Mizzou Central

Missouri Wrestling Travels to Face No. 8 Virginia Tech

Missouri began the season with wins at Northern Colorado and the 2024 Tiger Style Invite.

Izabelle Cool

Iowa State's David Carr wrestles Missouri's Keegan O'Toole at 165 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 18, 2023, at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla.
Iowa State's David Carr wrestles Missouri's Keegan O'Toole at 165 pounds in the finals during the sixth session of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, Saturday, March 18, 2023, at BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

No. 9 Missouri wrestling looks to extend its winning streak at No. 8 Virginia Tech on Friday, Nov. 15 in Blacksburg, Virginia. The dual will begin at 6 p.m. and can be streamed on the ACC Network.

The two teams last competed January 2, 2024 at the Hearnes Center where the then No. 2 Missouri defeated No. 11 Virginia Tech 22-17 in a thrilling comeback after being down six-points. The win kept the Tiger's perfect on the season heading into January.

During the dual 133-pound redshirt freshman Kade Moore upset then No. 5 graduate Sam Latona (VT) with a pin in the second period to put Missouri on the board after redshirt junior Noah Surtin his match at 125 pounds to then No. 11 redshirt sophomore Cooper Flynn.

The heavyweight Tigers came back from intermission prepared to make up for the four losses in the first half, with the No. 1 senior Keegan O'Toole winning by technical fall over Virginia Tech graduate No. 27 Connor Brady 20-4.

Former Tiger No. 6 Zach Elam capped out the dual to secure the Tigers' win over No. 20 redshirt junior Hunter Catka with a score of 8-1. As a result, Missouri leads the series 5-3 going into the ninth meeting between the two programs.

The Tiger's Current Starting Ten for the 2024-25 Season

125 pounds - Gage Walker
Walker is a freshman at Missouri and was the 58th overall ranked wrestler in 2024 by MatScout Big Board and ranked fourth at 126 pounds. Walker was a four-time Oklahoma State Champion in high school and a 2023 Fargo Freestyle and Greco All-American.

133 pounds - No. 29 Kade Moore
Moore is a redshirt sophomore who redshirted during the 2022-23 season and became a Tiger regular during the 2023-24 season. Moore was a 2024 NCAA Qualifier after being given a bid by the NCAA selection committee after not receiving one at the 2024 Big 12 Wrestling Championship. He was ranked No. 26 in the 133-pound bracket.

Moore is from Allen, Texas and owns the record for the fastest Texas State Finals pin. He was the highest-ranked recruit in Texas, 129th on the MatScout Big Board.

141 pounds - No. 13 Josh Edmond
Redshirt junior Edmond is a two-time NCAA qualifier in 2022 and 2024. Last season, he was placed as the No. 21 seed in the 141-pound bracket. He went 6-6 last season and had his first career victory by fall at the Big 12 Championship after pinning Darren Green (Cal Baptist) in 3:29. He placed third at the championships.

149 pounds - No. 24 Logan Gioffre
Gioffre is a redshirt junior from Clovis, California, who joined the Tigers in 2021 after finishing his redshirt season at Cal Poly during the 2020-21 season.

Gioffre was a 2024 NCAA Qualifier at 129 pounds and seeded at No. 28. He placed sixth at the Big 12 Championship and finished the season 8-9 in his first full season as a Missouri starter.

157 pounds - No. 31 James Conway
Conway is a redshirt sophomore for Missouri and was first at the Missouri Valley Open at 157 pounds. Conway finished his redshirt sophomore year with a 16-8 record and totaled seven technical falls and two pins during the season. Those seven technical falls led the team total.

165 pounds - No. 24 Cam Steed
Redshirt sophomore Steed came on strong for the Tigers during his redshirt freshman season, going 7-1 with a major decision, a technical fall and three falls in total on the season.

In high school, Steed was a four-time Oklahoma State Champion, won the OSSAA Class 5A team state championship and was the Tulsa World Wrestler of the Year in the 152-pound weight class.


174 pounds - No. 1 Keegan O'Toole
O'Toole returns to Missouri for his senior wrestling season after placing first at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship and third at the NCAA Wrestling Championship in the 165-pound weight class. O'Toole is a four-time NCAA qualifier, placing first at the NCAA championships in 2022 and 2023. He also placed first at the Big 12 Championship in 2021 and 2022.

Last season, he was 24-1 and had a perfect 12-0 in duals in the Missouri singlet. He also joined Ben Askren, Daniel Lewis and Matt Pell as one of four Tiers to have at least three wins by fall in the NCAA Tournament and joins Askren as the only wrestlers in program history to finish in the top three in four consecutive NCAA championship appearances.

The 2024-25 season will be the first time O'Toole has wrestled at 174 pounds consistently for Missouri.

Over the summer of 2023, O'Toole qualified for the UWW U23 World Championships at 74 kg and won gold after going 5-0.

184 pounds - No. 14 Colton Hawks
Redshirt junior Hawks was an NCAA qualifier last season at 184 pounds and seeded at No. 11 after taking fifth at the Big 12 Wrestling Championship. He finished the season 19-8.

197 pounds - No. 4 Rocky Elam
Senior Rocky Elam is a four-time NCAA qualifier and All-American. He placed second at the 2024 Big 12 Wrestling Champions at 197 pounds and sixth at the NCAA Wrestling Championship. He was the 2021 Junior World Champion as a freshman in the 92 kg weight class. He is one of five wrestlers to be a four-time All-American in program history.

285 pounds - No. 23 Seth Nitzel
Nitzel is a redshirt junior at Missouri and went 13-3 last season across four different tournament. He was the Bongo Open Champion and the Missouri Valley Open Champion at 285 pounds. He had seven fall, one technical fall and two major decisions

Northern Colorado and Tiger Style Invite Recap

The Tigers commenced the regular season on Nov. 2, 2024, with a home dual against the Northern Colorado Bears. Missouri won six out of the ten matches, securing their first victory of the season with a score of 25-14. Fans were introduced to several new wrestlers, as many of last season's starting lineup graduated.

One standout was freshman Aeoden Sinclair (197), who competed for the first time in a Missouri singlet against Northern Colorado's redshirt junior Franklin Cruz. Sinclair's strong offensive performance led him to a victory by major decision, with a score of 19-11. Redshirt junior Seth Nitzel (285) also made his dual debut in a Missouri singlet, successfully defeating Northern Colorado junior Remington Peterson 11-4.

Cam Steed secured a spot in the starting ten during the off-season and made his dual debut with a quick fall at 0:29 against Northern Colorado's Daishun Powe. Senior Keegan O'Toole debuted at 174 pounds and clinched the dual with a 20-4 technical fall over Northern Colorado junior Aydin McElhinney. After spending four seasons at 165 pounds and winning two national titles, O'Toole is now moving up to compete in the heavier weight class.

Missouri is now 3-0-0 against Northern Colorado.

After the dual meet against Northern Colorado, the Tigers hosted their third Tiger Style Invite at Staley High School in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, November 9, 2024. The Tigers took home their third consecutive team invite title with 168.5 points. Four wrestlers won titles in their respective weight classes.

Redshirt junior Josh Edmond secured first place in the 141-pound weight class by defeating Purdue sophomore Greyson Clark with a score of 7-4. Following Edmond, Steed claimed first at 165 pounds by pinning Cal Poly redshirt junior Luka Wick just 40 seconds into the match. Steed is the only wrestler, alongside O'Toole, to earn bonus points in the finals.

At 174 pounds, O'Toole also claimed the first-place title with a technical fall over Purdue redshirt sophomore Brody Baumann at 5:09 in the match for a score of 21-4. The title is O'Toole's third since the Tigers began the invite at Staley High School.

Finally, Colton Hawks took home first place at 184 pounds by decision over Little Rock junior Brock Delsignore 2-1.

Published
Izabelle Cool
IZABELLE COOL

Izabelle is a senior at the University of Missouri studying Sports Broadcast Journalism and Sociology. She's from Kansas City, Mo., and has covered wrestling for MizzouCentral since 2023. Previously, she covered wrestling, soccer, and tennis for the student newspaper The Maneater.

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