The Missouri Tigers started out quick and easy this morning during the last day of the national tournament in New York City. Lavion Mayes, the 149-pound junior, Daniel Lewis, the 165-pound redshirt freshman and 184-pound Willie Miklus came out aggressive in their semifinal consolation round matches to win by fall and head to the third-place final.

Both Mayes and Lewis took down their opponents in their first match of the day. Mayes wrestled Michigan’s Alec Pantaleo and pinned him in the first period. Lewis took on Illinois’ Steven Rodrigues and pinned him in the second period.

About an hour later, Mayes went on to beat Oklahoma State’s Anthony Collica 3-2 in the third-place match. Soon after that, Lewis was defeated by Ohio State’s Bo Jordan 9-7 in a hard-fought match. Mayes is now a two-time All-American, and Lewis’ impressive national tournament debut led him to an All-American status as well.

Miklus lost two battles this morning, first in the semifinal consolation round to Oklahoma State’s Nolan Boyd, and the second one coming in the fifth-place match against Navy’s Matthew Miller. The 184-pound sophomore, now a two time All-American, will stand in the sixth-place spot on the podium tonight.

Tonight’s final championship round will feature Missouri’s J’Den Cox, the No. 2 seed, against Penn State’s Morgan McIntosh, the No. 1 seed, in the 197-pound match. Cox is looking to win his second national championship, after his first one in 2014 as a freshman.

Missouri sits in sixth place after the morning session, with 70.5 points. Penn State leads the field with 114 points, and Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Iowa, and Ohio State, respectively, are close behind.

_Edited by Katherine Knott | kknott@themaneater.com_