Redshirt freshman John Olanowski (Virginia Beach, Va.) started the dual strong at 125 pounds for Missouri earning a 9-1 win by major decision over Grant Ruge. Olanowski came close to shutting out his Panther opponent, scoring eight points in the first two periods combined. With Ruge choosing down to start the third period, he was able to escape in two seconds to score his only point of the match.
Notching his 17th fall in his true freshman season, 141 pounder Ashtin Primus (South Connelsville, Pa.) stuck Mike Whisler in 26 seconds giving the Tigers an additional six team points. The fall was Primus' fastest of the season beating his previous best (Jacob Wadley, Lindenwood) by 11 seconds.
In a battle between two athletes selected wrestler of the week in their respective conference, seventh-ranked junior Josh Wagner (Milton, Wis.) held off UNI's Ryan Osgood, 11-0, at 149 pounds. Wagner put Osgood on his back twice scoring five nearfall points, combined with two takedowns and 2:29 of riding time for the win. Osgood was named wrestler of the week after managing a 5-3 win over ninth-ranked Mike Grimes of Northern Illinois in last week's competition. The win was Wagner's fourth consecutive dating back to his fall in 1:03 over Nebraska Cornhusker Robert Sanders, Jan. 28.
Senior Ben Askren (Hartland, Wis.) grabbed the attention of the crowd pinning Alex Dolly in 3:25. The fall was his 24th of the season and puts him one away from the Missouri season record he set one year ago. To date, Askren has recorded 86 wins by way of fall. The defending National Champion also improved the Tiger career record to 142 with 76 of those wins coming consecutively.
Fifth-ranked sophomore Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) fed off of the energy of the crowd and added four team points to the Tiger total (24-13) with a 13-1 win by major decision over Dallas Mitchell at 184 pounds. Following the sophomore, redshirt freshman Maxwell Askren (Hartland, Wis.), ranked No. 1 in the nation at 197 pounds, wrapped up the dual by pinning Andrew Anderson in 2:41. A UNI forfeit at heavyweight gave Missouri the final 36-13 win.
"I am happy about the consistency of our wrestling team," Head Coach Brian Smith said. "We're one of the best in the country. Our group always shows up and we did again tonight. I was hoping to see our team keep focus with the two events going on at the same time. I wanted to see how they dealt with the environment because the atmosphere is like that of the NCAAs."
The Tigers will close out their Big 12 regular season with a 2 p.m. (CT) dual against third-ranked Iowa State Sunday, Feb. 11, in the Hearnes Center. Both teams enter the dual with spotless 3-0 league records and eight wrestlers ranked in their respective weight class. The dual will be televised live on KZOU (channel 28 for Columbia residents) with a rebroadcast available Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. (CT) and Friday, Feb. 23, at Noon on Fox Sports Midwest. Fans attending the event can purchase a $2 if they were black or gold to the event. A win over Iowa State on Sunday would mark Missouri's first-ever sweep in a conference in the 62 year history of the wrestling program.
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