Sept. 2, 2008
Columbia, Mo. - The Missouri wrestling team earned its third consecutive top-10 preseason ranking after Wrestling International Newsmagazine (W.I.N.) awarded the Tiger squad the No. 5 spot. Returning NCAA Champion Iowa leads the team standings at No. 1, followed by Ohio State in second and fellow Big 12 competitor Iowa State in third.
Three All-Americans, junior Nicholas Marable (Collierville, Tenn.), senior Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.) and junior Maxwell Askren (Hartland, Wis.) return for another year of TigerStyle wrestling. The trio helped Missouri to an 11th place finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships in the Scottrade Center of St. Louis.
Six Tiger grapplers were ranked among the top-15 of their respective weight class with Marable earning the highest ranking at No. 1 in the nation at 165 pounds. This marks the first time since 2006 that a Tiger started the season with a No. 1 ranking, the last person to do so, two-time National Champion and 2008 Olympian Ben Askren. Marable recorded the highest Tiger finish of the 2008 NCAA tournament by capturing third.
Jordan, a three-time NCAA qualifier, finished fifth in the 184-pound bracket and begins his final season of collegiate wrestling ranked fourth in the nation.
Returning from a summer of intense training, Askren, who finished his sophomore campaign with a seventh-place showing at the NCAA Championships, will start the new season ranked fifth at 197-pounds.
2008 NCAA qualifier, senior Michael Chandler (High Ridge, Mo.), opens his final campaign ranked seventh at 157 pounds, while junior heavyweight Mark Ellis (Peculiar, Mo.) also an NCAA qualifier, begins the season with a No. 5 ranking.
Sophomore
Tony Pescaglia of Columbia, Mo., earned a No. 12 ranking at 125 pounds. Pescaglia finished his redshirt freshman season with a 7-5 record before being sidelined by injury.
