Missouri wrestling struggles in Midlands Tournament

The team finished in third place.

By Nick Forrester

Published Dec. 31, 2008

The semifinal round of the Midlands Tournament is one the Missouri wrestling team would like to forget.

After a day of total dominance by Missouri in the opening round, everything fell apart on the second day. The All-American trio of juniors Nick Marable and Max Askren and senior Raymond Jordan were all upset in their semifinal matches, and senior Michael Chandler also lost to Big 12 foe Cyler Sanderson of Iowa State.

"We lost a lot of matches where we just didn't go out there and put it on the line," coach Brian Smith said. "We came out and flat. You can't just think that you're going to go out on the mat and win, you've got to wrestle for seven minutes, and we didn't."

The first semifinal match for Missouri featured Chandler against Sanderson. Sanderson is the younger brother of the famed Cael Sanderson, who is the only wrestler to go undefeated in college, boasting a 159-0 record during his career as a Cyclone and an Olympic gold medal in 2004.

While Sanderson and Chandler have had several close bouts in their history, Sanderson ran away with a decisive victory in this match, winning by a score of 9-5. Chandler finished in third place after beating Rutgers' Scott Winson 6-2.

"I definitely didn't wrestle my best," Chandler said. "I just wasn't firing shots. I didn't wrestle my match. Sanderson is definitely a guy that I should beat every time in my opinion, but obviously it didn't happen today."

Marable faced off against Iowa's eventual champion Ryan Morningstar in the semi-finals. After a scoreless first period, Morningstar escaped to take a 1-0 lead after two periods. Marable put up a point, but Morningstar was able to get enough riding time to get one point and upset Marable 2-1. Marable was upset again in his next match by Northern Iowa's Moza Fay and finished in sixth place after losing once again, this time to Iowa's Jake Kerr 5-3.

"He wasn't very good today," Smith said. "He just had a horrible day."

After Jordan and Askren lost their first matches of the season in the semifinals, it was clear that this was not Missouri's best day.

Junior Mark Ellis was the only bright spot for Missouri during the semifinal round, defeating Cleveland State's Rashard Goff 3-1 after a quick takedown in overtime.

"He got the job done," Smith said. "I'm glad somebody had a good day."

In Ellis' championship match, he was able to hang on in the final seconds for a 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh's Zach Sheaffer.

"I'm glad I could win this thing," Ellis said. "(Schaefer and I) got in a scramble, and I scramble decently. I didn't wrestle my best match, but I got the win."

Even though the high-ranked Missouri wrestlers did not perform up to expectations, they still did well as a team, finishing in third place behind defending national champion Iowa and Iowa State.