No. 9 Missouri Comes Up Short Against No. 5 Iowa State

COLUMIBA, Mo. – The ninth-ranked University of Missouri wrestling team completed its regular season schedule in a 17-16 loss against No. 5 Iowa State inside the Hearnes Center Wednesday night. The Tigers held strong against the Cyclones with the dual coming down to the final bout.

Freshman Keegan O’Toole finished out the regular season unblemished at 17-0 after logging his 14th bonus-point victory of the campaign in a 14-4 major decision. Redshirt sophomores Peyton Mocco and Jeremiah Kent built off O’Toole’s win with ranked victories at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively.

Kent’s upset win against No. 7 Marcus Coleman was the first ranked victory of the season for the Columbia native. Meanwhile, in his second match back from injury, Mocco took down No. 18 Joel Devine for his second ranked win this year.

The Tigers also got ranked wins from freshman Noah Surtin at 125 pounds and Zach Elam at heavyweight.

Missouri (11-4, 8-2 Big 12) split match wins with Iowa State (15-1, 8-0 Big 12), but major decisions for the Cyclones at 141 and 157 pounds proved to be the difference maker in the dual.

Top Tigers

• Kent’s win against Coleman was the highest-ranked victory of his career. The previous milestone was against Wyoming’s No. 19 Tate Sameulson last season.
•  O’Toole finished Mizzou’s regular season schedule with a perfect record for the second consecutive season.
•  With a win against No. 15 Kysen Terukina, Noah Surtin logged his fifth ranked win of the season. Four of the five have come against opponents ranked above him.

Hear from Coach

“Tough loss,” head coach Brian Smith said. “We talked about wrestling seven minutes all the time and we just kind of shut down in really three matches, maybe four. We hung on but you can’t turn that light switch off and think the lights gonna come back on.

“We had great performances from Noah Surtin, another big win for him, beating another ranked opponent. Even Ethan Turner going out there, you know, and battling with a top-five or six kids in the country and battling tough for us. And then Joshua [Edmond] lost a tough one. But you know, again, Keegan doing Keegan things scoring a lot of points. Peyton Mocco, in his second match back looks really, really good. His offensive movement and attacks look the best he’s looked in a long time these last two matches so really pleased where he’s at.”

Up Next

Missouri begins the 2022 postseason campaign March 5-6 at the Big 12 Championships inside the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Visit MUTigers.com for the latest information on all things Mizzou Wrestling. You can also find the Tigers on social media by liking us on Facebook (Mizzou Wrestling) and following us on Twitter and Instagram (@MizzouWrestling).

No. 5 Iowa State, 17, No. 9 Missouri, 16

Attendance: 3,410

125: (17) Noah Surtin (MIZ) over (15) Kysen Terukina by 7-1 dec.

133: (27) Ramazan Attasauov over Connor Brown (MIZ) by 8-6 dec.

141: (10) Ian Parker over Ethan Turner (MIZ) by 10-2 major dec.

149: (19) Jarrett Degen over (18) Josh Edmond by 9-7 dec.

157: (1) David Carr over (20) Jarrett Jacques (MIZ) by 14-2 major dec.

165: (1) Keegan O’Toole (MIZ) over (31) Isaac Judge by 14-4 major dec.

174: (11) Peyton Mocco (MIZ) over (18) Joel Devine by 9-6 dec.

184: (19) Jeremiah Kent (MIZ) over (7) Marcus Coleman by 10-7 dec.

197: (14) Yonger Bastida over (7) Rocky Elam (MIZ) by 8-6, SV-1

285: (15) Zach Elam over (23) Sam Schuyler by 2-0 dec.