Mike Larson

Class:
Sophomore
Hometown:
McKinleyville, Calif.
High School:
CSU Bakersfield

2012-13: Earning his fourth consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships, Larson ended his final season at Mizzou with a record of 32-13. Larson opened up his senior campaign with two wins by decision against Old Dominion's Austin Coburn and Purdue's Patrick Kissel. At the Joe Parisi Open, the senior tallied seven wins on the day, including wins by a fall (2:58) and later by major decision (12-2) against Nolan Boyd of Oklahoma to open and close the tournament. Larson would end up placing third overall. At the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Larson took home the silver medal after dropping the final bout to No. 6 Josh Ihnen (Nebraska), losing via the fall. The loss ended an 11-match winning streak stretching from November 17 to December 1. At the Grapple at the Garden, Larson fell to Cornell's Steve Bosak by decision, 6-0, but would rebound in his second dual of the day with a 6-1 decision over Andre Petroski of Bloomsburg. Larson kicked off the new year with a fourth place finish at the Southern Scuffle, where he went 4-2 including big wins over Oklahoma State's Chris Chionuma and Arizona State's Kevin Radford. A win against Derek Nagel of SIUE on Feb. 13 would set Larson up with a record of 23-8 going into the NWCA Cliff Keen National Duals. Larson won his first match of the Duals, against No. 20 C.J. Magrum of Ohio State. After falling to OK State's Chris Chionuma, Larson rebounded with a big win over Iowa's No. 17 Ethen Lofthouse in what was a vital bout in Missouri's 18-16 upset of the 2nd-ranked Hawkeyes. The MAC Championships, at which Larson would take third place overall, brought back Ryan Loder for a third time on the season. It would be Larson's only loss out of four matches on the day. His final win, against No. 16 Casey Newburg of Kent State, brought his record to 28-10 and officially reserved his spot in what would be his fourth NCAA Championship. Larson fell to No. 6 Loder (Northern Iowa) on the first day of the NCAAs, but battled through the wrestleback bracket all the way to the All-American round. In his matchup with Pittsburgh's Max Thomusseit, Larson solidified All-American honors for the first time in his career with a 4-2 decision. He would then fall to No. 12 Lofthouse (Iowa) and Loder once again, ending his career as a Tiger. Finally making the podium with an eighth place finish overall, Larson finished his career at Mizzou with a record of 77-32, with 12 major decisions, 13 falls and 1 technical fall. He was able to surpass the 100-win mark in his collegiate career with a win over Daniel Rinaldi of Rutgers at the 2013 Championships, a 5-2 win by decision.

2011-12: In his second year as Missouri's starter at 184 pounds, Larson captured the Big 12 Championship - his first career conference title - and advanced to the Round of 12 at NCAA's. Larson posted a 24-6 record on the year, giving him the second best winning percentage on the squad, while compiling an 11-2 dual record with 50 dual points - third-most on the team. He won three of his first four dual matches heading in to the Kaufman-Brand Open, where he captured first place with a perfect 4-0 day. He closed out the first half of the schedule with two falls in the last two duals of 2011, pinning Kent State's Kwan Bailey in 6:42 and Iowa State's Mikey England in 2:36. He was one of 10 Tigers to place at the Southern Scuffle, defeating teammate Clarence Neely in the seventh place bout. Larson would win his next four dual matches coming out of the Scuffle, and won six of his last seven matches to end the regular season. Against Oklahoma on Feb. 5, Larson pinned Erich Schmidtke, who won the three previous meetings between the two, with 12 seconds left. Larson scored another fall in the season finale, pinning Chris McNeil of Oklahoma State in 4:32. He entered the Big 12 Championship as the No. 1 seed and claimed the championship with two one-point wins. In his first match, against McNeil, Larson overcame a 6-4 deficit with 30 seconds left to advance to the finals. McNeil hit two takedowns in the first and another in the second, but a penalty point awarded to Larson after McNeil's second stalling of the match set up Larson's match-winning takedown with just seven seconds left. In the finals, No. 16 Boaz Beard struck first, taking down Larson late in the opening period. Larson took a 4-2 lead in to the final period, and after a Beard reversal tied it up 4-4, Larson escaped with about a minute left to claim the title. Larson drew overall No. 1 seed Joe LeBlanc of Wyoming to open the NCAA Championship, and though he built a 4-2 lead midway through the second period, a late reversal and two-point near fall gave LeBlanc the momentum into the third and forced Larson into the wrestlebacks. In his first match in the consolation round, Larson pinned Arizona State's Kevin Radford with just 51 seconds left, and won his next match again by fall, this coming over No. 11 Ben Clymer. With Clymer in the dominant position, Larson got him to his back, grabbed his head, and stuck Clymer for the defensive fall. A 5-3 sudden victory in Larson's next match advanced him to the Round of 12, one win away from becoming an All-American, but a defeat to No. 5 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota) ended Larson's season. He concluded the year with 11 wins with bonus points, including three major decisions and six wins by fall. Honors: Big 12 Champion (184 pounds)

2010-11: In his first year sporting the black and gold, Larson served as Missouri's starter at 184 pounds and earned a bid to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season. Larson started his Tiger career with seven consecutive wins, with five of those coming at the Central Missouri Open, where he took first place. He wrestled four matches at 197 pounds in November, posting a 3-1 record in those contests with wins over Matt Loew of Hofstra, Michael Wagner of Rutgers and Christian Boley of Maryland. Larson got hot in December, winning three of his last four dual matches of the 2010-portion of the schedule, leading into the Midlands where Larson went 5-2, good for fourth place. Both of his losses came to Lehigh's Robert Hamlin, who ended up as the national runner-up in the class. Larson earned four victories over Big 12 opponents during the tournament, beating James Nakashima of Nebraska twice, earning an 8-4 decision over Iowa State's Cole Shafer and a 2-1 win against Eric Schmidtke of Oklahoma. During the second half of the season, Larson helped Mizzou to a dominating victory over Central Michigan at the National Duals with a 16-1 technical fall against Chad Friend. He defeated Chattanooga's Jason McCroskey by a 3-2 final at home, and then majored Deshoun White of SIU-Edwardsville later that day. He closed out the dual season with a 4-3 decision over Shafer in Missouri's win against Iowa State. Larson finished the year with a 21-15 record and was 11-9 in dual action.

2009-10 (Cal State Bakersfield): Wrestled for the CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners, and as a redshirt freshman he finished in second at the Pac-10 Championships, qualified for Nationals and was named to the Second Team All-Academic squad. He finished the year with a 24-16 record.

High School: Larson capped his prep career by winning the North Coast Section title during his senior season, and earning a berth to the CIF State Championships, where he placed seventh. He was an All-Humboldt-Del Norte League selection and also played football for the Panthers, earning all-league honors.

Personal: Mike Larson is the son of Jon and Lori Larson, and was born on July 6, 1990 in Arcata, Calif. He has a younger brother, Shane, who is 17 years old. He is majoring in agriculture and wants to be a coast guard pilot.