No. 20 Missouri wrestling defeated No. 16 West Virginia 26-13 in a Big 12 Conference dual held at Hope Coliseum in Morgantown on Friday, Feb. 6. The Tigers secured wins in six out of ten matches, including victories in the final five bouts to clinch the meet. With this result, Missouri’s record moves to 11-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play, while West Virginia drops to 9-4 overall and also holds a 4-2 conference record.
West Virginia started strong by winning the first three matches, taking an early lead of 9-0. Missouri freshman Seth Mendoza responded with a technical fall victory at 149 pounds, putting his team on the scoreboard. After West Virginia added another win at 157 pounds, Missouri trailed by eight points midway through the dual.
The momentum shifted when J Conway won his match at 165 pounds by injury default. All-American Cam Steed followed with a pin in under thirty seconds at 174 pounds, giving Missouri its first lead of the night—a lead they maintained for the remainder of the event. In a closely contested bout between ranked wrestlers at 184 pounds, Aeoden Sinclair earned a narrow decision for his tenth ranked win this season. Evan Bates extended Missouri’s advantage with two first-period takedowns en route to victory at 197 pounds, effectively sealing the dual for his team. Jarrett Stoner closed out the contest with a decisive win at heavyweight.
Missouri remains undefeated against West Virginia all-time, now holding a series record of six wins and no losses since their first meeting during the 2003-04 season.
This was Missouri’s second win over a higher-ranked opponent this season; earlier they defeated then-No.11 Michigan during the National Duals Invitation.
Mendoza notched his fourteenth win of the year and eleventh bonus point victory. Conway recorded his third win since moving up to compete at 165 pounds last month after spending most of the season wrestling at a lower weight class.
Steed achieved his tenth victory of the campaign and now has seven career pins under one minute—his fastest coming earlier this season against Gunner Holland from Little Rock during National Duals competition.
Sinclair marked his twenty-fifth bout this year; only six have ended via decision rather than more dominant results such as falls or technical falls.
Bates and Stoner continued strong performances among upper weights: Bates now has twenty-one wins (second-most on team), while Stoner follows with nineteen victories—both trailing only Sinclair’s twenty-four wins so far this season.
Missouri will next host Oklahoma for Senior Night on Thursday, Feb.12—their final home dual meet—with action scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.Central Time on ESPN+.