Mizzou wrestling’s Steed, Sinclair advance to quarterfinals on Day 1 of NCAA Championships

Mizzou wrestling’s Cam Steed (174 pounds) and Aeoden Sinclair (184) both went 2-0 to start their NCAA Wrestling Championships contention to advance to the quarterfinals Friday morning. They lead the six-Tiger contingent, but only two other Tigers are still alive for Day 2.

No. 7 seed Steed and No. 2 seed Sinclair each started off their tournaments with technical-fall victories over No. 26 seed Derek Gilcher (Indiana) and No. 31 seed Mahonri Rushton (Northern Colorado), respectively.

Steed then pinned No. 10 seed Myles Takats (Bucknell) in the first period to keep his championship hopes alive. Sinclair followed up with a 5-0 win over No. 15 seed Sal Perrine. Mizzou’s hopes of achieving a program record of two champions in the same NCAA Championships stays alive with them advancing.

At the 133-pound weight class, No.19 Gage Walker won his 1st round match in session I, before losing his second-round match in session II.

No. 25 seed Evan Bates (197) opened his contention with a buzzer-beater takedown to get the 4-3 upset over No. 8 DJ Parker. However, Bates couldn’t follow up in the second round, losing 9-4 to No. 9 seed Angelo Posada. Bates joins Walker in Round 2 of the consolation bracket Friday morning in Session III.

No. 32 seed Mack Mauger began his tournament with a win in Mizzou’s first match of the day in a pigtail match victory over No. 33 seed Jace Schafer (Bloomsburg). This earned Mauger a first-round match with No. 1 seed Luke Lilledahl (Penn State). Lilledahl defeated Mauger 11-2, sending Mauger to the consolation bracket. Mauger dropped his consolation match 6-2 to No. 16 seed Ezekiel Witt (North Dakota State) to end his first NCAA Championships appearance.

Heavyweight No.28 Jarrett Stoner went 0-2 at his first NCAA tournament. Stoner was briefly beating No.5 Nick Feldman (Ohio St.) in the first round before Feldman was able to come back and beat him 5-4. Stoner’s tournament ended with a 9-0 loss to No.12 Braxton Amos (Wisconsin) in Mizzou’s last match of day one.

Mizzou has 12 points after Day 1 and sits in 15th place, a half point behind Minnesota and Wyoming. Penn State leads the field with 40.5 points. Eight of its 10 wrestlers are still alive heading into the quarterfinals, which would be an NCAA record if the Nittany Lions were to win the title. Their point total is also on pace to beat the record point total they set last year (177 points). Penn State is hunting its fifth title in a row and has won 12 of the last 15.

Two notable ex-Tigers were also wrestling in Thursday’s action in the 197-pound bracket.

No. 29 seed Colton Hawks (Arizona State), who is a four-time NCAA qualifier, won both of his matches to make an underdog run into the quarterfinals. No. 2 seed Rocky Elam (Iowa State) was not so lucky, as he lost his first match in the second round. Elam will now go to the consolation bracket in search of his fifth All-American finish.

Action continues with Session III at 11 a.m. Friday on ESPNU and Session IV at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Session III is quarterfinals and consolation Rounds 2 and 3, while Session IV is semifinals and consolation Rounds 4and 5.

This article originally ran on columbiamissourian.com.