Senior Mikey England couldn’t sleep the Thursday before the Mid-American Conference Championships. It wasn’t because he was giddy or nervous, though. England was physically ill.
“(Thursday was) probably (one of the) top two worst nights of my life,” England said. “Then, I had to go and make weight. It made it really difficult. You just have to keep a positive mindset and do what you can.”
England still managed to do a lot. He came into the final day of the MAC Championships last Sunday having lost his quarterfinal match. He needed a miracle to qualify for the NCAA Championships in St. Louis. Specifically, he needed Northern Illinois’ Shaun-Qae McMurtry to lose to Ohio’s Harrison Hightower.
His coaches told him that he still had a chance but England didn’t believe it could happen.
“I thought they were trying to make me feel better,” he said. “All of a sudden, I had another match, and I was like, ‘Let’s do this.’”
The stage was set for a climactic match between England and McMurtry. The winner would claim the fourth and final MAC automatic bid in the 165-pound weight class and take a trip to St. Louis for the NCAA Championships.
All it took was an early takedown.
England brought the Hearnes Center crowd to its feet when he drove McMurtry to the edge of the mat and slammed him to the floor for two points at the beginning of the match. McMurtry was unable to muster any sort of retaliation and lost by a 4-1 decision.
With the victory, England took his place among the Tiger grapplers who automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships. Missouri qualified wrestlers all 10 weight classes to cap off what was an extremely successful weekend for the top-ranked hosts.
Mizzou has won the MAC Championships every year since joining the MAC in 2012. This year, the Tigers not only won the team tournament, but posted a new all-time record for most team points at a MAC Championship with 139.5. Old Dominion finished second with 97.5 and Ohio followed with 85.5.
Senior Alan Waters, sophomore Zach Synon, senior Drake Houdashelt, sophomore J’den Cox and senior Devin Mellon were all MAC Champions in their respective weight classes.
Waters was named the MAC Championship’s Outstanding Wrestler.
Coach Brian Smith said his wrestlers don’t care about individual accolades and that they wrestle as a team.
Everyone on the Missouri wrestling team is ready for St. Louis.
“Now that we’ve got 10 out of 10 (qualifiers), we’re going to win the national title,” England said.
