For Le’Roy Barnes, Sunday was his last wrestling match in Hearnes Center and he felt the emotions run through him.
“Walking down the stairs I was telling the seniors that it was the last time we would be doing it, and coach (Brian) Smith was like, ‘oh, we’ll do stairs on Monday then,’” Barnes said. “I regretted saying it, but I love coach Smith so if he has us run stairs on Monday, I’m fine with it.”
Missouri hosted its last home dual meet of the season Sunday against Old Dominion and won 29-6. Barnes, the 157-pound starter, won his match 9-4 after trailing 4-0 to start, when the referees took away a reversal and back points from Barnes. Old Dominion coach Steve Martin challenged the call and won, however Barnes did not let it get to him.
“Nothing changed, I just go out and do what I do,” Barnes said. “It helped me get my head right, and I talked to my coaches and told me to keep doing what I was doing.”
The match started at 141 pounds with Missouri’s junior Matt Manley winning 4-1 over Old Dominion’s Chris Mecate. At 149 pounds, junior Lavion Mayes kept his undefeated record of 21-0 when he beat Alexander Richardson 2-1. Richardson was called for stalling and the Old Dominion bench received a bench warning during that match.
Two major decisions from redshirt freshman Daniel Lewis at 165 pounds and senior Blaise Butler at 174 pounds brought the team score to 17-0. Two more bench warnings were issued to the Old Dominion side during those matches.
Butler, a transfer this year from University of Virginia, has only been at Hearnes Center for one year. He has loved every meet in it.
“If you would have asked me a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have thought I would end my career here, but it was definitely a great place to be,” Butler said. “There’s great support, family and friends, and it’s just a great experience overall so I’m happy to be here.”
After Butler’s match, Old Dominion earned three bench warnings, meaning their team score was deducted by one point. At that point, Missouri was winning 17 to -1. This was not the first time that Missouri had been leading Old Dominion by negative points — they did so in 2012.
Smith was concerned about Old Dominion’s wrestling style heading into the dual since some particular wrestlers had given Missouri trouble before, but he was pleased to see the team pull through with big wins.
“They want to win tight matches by very calculated wrestling,” Smith said. “We didn’t give them that opportunity. Our guys stuck with it and stayed the aggressors. It was a hard match to ref, with both sides bickering at each other, but we were hitting more shots and getting the calls so it was good.”
After the break, 184-pounder, senior Cody Johnston, lost his match 14-4. Old Dominion forfeited their 197-pound wrestler, so junior J’Den Cox won his match. In the heavyweight division, freshman James Romero lost a hard fought battle 3-2.
Sophomore Barlow McGhee redeemed himself to Old Dominion’s Brandon Jeske at 125 pounds when he won 6-3. McGhee lost to Jeske twice two years ago, but he believes he has grown a lot since then.
“I stuck to the game plan that we set up for the week, and it felt really good to come out on top,” McGhee said. “I’m getting better from my freshman year and I’m just trying to progress from that.”
To finish the match, junior Zach Synon won his 133 pound match 3-0.
Missouri takes the mat next at Northern Illinois at 1 p.m. Friday. They will look to continue their winning record of 11-1 as they move closer toward the NWCA National Duals, MAC championships and then the NCAA championships.
