It hasn’t been the brightest winter in Columbia. It has consisted of bitter cold, slippery ice and a fair share of snow. Athletics haven’t been much better. The Missouri men’s basketball team is dead last in the Southeastern Conference, leaving the arena dead silent.
If you go across the street to the Hearnes Center, though, another Tiger team has been making plenty of noise. Missouri wrestling has had a historic season, going undefeated through the regular season and finishing at the coveted No. 1 spot in the country after last weekend’s victory.
Before this season, the program has won almost every significant tournament in the country. Namely, the Southern Scuffle and both the Big 12 and Mid-American Conference Championships. The only regular season tournament that had alluded them was the NWCA National Duals.
That is where the Tigers were last weekend: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, with some of the NCAA’s top wrestling programs.
After cruising through the quarterfinals and semifinals against now-No. 12 Illinois and No. 9 Lehigh, Missouri was met by then-No. 1 Iowa, a national powerhouse with 23 national championships to its name.
In gladiatorial fashion, the Tigers took down their opponent in their own house by a score of 18-12. The championship crown that had never been touched by the Tigers was now theirs.
But it didn’t come easy.
In the 125-pound match, a fight almost erupted between the two teams’ benches when senior Alan Waters bumped into a Hawkeye wrestler with significant force while he was running off the mat.
“It got a little crazy,” Missouri coach Brian Smith said on KTGR Radio on Monday night. “It was the most intense environment I’ve ever been in.”
Despite this, Smith said his grapplers stayed calm and “kept their composure.”
On paper, the 141-pound match looked like it would be an absolute dogfight between No. 5 Lavion Mayes, for Missouri, and No. 6 Josh Dziewa. When it came to the actual match, though, Mayes slipped into a zone that propelled him to a 13-6 win.
Smith said that was when he knew they’d emerge victorious.
He said that reigning national champion sophomore J’den Cox was so riled up during Mayes’ dual that he had to send him out to focus on his own match, which ended up being the tournament-clinching contest.
“Winning the National Duals was another important step in the program,” Smith said. “And there’s one more tournament we haven’t won, which is the NCAA, which is next on our list.”
On Tuesday, the Tigers were declared the new No. 1 team nationally — just another accomplishment the team can hang its hat on.
“(Having such a great season) means a lot,” Waters said. “We’ve never gone undefeated before. It’s good for all the guys going into the MAC and NCAA Championships.”
While the NCAA wrestling national championship is still a month away, the team already has high aspirations. Smith said the goal is to qualify 10 wrestlers for the NCAA .
Waters thinks that goal, along with plenty of others, is in reach.
“We have a great chance for everyone on our roster to be national qualifiers, All-Americans and national champions,” he said.
This year’s team has been very tight-knit, either practicing or competing together non-stop since NCAAs last year, where the team placed 14th overall.
“It’s amazing how close we’ve come together and how we live,” Smith said. “We live ‘Tiger Style,’ and that’s the philosophy of the program on and off the mat.”
“Tiger Style,” as Smith mentioned, has helped key wrestlers, including Waters, grow through their years with the team.
“Throughout the years, I’ve grown and matured a lot,” Waters said. “Coach Smith and everyone really help with that aspect a lot.”
So as the snow begins to melt and the sun comes out of hiding, the Tigers will start preparing for the MAC Championships, which are set for March 7 in Columbia. The Tigers are the favorites after winning two consecutive conference championships.