No. 24 Wrestling Faces Utah Valley Friday at Home

MATCH 10: #24 Missouri (2-7, 1-1 Big 12) vs. Utah Valley (5-4, 1-1 Big 12)
Match Details	Friday, Jan. 17 • 6:30 p.m. • Columbia, Mo. • Hearnes Center
Match Coverage	ESPN+ \| Live Stats
Match Notes	Missouri \| Utah Valley
Social Media	Twitter: @MizzouWrestling \| Instagram: @MizzouWrestling

COLUMBIA, Mo. - No. 24 Missouri wrestling continues its home stretch with a match at 6:30 CT on Friday against Utah Valley. The dual will be at Hearnes Center and can be streamed by fans on ESPN+.

LAST TIME OUT

Continuing a tough stretch, Mizzou dropped a home match to No. 15 Stanford, 27-15, on Sunday.
The Tigers we awarded six team points off the jump, with the Cardinal forfeiting at 125 and giving freshman Gage Walker the automatic win.
Redshirt junior Josh Edmond got back on track with a win at 141 pounds, his ninth of the season.
Pulling Mizzou to within three, 18-15, redshirt junior Colton Hawks was injured during the 184-pound match but battled through and come away with his second fall of the season in the third period.

VALUABLE VETERANS

Most recently, Tiger Style was forced to announce it will be without 184-pound starter and two-time NCAA qualifier Colton Hawks for the time being.
Head coach Brian Smith announced that senior Rocky Elam, who has been combating multiple injuries, will not wrestle this season on Jan. 2
Additionally, classmate Keegan O'Toole has been battling an injury sustained earlier in the season and will miss the month of January to allow him to recover as much as possible. Smith remains optimistic O'Toole will be ready for the postseason.
Elam, O'Toole and Hawks join senior Noah Surtin as missing starters from the projected 2024-25 lineup, as he announced his medical retirement on Dec. 13, 2024.
With their absence, the lineup is missing four wrestlers who have totaled 279 career wins and 152 bonus-point victories.

RANKINGS REPORT

The Black and Gold are ranked No. 24 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Poll.
Mizzou has six of 10 wrestlers ranked by InterMat and five by FloWrestling.
Keegan O'Toole comes in at No. 3 on FloWrestling's pound-for-pound list and maintains his No. 1 ranking at 174 pounds.

THE SERIES: UTAH VALLEY

The match between Missouri and Utah Valley marks the third meeting between the two programs with the Tigers holding a 2-0 record.
The series dates back to the 2004-05 season, where Mizzou won 48-0.
Tiger Style is 1-0 since the Wolverines made the jump to Division I in 2009, having defeated them during in 2021-22, 18-15.

LAST TIME VS THE WOLVERINES

The Tigers picked up a conference win over Utah Valley on Jan. 29, 2022, 18-15.
Bonus-point wins from Josh Edmond (149) and Sean Harman (174) helped push Mizzou oover the top.
Also recording wins was Jarrett Jacques (157), Jeremiah Kent (184) and Zach Elam (285).

TIGER STYLE IN THE VALLEY

In July of 2024 Utah Valley announced the hiring of former Missouri wrestler Joey Lavallee as assistant coach.
Lavallee, an All-American for Tiger Style in 2017 at 157 pounds, finished his college career 114-29 in five seasons in Columbia and was an impressive 29-0 in duals over his final two seasons.
Additionally, the former Tiger was a 2022 World Team Trials finalist.

FAMILY CONNECTION

Mizzou fans will see a familiar last name in the lineup for Utah Valley at 133 pounds as redshirt junior Kase Mauger makes the trip to Columbia, Missouri.
Kase is the cousin of Tiger Style freshman Mack Mauger.

HOMESTAND

After wrestling on the road for the first half of the season, the Tigers enter a homestand, competing five times in Columbia in January.
Missouri takes on No. 12 Cornell (Jan. 3), No. 15 Stanford (Jan. 12), Utah Valley (Jan. 17), Arizona State and No. 22 West Virginia (Jan. 26).

CYCLONE OPEN

Tiger Style will send a squad to the Cyclone Open, hosted by Iowa State on Sunday, Jan. 19.
The list of probable wrestlers includes Mack Mauger (unattached), Jake Crapps, Kade Moore, Owen Uhls, Easton Hilton, Nate Pulliam, James Conway, Cam Steed, Kolten Oborny, Logan Cole (unattached), Jake Stoffel (unattached), Seth Nitzel and Jarrett Stoner.
Fans can follow the action on TrackWrestling.

MOST WINS (active, 50+)

Keegan O'Toole (99), Rocky Elam (70) and Noah Surtin (65).

ON THE HORIZON

The Tigers continue their home stretch with Arizona State coming to Columbia on Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. CT at Hearnes Center.

Schedule

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Logan Cole

J Conway

Jake Crapps

Josh Edmond

Rocky Elam

Zach Elam

Sean Harman

Colton Hawks

Easton Hilton

Mack Mauger

Kade Moore

Seth Nitzel

Keegan O'Toole

Kolten Oborny

Nate Pulliam

Cam Steed

Jake Stoffel

Jarrett Stoner

Noah Surtin

Owen Uhls

Gage Walker

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