Brett Rojo/Big 12 Conference
No. 10 Missouri Wrestling Preview: 2024 Big 12 Championship
No. 10 Missouri wrestling has traveled to the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, Okla., for the 2024 Big 12 Wrestling Championship this weekend, where they hope to see history repeat. After winning the 2022 and 2023 Big 12 Wrestling Championships, the Tigers are the reigning champions.
They also won nine Mid-American Conference Wrestling Championships during their time with the conference after the rest of Missouri's athletics transitioned to the Southeastern Conference.
That puts the Tigers in contention for their 13th straight conference championship. On Monday, it was announced that all 10 Missouri wrestlers were ranked in the conference.
Junior Rocky Elam (197) was one of the starters not seen on the mat at the end of the season. He said that getting into the right mindset and looking ahead was crucial during his time off.
He echoes a similar sentiment that head coach Brian Smith instills in the team:
"One match at a time," he said. "I'm going to have three [opponents] and each one is going to prepare me for the next one. [I] look forward to keep getting better as the tournament goes on."
R. Elam contributed to the Tigers' win at the 2023 Big 12 Wrestling Championship and won his class at 197 pounds, the only Tiger to do so that year. That experience and success of the team and for R. Elam individually is something he is still using now to push himself to where he wants to be and prepare for the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship.
"I've experienced what it is like to be on the stage during the finals, and I think that's great," he said. "I got to watch five other teammates do it last year, and hopefully, we can get more in the finals this year and [be successful.]"
Coach Smith believes the team will continue showing up and proving doubters wrong.
"We started the season ranked really high," Smith said. "We've had some duals where we [didn't have the starters], so we've dropped [in rankings], but it's still the same team that started with those high expectations that will be showing up."
Even though Smith tries not to make the consecutive championships a hot topic throughout the season, he said, "We talked about it at the beginning of the year as a goal. We looked up at the board, and there were 12 straight years of winning a conference championship. It's important, and that's always a goal of our program and still is."
Missouri will face strong contenders in its bid to have a three-peat in the championship from No. 4 Iowa State and No. 5 Oklahoma State. Missouri fell to ISU 41-3 and OSU 24-10.
The lineup right now for Session I is...
- 125 - No. 1 Noah Surtin vs. Bye
- 133 - No. 6 Kade Moore vs. Bubba Wright (Air Force)
- 141 - No. 6 Josh Edmond vs. Bye
- 149 - No. 8 Logan Gioffre vs. Benji Alanis (Northern Colorado)
- 157 - No. 5 Brock Mauller vs. Caleb Dowling (West Virginia)
- 165 - No. 1 Keegan O’Toole vs. Bye
- 174 - No. 4 Peyton Mocco vs. Peter Acciardi (California Baptist)
- 184 - No. 4 Colton Hawks vs. Adam Cherne (NDSU)
- 197 - No. 3 Rocky Elam vs. Bye
- 285 - No. 3 Zach Elam vs. Devon Dawson (NDSU)
“I feel very confident about where we are right now,” Smith said. “I’m glad I [have all of them] in the practice room so that helps too.”
Schedule:
*All times in CT
- Session I - Saturday, March 9 at 10 a.m.
- Session II - Saturday, March 9 at 5 p.m.
- Session III - Sunday, March 10 at Noon
- Session IV - Sunday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.
The first three sessions will be broadcast on ESPN+, while the championship round (Session IV) will be aired on ESPN2. ESPN will also provide 'MATCAST' on ESPN+ to show multi-boxes of each mat and the option to have single shots on mats.
