The No. 5 Missouri wrestling team traveled Sunday to Norfolk, Virginia, and defeated Old Dominion in convincing fashion 36-3. Redshirt senior Lavion Mayes earned his 100th career collegiate wrestling win, and redshirt sophomore 133-pounder John Erneste and redshirt freshman heavyweight Austin Myers won by falls to lead the Tigers.
Redshirt senior 149-pounder Lavion Mayes joined some exclusive company Sunday, becoming just the 25th wrestler in Missouri history to earn 100 career collegiate wins. He is the first Mizzou wrestler to win 100 career matches since senior 197-pounder J’den Cox won his 100th career match Feb. 21 in a major decision against Nebraska.
Mayes is now tied for the 23rd most wins in Missouri program history and is fifth all-time in most career major decisions with 25. He is a two-time NCAA All-American and is looking to improve on his third-place finish at NCAA Championships a year ago.
The Tigers improved their all-time record versus Old Dominion to 11-0-1 with the victory. The team received dominant performances across the board, with major decisions coming from redshirt sophomore 125-pounder Chase Brennan, redshirt junior 157-pounder Joey Lavallee and redshirt sophomore 165-pounder Daniel Lewis. Lewis was an NCAA All-American last year, finishing fourth at the NCAA Championships, and is currently ranked No. 3 in the country in his weight class by The Open Mat.
Cox, the No. 1 197-pounder in the country, earned his 109th career victory with a 5-0 decision over No. 9 Kevin Beazley, who came into the match as Old Dominion’s highest-ranked individual wrestler.
Cox’s victory was one of his first since earning a Bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Rio this summer, and it moved him into a tie for 13th on Mizzou’s all-time wins list. He is attempting to become Mizzou’s first three-time individual NCAA champion this season.
Myers won his first match as a Tiger in convincing fashion. He scored takedowns in both the first and second periods before registering a fall over his opponent at the 3:19 mark in the second period. He will face the No. 2 heavyweight in the nation, Virginia Tech senior Ty Walz, in his next match.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how I stack up against one of the best [wrestlers in my weight class] in the nation,” Myers said in a post-match interview posted to the team’s Twitter account.
Mizzou will wrestle again on Nov. 20 at Jesse Hall against No. 6 Virginia Tech.
_Edited by Peter Baugh | pbaugh@themaneater.com_