ST.LOUIS—No. 2 Mizzou wrestling defeated Illinois in Mizzou to the Lou dual 29-6 to move to 5-0 on the season. The Tigers wrestled at the Stifel Theater in downtown St. Louis, becoming the venue's first ever sporting contest in its 89-year history.
To begin the night Mizzou’s Noah Surtin started the Tiger scoring off with a win at 125 over Justin Cardani by decision 6-1. Surtin is the No. 11 ranked 125 wrestler in the country and with this win moved to 9-0 this season.
Surtin, an Edwardsville, Illinois native, after the dual expressed what it meant to wrestle in front of a crowd so close to home.
“I live like 20 minutes from here," he said "One of the leaders from my club back home bought like 300 tickets. I saw some family, and had some cousins show up at the last minute here. It was cool to have a lot of support. The atmosphere was cool, to see the crowd and the hype behind [tonight].
"Should've got to my offense a little more. I think I let him get to the edge too much and that slowed the match down. My goal is always to score bonus points, go out there and make it exciting. I feel like I could've done a better job of that, I got the win but wasn't too satisfied with how I wrestled.”
Before the intermission Mizzou picked up an upset win from No. 20 Josh Edmond over No.18 Danny Pucino by decision 10-5 at 141 pounds. At 157, No. 9 Brock Mauller won by major decision over No.30 Joe Roberts 14-5.
Two-time defending national champion and the No.1 165-pound wrestler, Keegan O’Toole, stepped in for the injured Peyton Mocco and bumped up to 174. O’Toole defeated the No.5 174-pound wrestler in the country from Illinois, Edmond Ruth, 12-7.
After scoring an early takedown, O’Toole gained control of the match with a 3-0 lead over Ruth. In the second period of the match following a Ruth escape, O’Toole earned his second take down of the match to lead 6-1. Ruth would battle back in the match but would ultimately fall 12-7. O’Toole scored three takedowns in the match to help lead him to a 174 victory.
After the dual O’Toole said the decision for him to step in for Mocco was proposed by coach Brian Smith earlier in the week, but was decided minutes before the match.
“I said of course whatever you want for the team. I can't be scared of an opportunity like that. I didn't know going up all the way until the break, like five minutes into the break,” O’Toole said. “Put myself in the fire. I put myself in an uncomfortable situation, I obviously wrestled a really good guy. I don't even think I wrestled at the best of my ability, I got a little tired out there, he was a little bigger and a little stronger. It was fun though”.
Smith mentioned that the decision to bump O’Toole up came from a previous experience with another Mizzou wrestling legend, Ben Askren. Smith also said he knew O’Toole was ready because of how hard he works.
“I believe in Keegan because I see the way he trains," Smith said. "For our sport to do things like that, it doesn't happen often, and I know who he was coached by. We bumped Ben [Askren] up one time to wrestle a runner up in the country and he did it, so I thought back to that and said this kids in the same mindset, he can do this.”
To finish the night Mizzou won the last four matches over the Illini courtesy of O’Toole, No.8 Clayton Whiting (184), No.7 Rocky Elam (197), and No.6 Zach Elam (285). Whiting won his match at 184 by fall over Cooper Wettig. Rocky Elam won by decision 5-2. Zach Elam defeated top ten opponent Luke Luffman by decision 1-0 to end the night.
Mizzou wrestling will be in action next on January 2nd against No.11 Virginia Tech in Columbia. The Tigers have not beaten Virginia Tech since 2018, and are looking to snap a three-dual losing streak to the Hokies.
Stay up to date on all the Mizzou news with your premium subscription
Talk about this story and more in The Tigers' Lair
Make sure you're caught up on all the Tiger news and headlines
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video and live streaming coverage
