Missouri’s O’Toole & Elam brothers advance to NCAA wrestling quarterfinals in KC
The Missouri Tigers are sending three wrestlers to Friday’s quarterfinals at the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Kansas City.
Mizzou finished Thursday’s first day of the three-day championships at T-Mobile Center tied for 10th in the team standings with 14 points.
To no surprise, MU’s Keegan O’Toole, the No. 1 seed at 165 pounds, made a clear path for himself into Friday’s quarterfinals by winning both of his Thursday matches on falls.
After a first-period pin against Northern Iowa’s Jack Thomsen, O’Toole’s second took a bit more work. But he eventually pinned Appalachian State’s Will Miller, too.
O’Toole is seeking his third NCAA title, which would tie him for most all-time in Missouri program history with Tigers legend J’den Cox. O’Toole remains unbeaten this season after bringing a 19-0 record into this week’s national meet.
His next hurdle will be the No. 8 seed, Antrell Taylor of Nebraska. Taylor’s Cornhuskers finished the day in sixth place with 21 points.
Two Missouri wrestlers from Kansas City joined O’Toole in the quarterfinals: brothers and former Staley High standouts Rocky Elam (197 pounds) and Zach Elam (285).
No. 12 seed Rocky Elam, after a win by decision against No. 21 Mac Stout from Pitt, came up with a Round 2 upset of No. 5 seed Jacob Cardenas. Elam beat his opponent from Cornell by decision.
No. 6 seed Zach Elam advanced with a pin of No. 27 seed Josiah Hill of Little Rock in the first session and 4-0 decision against No. 11 Josh Heindselman of Oklahoma. In Elam’s previous meeting with Heinselman, a 8-0 decision earned the Tiger third place at the Big 12 championships.
The other seven Mizzou wrestlers who qualified for the NCAA championships didn’t find as much success on the mat Thursday.
No. 21 seed Josh Edmond (141) pulled an early upset of No. 12 seed Wyatt Henson of Lock Haven in sudden victory. But he went on to lose to No. 5 seed Anthony Echemendia of Iowa State.
No. 11 seed Colton Hawks (184) took a first-round victory over No. 22 seed Gavin Kane (UNC) by decision but fell in the next round to No. 6 seed Bernie Truax of Penn State.
Five other Tigers wound up in the wrestlebacks after dropping opening-round matchups; all were eliminated from the bracket. Here are those results:
125: No. 13 Noah Surtin: Lost to Northern Colorado’s No. 20 Stevo Poulin and Ohio State’s No. 29 Brendan McCrone.
133: No. 26 Kade Moore: Lost to Little Rock’s No. 7 Nasir Bailey and Penn State’s No. 10 Aaron Nagao.
149: No. 28 Logan Gioffre: Lost to WVU’s No. 5 Ty Watters and Maryland’s No. 12 Ethen Miller.
157: No. 17 Brock Mauller: Lost to OK State’s No. 17 Teague Travis and Ohio State’s No. 32 Isaac Wilcox.
174: No. 22 Peyton Mocco: Lost to Campbell’s No. 11 Austin Murphy and Navy’s No. 22 Danny Wask.
