any sport since 1965. Our administration and the state of Missouri are very excited about what these young men did today."

Askren wrapped up a perfect 42-0 season and ran his win streak, which dates back to the first match of his junior campaign, to 85. In his four years of service to the sport of collegiate wrestling, he went 153-8 and never finished lower than second at the national tournament.

"I'm so proud of the team," he said after his final collegiate win. "We said all year we were going for the national championship, but we're in third place right now, and I'm not ashamed of that at all. I'm so proud of all those guys."

Askren, arguably the program's finest wrestler of all time, has emphatically put Missouri on the wrestling map, something Alden said has been invaluable in the progression of the program.

"There is a young man that represents all the core values and all the things that are right about college athletics," Alden said. "He does it in the classroom, he does it in the community and obviously he does it on the wrestling mat. He is a guy that has certainly catapulted our program to an elite level in college wrestling."

Of the eight Missouri wrestlers who qualified for the national tournament, only Askren made it to the championships that were aired live on ESPN. But it was the combined efforts of those other seven that brought home the polished hardware. Aside from Pell's third-place finish, junior captain Tyler McCormick earned a sixth-place finish, his highest ever and contributed four valuable bonus points. Sophomore Raymond Jordan, junior Josh Wagner and sophomore Michael Chandler all battled in the respective consolation brackets, earning several bonus points, something Smith said is the key to doing well in the tournament.

"We've just got to keep working this way," Smith said. "Things are getting better in this program. We are bringing home some hardware, which doesn't happen in many Missouri sports, that's the good thing. We are getting people to believe in our program."