2021 NCAA All-American Keegan O'Toole (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)
Welcome to a new recurring feature from InterMat as we lead into the 2021-22 collegiate season. We are about 50 days away from the start of the new season, so what better way to ring in the new year than to use that time to count down the top-50 current collegiate wrestlers. Each day a new wrestler will be released.
These rankings have been compiled by members of the InterMat staff and used a combination of collegiate achievements, with 2021 accomplishments carrying more weight than past years, along with win-loss records and notable wins. While we are counting down the top-50 wrestlers based primarily on collegiate accomplishments, it is impossible to totally ignore achievements in the international settings, so they did factor in slightly, too.
Before getting to the next wrestler on the list, look at the wrestlers previously profiled:
#50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
#49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
#48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
#47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa)
#46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri)
#45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)
#44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State)
#43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)
#41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers)
#40 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota)
#39 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)
#38 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
#37 - Tariq Wilson (NC State)
#36 - Jacob Warner (Iowa)
#35 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State)
#34 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)
#33 - Vito Arujau (Cornell)
#32 - Patrick Glory (Princeton)
#31 - Max Dean (Penn State)
Next is…
Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)
Weight: 165 lbs
Year: Freshman
Career Record: 19-1
Hometown: Hartland, Wisconsin
College Accomplishments: 2021 NCAA 3rd Place, 2021 MAC Champion
2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #5 at 165 lbs
The Class of 2020 for the Missouri Tigers was an amazing group that could help Brian Smith's squad content for NCAA team trophies and sooner rather than later. We've already discussed one member of that star-studded class in #46 Rocky Elam. Now it's time to talk Keegan O'Toole, who was deemed the number five overall recruit in his senior class by MatScouts.
From day one, O'Toole was in the lineup for the Tiger, but you may have forgotten where. O'Toole competed in Mizzou's dual against South Dakota State and later that day in an "extra match", while wrestling at 157 lbs. O'Toole blew out the opposition in both contests, one of which was Cade DeVos, a highly regarded redshirt freshman that ended up qualifying for nationals.
A few days later, the Tigers readjusted their lineup and moved O'Toole to 165 and nudged previous starter Peyton Mocco to 174. No matter the weight class, O'Toole's outcome was the same. A combined 33 points against a pair of wrestlers (Alex Cramer - Central Michigan and Cole Moody - Wyoming) that would later compete at nationals.
O'Toole and Mizzou were only in action for five more duals during the shortened 2021 season. The true freshman from Wisconsin finished the regular season unbeaten and relatively unchallenged. A 5-1 win over Izzak Olejnik (Northern Illinois) accounted for his closest bout.
At the MAC Championships, O'Toole racked up two falls and a major decision before facing Olejnik for the title. Like their previous meeting, it was O'Toole who prevailed via a four-point margin.
Sitting at 13-0 with a MAC title and bonus points in 10 of his 13 wins, O'Toole was presented with the sixth seed at his first national tournament.
The first round of the NCAA Tournament resembled the regular season for O'Toole as he dominated a MAC foe Jake Silverstein (Rider). Keegan advanced with a fall in 4:10. Next up was a solid freshman in his own right, Cameron Amine (Michigan). O'Toole was pushed a bit, but didn't falter. He locked up a place in the quarterfinals after a 5-2 win.
Looming in the quarters was the ACC champion #3 Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh). O'Toole jumped out to an early lead on Wentzel, but ended up dropping a back-and-forth affair, 9-6.
O'Toole's loss in the quarters left him in the bloodround fight for a spot on the NCAA podium. Standing in his way was #9 Luke Weber (North Dakota State), the Big 12 champion. The Mizzou freshman was able to grind out a 5-1 win and clinched a berth in the top-eight. Just getting on the podium wasn't enough as O'Toole poured it on his next two opponents. He outscored Anthony Valencia (Arizona State) and Zach Hartman (Bucknell) 33-5 during his run to the NCAA third place bout.
For third place, O'Toole needed to get by #10 Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State). Wittlake's seed was a bone of contention for many pre-tournament as he was unbeaten heading into the Big 12 Championships, before getting upset by Weber. Wittlake and O'Toole engaged in an exciting, action-packed 4-3 bout that was more exciting than the score may indicate. When the smoke cleared, it was Toole who got his hand raised and was third in the nation.
During his true freshman year, O'Toole tallied up bonus points in 65% of his matches and notched six falls.
After his collegiate season was over, O'Toole made the Junior World Team at 74 kg. In Ufa, Russia, O'Toole put on a tournament for the ages. In the quarters and semis, O'Toole was down on the scoreboard, but not out of the match mentally. Both times he cradled and pinned his highly-credentialed opponents. One of those opponents, Turan Bayramov (Azerbaijan), defeated James Green at Senior World's today and will wrestle for bronze tomorrow. O'Toole put the finishing touches on his Junior World title by rolling to an 11-0 showing of technical superiority in the gold medal match.
Strengths: On his feet, you'll see go movement and level changes out of O'Toole. He gets the job done with inside-reach single's and high-C's. As one may expect being a protege of Ben Askren, O'Toole is a master scrambler. On the mat he has a variety of way to score. The cradle being perhaps the most deadly. He can catch one from any position, on top or in a no-control situation. O'Toole also tried to work in bars and hammerlocks, even an assassin.
2021-22 Outlook: O'Toole is in an absolutely loaded 165 lb weight class. Two veteran, multiple-time All-Americans (#2 Alex Marinelli - Iowa and #3 Evan Wick - Cal Poly) slotted in ahead of him, though he was fifth in the nation last year. As we saw during his freestyle run, once O'Toole gets more time in the Mizzou room, he could be absolutely scary. It's wouldn't be a huge shock to see O'Toole atop the podium Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena. He also competes in a Big 12 weight class that is expected to feature two other wrestlers in the top-eight and six of the top-16.
2021 NCAA All-American Keegan O'Toole (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
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