No. 3 Missouri Wins A Wild One Over No. 4 Ohio State, 20-19

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After ending the dual tied at 19 apiece, No. 3 Mizzou wrestling came away with a thrilling 20-19 dual win over the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes Sunday afternoon at St. John Arena. The 20th and final team point for the Tigers resulted in the last criteria of the official NCAA wrestling tiebreaker rulings.

On the afternoon, Mizzou grapplers earned three ranked wins over Top-10 opponents. The biggest of them all was by redshirt senior Drake Houdashelt, as he defeated No. 3 Hunter Stieber via a Fall at 2:39.

The Tigers and Buckeyes began Sunday afternoon at 125 pounds inside the St. John Arena. Redshirt senior Alan Waters built an early advantage over No. 7 Nathan Tomasello and held off a late push by the Buckeye to claim an 11-8 decision victory.

After a close loss at 133 pounds, the Tigers rebounded in a big way at 149 pounds with a Fall by redshirt senior Drake Houdashelt. The win over No. 3 Hunter Stieber evened the dual at nine apiece after four matchups.

Mizzou responded once again after a loss, as redshirt junior Cody Johnston earned a thrilling 9-7 SV1 victory over Ohio State’s Justin Kresevic at 165 pounds. Once again the team scores were locked even with this time at 12 each.

Redshirt freshman Willie Miklus delivered perhaps the biggest win of the night at 184 pounds, earning a 12-2 major decision over Josh Fox. After the Buckeyes’ Kyle Snyder followed up with a major decision victory of his own at 197 pounds, the team winner of the dual came down to the heavyweight battle between sophomore J’den Cox and Ohio State’s No. 10 Nick Tavanello.

A big takedown in the third period led to a 4-2 decision win for Mizzou’s Cox and the match ended at 19 apiece.

With the final regulation score ending in a tie, the final tiebreaker came down to the official scorebook to decide the team dual winner. With the first several tiebreakers evened up, the last criteria came in to play as the team with the first takedown of the dual was honored a bonus team point. That ruling proved to be in Mizzou’s favor as Alan Waters earned a takedown over Nathan Tomasello in the dual’s first matchup.

Match-By-Match Results

125: Alan Waters (Mizzou) over No. 7 Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) via 11-8 Decision
133: No. 9 Johnni DiJulius (Ohio State) over Matt Manley (Mizzou) via 5-2 Decision
141: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) over (Mizzou) via Forfeit
149: Drake Houdashelt (Mizzou) over No. 3 Hunter Stieber (Ohio State) via Fall 2:39
157: No. 6 Josh Demas (Ohio State) over Joey Lavallee (Mizzou) via 3-2 Decision
165: Cody Johnston (Mizzou) over Justin Kresevic (Ohio State) via 9-7 SV1
174: No. 12 Mark Martin (Ohio State) over Mikey England (Mizzou) via 5-2 decision
184: Willie Miklus (Mizzou) over Josh Fox (Ohio State) via 12-2 Major Decision
197: No. 7 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State) over Johnny Eblen (Mizzou) via 15-5 Major Decision
HWT: J’den Cox (Mizzou) over No. 10 Nick Tavanello (Ohio State) via 4-2 Decision