Hometown Heroes: Wrestling Heads To Kansas City For NCAA Wrestling Championship

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – University of Missouri wrestling travels west to Kansas City, Missouri for the 2024 NCAA Championship on March 21-23. Mizzou is the host institution for the tournament that will take place inside T-Mobile Center. 

BIG 12 RECAP 

• Mizzou looks to bounce back from a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship.
• Keegan O’Toole claimed his second Big 12 title at 165 pounds. 
• Rocky Elam (197) made a return to the finals, dropping a hard fought 1-0 decision to top-seeded Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State.
• Josh Edmond and Zach Elam wrestled their way to third-place finishes, the fifth consecutive bronze finish of Elam’s career. 
• Additionally, Brock Mauller (157, 5th), Colton Hawks (184, 5th), Noah Surtin (125, 6th), Logan Gioffre (149, 6th) and Peyton Mocco (174, 6th) all placed. 
• The Tigers automatically qualified nine wrestlers to the NCAA Championship with their conference finishes. 

Tiger First Timers

• Redshirt junior Logan Gioffre (149) and redshirt freshman Kade Moore (133) earned their first NCAA Championship bid of their careers. 
• Gioffre clinched an automatic bid at the Big 12 Championship by going 2-0 in consolations before medically forfeiting to place sixth.
• Moore received an at-large nod following conference tournaments, giving all 10 Mizzou starters a NCAA Tournament trip for the third time in four years. 

NATIONALLY KNOWN 

• For the second straight year, Missouri has all 10 starters qualified for the NCAA Championship, becoming one of eight programs to have all 10 qualify (Oklahoma State, Penn State, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Cornell, Minnesota and Virginia Tech).
• MU has had all 10 starters qualify in three of the past four seasons, and six times in the Brian Smith era. Additionally, the Tigers have qualified eight or more to the national tournament 15 times under Smith. 

LAST YEAR AT NCAAs  

• Missouri tied a program-best five All-Americans at the 2023 NCAA Championship on their way to a fifth-place finish (64.5 points), marking the Tigers’ eighth consecutive top-10 team finish.
• Keegan O’Toole secured his second NCAA Championship at 165 pounds defeating David Carr of Iowa State. 
• Mizzou’s 64.5 team points ranks as the sixth-most the Tigers have recorded in the national tournament and is the ninth time in program history they scored at least 60 team points.

KEEGS v. CARR

• Having defeated David Carr for the second-straight time by 8-2 decision, junior Keegan O’Toole has evened the score between the two with a possible rubber match upcoming in the NCAA semifinals. 

SEEDING 

• Five Tigers have been slotted in the top-15 in their respective brackets, led by defending national champion Keegan O’Toole who earned the top seed at 165 for the first time in his career.
• Other top-15 wrestlers for the Tigers include Colton Hawks at 11th at 184, and returning All-Americans Rocky Elam in 12th at 197 and Zach Elam at sixth at 285.
• Three-time All-American Brock Mauller received the 17-seed in the 157 pound bracket, while three-time NCAA qualifier Noah Surtin is No. 13 at 125.
• In his second NCAA appearance, Josh Edmond enters as the No. 21 seed at 141 pounds, while All-American Peyton Mocco is the 22nd seed at 174. First timers Kade Moore and Logan Gioffre are seeded 26th and 28th, respectively.

ALL-TIME AT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT 

• Missouri looks to make its third podium in program history, finishing third in 2007 and fourth in 2015. 
• The Tigers have totaled five All-Americans four times, most recently in 2023. 
• Additionally, Mizzou has totaled more than 70 team points four times, reaching the mark in the 2007, 2015, 2016 and 2017 tournaments.  

DEPENDABLE DOMINANCE  

• In his fifth conference championship, redshirt senior Zach Elam finished third for the fifth consecutive time. 
• The Kansas City, MIssouri native is 25-2 this season with 11 bonus-point wins, earning a six seed at 285 pounds in the NCAA Championship. 
• The six seed is the highest of Elam’s career. 

KEEGAN’S KINGDOM

• Junior Keegan O’Toole regained his 165-pound title at the Big 12 Championship with an 8-2 decision  over Iowa State’s David Carr, marking consecutive wins over Carr including last year’s national final.
• The Hartland, Wisconsin native earned the No. 1 seed in the national tournament for the first time in his career, holding a 18-0 record and totaling 14 bonus-point wins at 165 pounds.
• O’Toole now returns as the two-time defending National Champion, seeking to become the first Tiger to win three straight, and the second three-time overall champion in program history (J’den Cox).

MASTERFUL MAULLER

• Three-time All-American redshirt senior Brock Mauller has totaled 118 career wins at Mizzou, just two shy of breaking into the top 10 (120). 
• The Columbia, Missouri native is currently tied for 12th with Daniel Lewis, and needs one more to tie Kenny Burleson in 11th with 119. 

RARE AIR

• Redshirt sophomore Colton Hawks had a strong late-season surge, resulting in a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship and a second straight NCAA qualification. 
• Hawks’ victory in the fifth-place match came over Will Feldkamp of Iowa State. It marked his third win over the Cyclone in the last two weeks.
• The Wentzville, Missouri native earned the 11 seed in the 184-pound bracket with additional wins this season over No. 13 seed Aaron Ayzerov of Columbia and No. 2 seed Isaiah Salazar of Minnesota. 

EDMOND’S RETURN

• Redshirt sophomore Josh Edmond qualified for the NCAA Championship for the second time in his career, and first at 141 pounds after reaching the national tournament two years ago in the 149 weight class. 
• Edmond won five of his last seven matches and took out a pair of ranked opponents at the conference tournament in No. 11 Tagen Jamison (OSU) and No. 14 Jordan Titus (WVU). 
• The Detroit, Michigan native registered his first career fall, pinning Darren Green of Cal Baptist in 3:29 on March 10. 

100-WIN CLUB

• Redshirt senior Zach Elam became the 31st wrestler to join the 100-Win Club at Missouri after beating Chase Trussell of Utah Valley. 
• Elam (102) needs four wins to pass assistant coach Dom Bradley (105) and become the winningest heavyweight in program history. 

TOP SCORERS  

• Throughout the 2023-24 regular season, junior Keegan O’Toole led the team with 231 points scored in 16 matches and 60 takedowns. O’Toole is the only wrestler to score over 200 points in the regular season. 
• Redshirt senior Brock Mauller came in second in points scored, totaling 190 points through 16 matches with 46 takedowns (also second). 
• Additionally, four wrestlers surpassed the 150 mark: Clayton Whiting (165), Peyton Mocco (157), Josh Edmond (154) and Noah Surtin (152). 

RIDING TIME 

• Mizzou had eight Tigers with a total of 11 minutes or more of riding time, and a minimum of 13 matches wrestled in the regular season.
• Redshirt senior Zach Elam led the charge with 27:55 in 22 matches, an average of 1:16 per match. 
• Three others broke the 20-minute mark in junior Keegan O’Toole (24:18), redshirt senior Peyton Mocco (21:26) and redshirt freshman Clayton Whiting (20:37). 
• Mocco’s average over his 13 bouts comes to 1:39, the highest on the team. 

COACHES RANKINGS

• In the final NCAA coaches rankings of the season, Missouri saw all ten wrestlers ranked.
• Cracking the top 10 of their respective weight classes: Keegan O’Toole (1st, 165), Zach Elam (5th, 285) and Rocky Elam (6th, 197). 
• Following behind those three are Noah Surtin (11th, 125), Colton Hawks (13th, 184),  Brock Mauller (14th, 157), Josh Edmond (14th, 141),  Peyton Mocco (17th, 174), Logan Gioffre (24th, 149) and Kade Moore (28th, 133).
• Coaches’ rankings are determined by 14 coaches in each weight class, with two head coaches from each of the seven conferences. Only wrestlers designated as a starter at a respective weight class may be considered. Wrestlers must have eight Division I matches in the weight class, with at least one within the last 30 days.

MOST WINS (Active, 50+)

• Brock Mauller (118), Zach Elam (102), Peyton Mocco (93), Keegan O’Toole (82), Rocky Elam (67) and Noah Surtin (62).  

CLOSING OUT IN KC

• The 2023-24 season will come to a close in Kansas City, Missouri, where the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship will take place at the T-Mobile Center on March 21-23. 
• Kansas City is the hometown of both Zach Elam and Rocky Elam, who graduated from Staley High School. Z. Elam, a redshirt senior, has the opportunity to end his career in his hometown. 

WEEKLY HONORS

• Most recently, redshirt freshman Kade Moore was named NCAA Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 10 after pinning No. 5 ranked Sam Latona of Virginia Tech in a 22-17 dual win. 
• Junior Keegan O’Toole bumped up to 174 pounds against Illinois on Dec. 21 in the absence of redshirt senior Peyton Mocco due to injury. O’Toole defeated the No. 5-ranked 174-pounder Edmond Ruth 12-7, earning him Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors. 

QUALIFIED

• The Missouri wrestling program has a connection to three wrestlers who qualified for the 2024 Olympic Trials with Team USA. 
• Junior Keegan O’Toole qualified when he won the U23 World Championship at 74 kg in October. 
• Assistant coach Dom Bradley and Tiger Style alum Jarrett Jacques (Tiger Style WC) accomplished the feat at Senior Nationals. Bradley won the tournament at 125 kg for the fourth time, while Jacques placed fourth at 74 kg. 

TWO-TIME O’TOOLE

• Entering the 2023-24 season, junior Keegan O’Toole is a two-time champion, twice. 
• O’Toole won his second-consecutive NCAA Championship at 165 pounds in March. The Hartland, Wisconsin native defeated David Carr of Iowa State in the finals, 8-2. 
• Following the national championship, O’Toole traveled to Tirana, Albania, in October, competing in and winning the U23 World Championships at 74 kg. The championship marks his second after winning the Junior World Title in 2021 at 74 kg. 

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