Missouri squares off with Lock Haven at 6 p.m. (CT) Saturday, Nov. 15.
 
Missouri squares off with Lock Haven at 6 p.m. (CT) Saturday, Nov. 15.
  
 
Tigers Open Wrestling Season Saturday

Tigers Head to Pennsylvania

Nov. 14, 2008

Watch the Lock Haven Dual Live

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Ranked fifth in the nation, the Tigers are set to kick off the 63rd season of Missouri wrestling, Saturday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. (CT) against the Bald Eagles of Lock Haven. One of two Tiger duals set this weekend in the state of Pennsylvania, Missouri will square off with Bucknell in a Noon contest scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 16.

Fans can view Missouri's battle with Lock Haven through www.mutigers.com. Please click on the wrestling schedule to access the link that will direct you to the live feed. Missouri's Sunday afternoon dual with Bucknell will also be available online, although a small fee will be assessed by Bucknell.

The Tigers own a 33-29 record in season openers and are 6-4 under current Head Coach Brian Smith. Currently, Missouri owns a five dual home opening streak beginning with its 21-17 victory over then-No. 1 Oklahoma State in 2003. The Tigers are expected to provide tough competition in both Lock Haven and Bucknell's season openers.

Four newcomers will see time in Missouri's starting lineup. Competing at 125 pounds, 19th-ranked Troy Dolan is one of three redshirt freshmen to make Missouri's 10-man lineup. Missouri's Dorian Henderson and Dominique Bradley both earned the starting spot at 174 pounds and heavyweight after winning matches at last Saturday's annual Black and Gold wrestle-offs. Also new to the lineup is sophomore transfer Todd Schavrien at 133 pounds. Schavrien managed a 13-4 dual record in one year at Arizona State.

The remaining six wrestlers that are set to start this weekend have combined for 89 dual victories. Returning All-Americans Nicholas Marable (165), Raymond Jordan (174) and Maxwell Askren (197) headline the Tiger lineup with Marable ranked No. 1 in the nation at his weight class. Jordan, who dropped down one weight class after earning a fifth place finish at 184 pounds at the 2008 NCAA Championships stands as high as third in the country, while Askren stands at No. 5.

Missouri is down 0-2 to Lock Haven after suffering a 21-19 loss during the 1982-83 season and a 30-7 loss at the 1989 Virginia Duals.

In Missouri's first meeting with Bucknell, the Tigers shutdown the Bison 30-9 in the Hearnes Center. Last year's meeting resulted in seven Tiger victories including five bonus point wins.

Scouting the Bald Eagles
Lock Haven Head Coach Rocky Bonomo enters his 11th year at the helm of the Bald Eagle wrestling program. With eight starters returning for the 2008-09 campaign, Lock Haven's dual with Missouri marks both its season and home opener.

Lock Haven took three grapplers, current seniors Matt Fittery (149) and Ben Hepburn (197) as well as sophomore Billy Ashnault (133) to the 2008 NCAA Championships. Fittery and Hepburn each picked up one win on the National stage, while Ashnault finished 0-2 in his NCAA debut. Hepburn, currently ranked as high as 18th in the nation, was eliminated from tournament action after suffering a 5-2 loss to Rider's T.J. Morrison. The same Rider wrestler that Missouri All-American Maxwell Askren bested, 7-6, in last year's season opener. Both Hepburn and Ashnault earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships after taking second at the Eastern Wrestling League's (EWL) Championships.

Fittery opened his run at the National Tournament with a win over recent Tiger graduate Josh Wagner, 11-6, but suffered back-to-back losses to fall from contention.

This season Lock Haven is expected to wrestle at least three of the nation's current top-20 ranked programs including fifth-ranked Missouri, 10th ranked Penn State and No. 17 Edinboro.

Scouting the Bison
The Bison of Bucknell are coached by Dan Wimsberger, now in his fourth year at the helm of the program. Wimsberger owns a 21-20-2 record in three years at Bucknell and is 27-24-2 in five years as a head coach.

Two-time NCAA qualifiers David Marble and Andy Rendos return to the 133 and 165 pound weight classes, respectively. Marble owns a 51-22 career record and is ranked as high as 16th at 133 pounds, while Rendos has tallied 55 wins in three years and enters the season ranked 14th. Expected to compete at 174 pounds is 2008 NCAA wild-card entry Shane Riccio. Riccio finished his sophomore campaign with a 15-2 dual record that included a 14-match win streak. Both Marble and Riccio managed wins over their Missouri opponents in last season's dual in Columbia, Mo., while Rendos was held to a one point, 3-2, loss to current No. 1 ranked grappler Nicholas Marable.

The Bison will likely face with four top-20 ranked opponents this campaign including No. 5 Missouri, No. 17 Central Michigan, returning NCAA Champions and current No. 1 Iowa as well as 19th-ranked Old Dominion.

Smith begins his Second Decade Brian Smith enters his 11th year as Head Coach of the Missouri wrestling team. The winningest Missouri wrestling coach in program history, Smith has notched a 119-60-2 record (.663), putting him ahead of former Tiger great Bob Kopnisky (.633) who coached from 1974-86. Smith needs just six more dual victories to tie with Kopnisky for most wins in program history (125).

During Smith's time at Missouri, he has coached 11 All-Americans to 18 top-eight finishes at the NCAA Championships. In addition, Smith and his Tigers have managed a top-15 finish at the NCAA Tournament for five consecutive years, with the program's highest ever finish recorded in 2007 at third.

Familiar with Pennsylvania
Two members of Missouri's starting lineup are from the state of Pennsylvania, 125 pounder Troy Dolan and 149 pounder Andrew Sherry. A native of Blairsville, Pa., Dolan went to Derry Area High School. Sherry, hailing from Sewickley, Pa., attended Pittsburgh Central Catholic. Sophomore Ashtin Primus rounds out the Missouri roster of Pennsylvania natives.

Missouri vs. the State of Pennsylvania Missouri took on its first opponent from the state of Pennsylvania in 1959 when it lost a season-opening dual 28-10, to Westminster College. Since then, Missouri has met with 13 schools from the state of Pa., and owns a 21-9 record.

Ranked number one
Missouri's All-American Nicholas Marable earned the preseason No. 1 ranking at 165 pounds in six different polls. Marable becomes the first Tiger since 2007 graduate and four-time All-American (and two time National Champion) Ben Askren to earn a preseason No. 1 ranking. Marable finished his sophomore season with a 27-4 record and third place finish in his first NCAA Championship appearance. All four of Marable's losses came to then No. 1 ranked grapplers with two coming to eventual national champion Mark Perry, one to Michigan's Eric Tannenbaum and one loss to Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh (Marable wrestled up one weight class to take on Gavin).

As a program
The Missouri wrestling program enters its 63rd year of competition with a 444-361-13 record (.551).

A total of 28 Missouri wrestlers have combined for 39 All-America accolades. Eight Tigers have earned Big 12 titles with 2007 graduate Ben Askren becoming the first Missouri wrestler to earn three conference crowns. In addition, Askren became Missouri's first four-time All-American and first ever National Champion.

The Tigers have finished among the top-15 of the NCAA Championships for the past five straight years and seven times in program history.

Tough to takedown
And so it begins. Last season Missouri's 165 pound starter, Nicholas Marable, gave up only two takedowns in dual competition and went 14 matches without giving up a single takedown. This year he looks to create another impressive streak.

 

 

Bradley Wins at FILA Junior Team Trials

05/27/2009 - Wrestling

Mizzou freshman Dom Bradley scored a victory in the 120KG (264.5 pounds) weight class of the FILA Junior World Team Trails this weekend, as he defeated Zach Rey (Lehigh) to earn a spot on the United States Junior Freestyle National Team.

Bradley Takes FILA Junior Title

04/13/2009 - Wrestling

Missouri heavyweight Dominique Bradley (Blue Springs, Mo.) took first place at the FILA Junior 120 kg/264.5 pounds Freestyle Championships, while teammates Nick Hucke (Pewaukee, Wis.) finished second at 63 kg/138.75 and Patrick Wright (Grand Ledge, Mich.) took sixth at 74 kg/163 pounds.

Mark Ellis Crowned NCAA Champion

03/21/2009 - Wrestling

Missouri crowned its second-ever wrestling national champion upon the completion of junior heavyweight Mark Ellis' 3-2 overtime victory over fifth-ranked Konrad Dudziak of Duke.

Jordan Takes Third, One of Five Missouri All-Americans

03/21/2009 - Wrestling

Missouri wrestlers Raymond Jordan (New Bern, N.C.), Michael Chandler (High Ridge, Mo.), Maxwell Askren (Hartland, Wis.) and Nicholas Marable (Collierville, Tenn.) finished the 2008-09 season as All-Americans closing out the third day of the NCAA Wrestling Championships with top-eight finishes at 174, 157, 197 and 165 pounds, respectively.

Tigers Make History: Five All Americans

03/20/2009 - Wrestling

The Missouri wrestling team wrapped up the second night of NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in historic fashion, crowning a program-high five All-Americans and sending junior Mark Ellis (Peculiar, Mo.) to the Championship finals of the heavyweight bout.