Mizzou wrestling places 3 All-Americans (including KC native); O’Toole falls in semis

In what Mizzou wrestling would consider a shocking day, the Tigers can at least find solace in knowing that three of their wrestlers have earned All-America honors.

Juniors Keegan O’Toole (No. 1 seed, 165) automatically earned All-America honors with his advancement to Saturday’s semifinals, but redshirt senior and KC native Zach Elam (No. 6 seed, 285) battled through after a quarterfinals loss to win a blood-round bout over Virginia Tech’s Hunter Catka (No. 26 seed).

A Staley graduate, Elam’s time on the mat is coming to a close in tomorrow’s bouts. But he’s able to wrap up his time in the sport he loves in the city that he grew to love the sport in.

“It feels good,” Zach Elam said of wrestling in his hometown. “Lost in the quarters, made some mistakes, but you just got to come back and get the next best thing, and that’s third.”

While it’s been a long road, Zach’s brother Rocky Elam (No. 12 seed, 197) has been someone with him through it all. As the two go into their final day of being on the mat as teammates, it’s something Zach isn’t taking for granted.

“I don’t really want to think about it right now,” Zach said. “I know it’s in the back of my mind, but I just gotta focus on these last two matches. After that second match, I’ll probably get a little emotional and find a corner to cry in, but I’m just focused on the next two.”

Rocky, also earning All-American honors, fell in his semifinal bout to Penn State’s No. 1 seed Aaron Brooks in a 17-2 technical fall.

Zach is slated to face Arizona State’s Cohlton Schultz in Saturday’s early bouts. If he wins, he’ll advance to wrestle for third place in the class.

“Just be aggressive,” Zach Elam said of his approach. “I gotta keep moving forward, and just wrestling in all positions.”

O’Toole goes down on last-second takedown

Some things in life are inevitable, and it seems like the famous O’Toole/Carr matchup is one of them.

Friday’s 165-pound quarterfinal results again proved this to be true. O’Toole, securing All-America status for the fourth time, moved on to the semis with his third pin of the tournament, this one on Nebraska’s No. 8 seed Antrell Taylor in the quarters.

Waiting for him in the semis would be the familiar foe, senior David Carr, the No. 4 seed from Iowa State, for the pair’s fifth (and final) bout of their college careers.

The rivalry goes back to last season, with Carr taking the first two bouts against the two-time national champion. But O’Toole has since tied the series record at 2-2, which included the championship bout in last year’s nationals as well as the 2024 Big 12 title.

But the final matchup of this rivalry ended just as O’Toole’s road to becoming a three-time national champion, as Carr took down O’Toole in the final seconds of the third period to advance to Saturday night’s championship.

O’Toole and Missouri head coach Brian Smith were not made available following the matchup.

Other blood-round results

Missouri redshirt sophomore Josh Edmond, after an early day-1 upset, wound up in the wrestlebacks after dropping a second-round bout to No. 5 seed Anthony Echemendia of Iowa State. Edmond went on to pick up two consolation victories (against Penn’s CJ Composto, and Virginia Tech’s Tom Crook) to put himself in a position to place as an All-American for the first time in his career. But in a hard-fought battle, Minnesota’s Vince Vombaur came up with the 8-5 sudden victory over Edmond.

In his blood round against Navy’s No. 25 seed David Key, Missouri redshirt sophomore Colton Hawks could not come up with the victory in the 2-1 decision.

Missouri ended the day in 13th place in the team standings with 40 points.

Penn State clinched the team title and had 148 points by night’s end Friday. Michigan (64.5) and Iowa (60) round out the top three heading into Saturday’s action.

This story was originally published March 22, 2024 at 10:59 PM.