Missouri wrestling edges Illini in season opener

Senior Nick Marable's victory made the difference for the Missouri win.

By Nick Forrester

Published Nov. 13, 2009

Missouri senior Nick Marable is used to winning close matches. It has escalated him to two All-American titles and a No. 7 preseason ranking this year.

Marable showed off his abilities yet again Thursday night against Illinois, defeating redshirt freshman Conrad Polz 3-2 in the final match against the Illini to lift Missouri to an 18-16 victory.

After a scoreless first period, Marable was able to escape in the second period, and then took down Polz with an ankle pick.

"Since I have such good defense, I get into front head positions a lot, so I've been working on takedowns from there," Marable said. "His foot was so close to his head it made it easy for me to get the shot."

Marable took a 3-1 lead into the final period and was eventually able to hang on for a 3-2 win. He said the match was closer than he preferred.

"This summer I was trying to get bigger since I'm one of the smaller 165-pound wrestlers, and today I was seven pounds over when I woke up," Marable said. "I'm not used to cutting that much weight the day of a match, and I think it affected me. But hopefully next time it won't be that close."

The Illini struck first in the dual when sophomore Jordan Blanton, ranked No. 7 in the country, defeated Missouri sophomore Dorian Henderson, ranked No. 14 in the country, 7-4. Blanton and Henderson were tied after the first period, but Blanton got an escape, followed by a takedown, to win the match.

Missouri's defending national champion senior Mark Ellis started off his campaign to win two consecutive titles by getting a pin. After getting three first period takedowns against Illinois redshirt freshman Pat Walker, Ellis locked up his opponent in the second period with a cradle and finished the match.

"I just wanted to go for the pin," Ellis said. "I knew I was going to go for it at some point, and once he started to get tired, I went for it. (Former Missouri wrestler) Ben Askren and a couple coaches at Arizona State were messing with me and kept texting me before the match asking if I was going to pin this kid and I kept saying 'yes, yes.' "

Missouri got a big win out of two redshirt freshmen, Brent Haynes and Nathan McCormick. McCormick defeated Illinois redshirt freshman Daryl Thomas 3-2. McCormick got an early takedown, followed by an escape in the second period and was able to hold on in the third period for the win.

After McCormick's win, Illinois bounced back and earned three consecutive victories. Junior Ryan Prater defeated Missouri junior Todd Schavrien 15-9, sophomore Eric Terrazas defeated Tiger sophomore Brandon Wiest 4-2 and senior Clint Arlis defeated Missouri sophomore Patrick Wright 3-2.

"I'm thinking through a lot right now," coach Brian Smith said. "We lost a lot of close matches there, a lot of them with our young kids. We've got to score takedowns, and in the third period, we weren't taking enough shots."

Missouri will continue action this weekend at the Central Missouri Open, followed by home dual meets against Cal Poly and Purdue, both Nov. 20 at the Hearnes Center.