Missouri’s wrestling team finished fourth at the 2026 Big 12 Wrestling Championship held at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, scoring 84.5 points. The Tigers had two individual champions: Cam Steed at 174 pounds and Aeoden Sinclair at 184 pounds. Five additional Missouri wrestlers reached the podium.
On the second day of competition, Missouri participated in ten matches and achieved a combined record of six wins and four losses. None of the competitors earned bonus points, but collectively they posted a +13 point differential over their bouts.
During Session III, Gage Walker lost his consolation semifinal match at 133 pounds by one takedown and moved to the fifth-place bout. Teague Travis took an early lead against Ty Watters but was pinned in the second period, while Jarrett Stoner also dropped his match at 285 pounds. In medal matches later that afternoon, Mack Mauger (125) and Josh Edmond (149) each secured seventh-place finishes with victories. Travis ended sixth after a late comeback attempt fell short. Walker was awarded fifth place after a medical forfeit from his opponent, and Stoner won his match for another fifth-place finish.
By the end of Session III, Missouri ranked fifth as a team with 76.5 points, trailing West Virginia by just one point.
In Session IV, Steed made his second straight appearance in a conference final for Missouri and faced top-seeded Alex Facundo. After a close first period, Steed scored a four-point near fall in the second period and sealed victory with a late takedown in the third period for his first Big 12 Championship title.
Sinclair competed in his first Big 12 Championship and captured gold by defeating Eddie Neitenbach with multiple takedowns throughout the match for an eight-to-one decision.
“This weekend’s finish is an improvement upon the 2025 Big 12 Championships for the Tigers. Last season, Mizzou finished in eighth place with 65.5 points. This season’s tournament concluded with 19 more points and a team standing four spots higher.”
“Of Missouri’s seven placewinners, six finished the tournament out on a high note, concluding the weekend with an individual win.”
“This season’s total of seven conference medalists improves upon last season’s total (five). Additionally, this weekend’s total of four automatic qualifications for the NCAA Championships improves upon last season’s total of three.”
“At 125 pounds, Mauger’s seventh-place match put him up against Tucker Owens of the Air Force for the second time this weekend. Mauger picked up his second win against the opponent.”
“Steed made his second consecutive Big 12 finals appearance. Last season, he brought home a runner-up finish after upsetting the top-seed in the semifinals.”
“Steed’s finals bout came against Oklahoma State’s Alex Facundo, a familiar foe for Steed. Facundo defeated the Tiger 2-1 at a dual meet in January.”
“Along his path to the Big 12 title, Steed avenged three losses from earlier in the season. He had contested bouts with Espinoza-Owens (SDSU), Schubert (OU) and Facundo (OKST) throughout the year, with each foe claiming a past win over the returning All-American. Steed beat all three this weekend by a combined nine points.”
“Steed and Sinclair’s back-to-back performances were each wrestler’s first individual conference titles. The pair are now Missouri’s 25th and 26th individual Big 12 Champions, respectively.”
“The last time Mizzou crowned more than one conference champion in a season was the 2020-21 season, in which four Tigers earned a Mid-American Conference Championship. The last time Mizzou had multiple Big 12 champions was 2011-12, also with four.”
“The Black and Gold finished both the regular season dual standings (5-3) and tournament scoring (84.5) in fourth place in the Big 12 Conference.”
“Mizzou finished the tournament as one of four teams to close out with multiple Big 12 individual champions, joined by Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Arizona State.”
Missouri will now wait to see which athletes receive at-large bids to compete at NCAA Championships scheduled to take place March 19-21 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
For more updates about Missouri wrestling visit MUTigers.com or follow their official social media accounts.