Mizzou Finishes Fourth, Steed and Sinclair Win Big 12 Titles
· Yahoo Sports
Cam Steed and Aeoden Sinclair’s conference titles highlighted a weekend that saw both breakthroughs and lost opportunities for the team at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships. Several other Tiger Style wrestlers are currently awaiting possible at-large bids to the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
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Mizzou finished in fourth-place as a team with a final score of 84.5 points. Oklahoma State took home the team title with a score of 163 points – 27 more than the second closest team. Let’s dive into the results from a weekend in Tulsa, OK.
All individual rankings are according to Big 12 seeding.
125: Mack Mauger
Mauger put up a commendable showing at his first conference tournament. He went 3-2 and took home seventh place after coming in as the 9-seed. The redshirt freshman went 1-1 in the championship bracket, falling to No. 1 Troy Spratley (OKST) by a 9-0 major decision, which moved him into the consolation bracket.
Mauger won in the second round of consolations before losing in the third, setting him up with a spot in the seventh-place match. He took down No. 8 Tucker Owens (AF) for the second time in the tournament by decision, clinching seventh place. This outing puts him in a prime position to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Championship.
133: Gage Walker
In a season where Walker wasn’t supposed to see much time on the mat, he became the first Mizzou wrestler to qualify for nationals as the 6-seed. Walker won in the first round and then upset No. 3 Dominick Serrano (UNCO) in the quarterfinals by a 4-1 sudden victory before losing to No. 2 Kyler Larkin (ASU) in the semifinals.
The true sophomore lost to No. 4 Gunner Andrick (WVU) by a 4-1 decision in the consolation semifinals, which placed him in the fifth-place match. There was no contest as No. 16 Garrett Grice (ISU) medically forfeited.
141: Easton Hilton
Hilton came into the Big 12 Championship fully deserving of being Mizzou’s representative of a tumultuous 141lbs group. He came in as the 13-seed due to fewer matches wrestled during the regular season.
In the first round, Hilton fell to No. 4 Julian Tagg (SDSU) by a 7-2 decision, failing to get on the offensive. He moved to the consolation bracket, but had another tough matchup with No. 3 Haiden Drury (UVU), which ended in a 4-2 decision loss. Hilton’s first conference tournament ended 0-2, and a bid to nationals is out of the question.
149: Joshua Edmond
After a strugglesome regular season, Edmond entered the conference tournament as the 5-seed. He took home seventh place, going 3-2 in the process. Edmond made it to the quarterfinals of the main bracket before working his way through the consolation bracket.
A third-round consolation match loss to No. 8 Gabe Willochell (WYM) stood in the way of an automatic NCAA Championship bid. Edmond took down No. 16 Willie McDougald (WVU) in a 6-1 decision for seventh.
157: Teague Travis
Travis fell short of an automatic bid to nationals with a sixth-place finish and a 3-3 record. He came in as the 7-seed and was moved into the consolation bracket after a 15-3 major decision loss to No. 2 Landon Robideau (OKST) in the quarterfinals.
The Columbia, MO native won his first two matches in the wrestlebacks before losing his final two. Travis’ fifth-place match against No. 5 Gavin Drexler (NDSU) ended in a 12-8 decision loss. He caught some fire in the third period that he can hopefully carry into nationals with an at-large bid.
165: Max Mayfield
A spark of hope was provided by Mayfield when he returned to the mat in the regular season finale against Iowa State and won his match, but he was knocked out early at the Big 12 championship. Mayfield came into the tournament as the 4-seed. After getting through the first round, he lost to No. 5 Connor Euton (ISU) by an 8-6 decision, who he had beaten on Feb. 22.
There was still hope for Mayfield in the consolation bracket. He was matched up with No. 14 Peyten Kellar (OU), but struggled to get anything going, falling in a 2-1 decision where the riding time was lopsided in Kellar’s favor. Mayfield ended the conference championship 1-2 and awaits a likely at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
174: Cam Steed
Steed does it again. After finishing in second place for the 165lbs division at the 2025 Big 12 championship, he’s capitalized on a new weight class. The redshirt junior came in as the 3-seed and took the 174lbs title with a 4-0 record, easily punching his ticket to nationals.
He won his first round match by tech fall, and his second round match by a wide decision, before getting into some closely contested bouts. Steed’s closest match of the tournament was a 4-3 decision win over No. 2 Carter Schubert (OU). He took the title match in a 10-6 decision over No. 1 Alex Facundo (OKST).
184: Aeoden Sinclair
Few would be surprised by the result of the Big 12’s 184lbs division. Sinclair was Mizzou’s best pound-for-pound wrestler the entirety of the season and ended at the top with a conference title. He went 4-0 across Friday and Saturday, winning the first two by tech fall and the final two by decision.
Sinclair’s closest match came against No. 4 Ian Bush (WVU) in the semifinals, winning by a 6-2 decision. He will be one of the top seeds in the NCAA Championship.
197: Evan Bates
I mentioned in my Big 12 Championship preview how Bates had the odds stacked against him despite coming in as the 6-seed. The 197lbs class is quite possibly this conference’s strongest division. A title seemed like a long shot, but going 0-2 in the tournament was even less expected.
Bates was defeated by No. 11 Karson Tompkins (AF) in round one in a 12-7 decision before suffering an 11-1 major decision loss to No. 14 Kael Bennie (UVU) in the first round of consolations. He’s almost assuredly going to receive an at-large bid, but will need to improve his performance in a flash.
285: Jarrett Stoner
Stoner clinched a spot in the NCAA Championship with a fifth-place finish in Tulsa. He received a first-round bye as the 7-seed before losing to No. 2 Konner Doucet (OKST) in the quarterfinals by a 17-2 tech fall.
The redshirt sophomore then went 3-1 in the consolation bracket, with all matches ending in decisions. Stoner produced his best offensive performance of the tournament in the fifth-place match against No. 11 Luke Rasmussen with a 9-3 win, where he made two takedowns.
Head coach Brian Smith battled through a season of change and adversity to produce a very respectable result in conference play. The Tigers’ season is still ongoing – likely for the majority of the roster, pending at-large bids – with the NCAA Championships beginning March 19 in Cleveland, Ohio. Brackets will be released on March 11 on NCAA.com.