The No. 3 Missouri wrestling team put an exclamation point on its five-game homestand with a 33-6 shellacking of the Northern Iowa Panthers in front of a Hearnes Center crowd that included Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin.
Loftin, whose son wrestled in high school, said he was happy to make it out to his first dual of the year. He said he’s come to appreciate the subtleties of the sport.
“It’s mental as much as it is physical,” Loftin said. “You have to wrestle your opponent, but you also have to size him up, understand his strengths and weaknesses.”
The Tigers’ first wrestler of the day, senior 125-pounder No. 1 Alan Waters, did well to size up his opponent, sophomore No. 6 Dylan Peters.
By the end of the first period, Waters had recorded a takedown and near fall to lead Peters 6-1.
“I’ve been getting tired in my matches in the past couple weeks,” Waters said. “I feel like I’m wrestling a lot more like myself now.”
Waters managed to stay the fatigue that’s been haunting him and pushed on for another takedown and an escape in the second period.
He would go on to win the match by a 10-1 major decision.
Sophomore 141-pounder No. 6 Lavion Mayes started the scoring early against the Panther’s redshirt freshman Jake Hodges, recording an emphatic takedown and two-point near fall in the opening period.
The Mascoutah, Illinois native would score three more takedowns and defeat Hodges by a 12-4 major decision.
Senior 149-pounder No. 1 Drake Houdashelt piled on the points in his 17-2 win over Northern Iowa’s sophomore Tyler Patten. Houdashelt tallied three near falls and four takedowns on his way to the 20th technical fall of his career.
“My goal was to wrestle hard for seven minutes,” Houdashelt said. “I gave it my all for the entire match and it went well.”
Missouri led the Panthers 19-0 halfway through the dual. The Tigers’ early and sustained dominance in Saturday’s meet came in stark contrast to their disappointing loss at Northern Iowa last year.
“We went into a hornet’s nest at UNI, the place was jam-packed,” coach Brian Smith said. “Our kids wrestled scared, we got blown out of the building. Well, we had the support of our fans tonight, and I’m pleased with what we accomplished.”
Redshirt freshman 184-pounder No. 9 Willie Miklus delivered for the 1,506 fans at the Hearnes Center in his matchup against junior Cody Caldwell of Northern Iowa.
Mikles used the spladle, a seldom-seen move in collegiate wrestling, to pin Caldwell at 0:24 seconds.
“It’s awesome,” Waters said, laughing. “(Mikles) is probably the only kid I know in college that hits a spladle.”
Sophomore 197-pounder lNo. 1 J’den Cox was his usual, dominant self Saturday night against Northern Iowa’s senior Basil Minto.
Cox’s first takedown came almost immediately after the opening salvo was fired. He continued to impose his will on his opponent throughout the first period, recording a second takedown and forcing Minto into a stalling warning.
Cox didn’t let up in the second or third period; he recorded three more takedowns and over one minute of riding time on his way to 16-4 win via major decision.
The victory extended Cox’s NCAA leading win streak to 44.
Cox wrestled Minto with his head swaddled after receiving a nasty gash and stitches over his left eye playing football with friends Friday.
He said he didn’t mind being all dolled up in a gauze bonnet. In fact, he kind of liked it.
“Maybe I should just wrap my head up randomly, for no reason,” Cox joked. “It’s like, ‘J’den, what’s wrong with your face?’ ‘Nothing, I just thought it was a good look.’”
