Missouri’s wrestling team is set to compete in the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 6 and 7 at the BOK Center. The Tigers, ranked No. 14 nationally, completed their regular season with a record of 12-8 overall and 5-3 in conference duals. This marks head coach Brian Smith’s 22nd season with at least ten wins and his 23rd winning season out of his 28 years at Missouri.
During the regular season finale against Iowa State, Missouri recorded two upset victories despite falling short in the dual meet. Seth Mendoza defeated No. 9 Jacob Frost, while Max Mayfield secured a win over No. 13 Connor Euton. The Tigers posted two shutout wins this year against LIU and Northern Colorado, both by scores of 42-0.
Max Mayfield returned to competition after an injury earlier in the season and earned a key victory over Euton at 165 pounds. He currently holds a 12-5 record and is ranked No. 26 nationally at his weight class.
Redshirt junior Cam Steed has achieved three ranked wins this season and was recognized as Big 12 Wrestler of the Week on February 10 following a quick pin against Brody Conley. Steed enters the postseason with a five-match win streak and is ranked tenth nationally at 174 pounds.
Redshirt freshman Aeoden Sinclair leads Missouri with 26 wins this season, including a team-high seven pins and nineteen bonus-point victories. Sinclair also leads all NCAA wrestlers with 103 takedowns this year according to TrackWrestling.
Eight out of ten Missouri wrestlers received seeds for the conference tournament: Sinclair (No.1 seed at 184 pounds), Steed (No.3 at 174), Mayfield (No.4 at 165), Josh Edmond (No.5 at 149), Gage Walker (No.6 at 133), Teague Travis (No.7 at 157), Evan Bates (No.7 at 197), and Jarrett Stoner (No.7 at heavyweight). Mack Mauger (125) and Easton Hilton (141) enter unseeded.
Sinclair recently notched his twentieth consecutive win by technical fall over Jacob Helgeson from Iowa State, maintaining only one loss on his record this season.
Head coach Brian Smith reached his milestone of career win number 350 earlier this year against Northern Colorado and now stands tied for second among active Division I coaches with Ohio State’s Tom Ryan; both have accumulated 353 career wins.
Redshirt senior Evan Bates continues to make progress since transferring to Missouri, holding an eleventh-place national ranking at his weight class with twenty-one wins this season—second most on the team—and averaging more than two takedowns per match.
Several freshmen have contributed during their redshirt seasons, including Seth Mendoza who recently beat Jacob Frost from Iowa State; David Gleason who reached finals in multiple open tournaments; Dominic Bambinelli who won titles in attached matches; and Danny Heiser who claimed first place in the Missouri Valley Open.
Last year, Missouri finished eighth in the Big 12 Championship with Keegan O’Toole winning his weight class title for a third time and Kade Moore earning an automatic NCAA bid by finishing fourth as an eighth seed.
Missouri has previously won three Big 12 team championships—in 2012, 2022, and 2023—and produced twenty-four individual champions since joining the conference, including multiple-title winners like Ben Askren, Nick Marable, and Keegan O’Toole.
The Tigers will look ahead to qualifying athletes preparing for the NCAA Championship scheduled for March 20–22 in Cleveland, Ohio.