Coming off of a 24-10 win over No. 10 Chattanooga, in which Missouri broke up the Mocs then-perfect season, Wednesday night's dual will be the Tiger's final meeting of the 2007 calendar year. Missouri owns a 3-0 record in the all-time series with Pittsburgh with the Wednesday evening meeting marking the third straight season in which the teams have competed against one another.
Missouri enters its fourth dual of the season with nine wrestlers ranked among the top-25 of their respective weight class. Senior 133 pound grappler Tyler McCormick (Leawood, Kan.) holds the highest Tiger ranking at second in the nation. After a five-week absence from the mat, McCormick made his return Saturday evening besting Steve Hromada of UTC, 6-1, for his second win of the season and 72nd of his career.
Pittsburgh's No. 1 ranked 174 pound grappler Keith Gavin is expected to wrestle Missouri's James Williamson (Blue Springs, Mo.) or Joey Garrity (Orion, Ill.). Gavin, currently 11-0 on the season, finished second at the 2006 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships after suffering a 4-3 loss to two-time Tiger National Champion, Ben Askren.
Thirteenth-ranked Michael Chandler (High Ridge, Mo.) is expected to square off with No. 6 Matt Kocher in the Fitzgerald Field House. Chandler lost a one point, 4-3, decision to Kocher in last season's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Chandler went on to finish the two-day event in sixth, while Kocher claimed a fourth-place finish. This season, Chandler has lost only three bouts, all coming to top-ranked opponents including then-second-ranked Craig Henning of Wisconsin.
Two familiar opponents will once again meet in the heavyweight division. Missouri sophomore and 12th-ranked Mark Ellis (Peculiar, Mo.) and Pittsburgh's No. 15 Zach Sheaffer will battle for the second time of the season. Ellis holds the 1-0 advantage over the Panther wrestler after pinning him in 49 seconds at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Dec. 1.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now