Why this Mizzou wrestler is poised to add to storied legacy of Tigers’ program

The Mizzou wrestling program has produced 10 national champions. Those titles have been won by six individuals, as three racked up multiple championships, including one who captured three — J’Den Cox.

This year, the Tigers have their sights set on adding more names to that list.

One name already on it, Keegan O’Toole, has been integral to the development of a redshirt junior who could soon join the elite list: Cam Steed.

O’Toole, who won back-to-back titles in 2022 and ’23, finished his collegiate career last year and is now part of the Missouri coaching staff.

“Cam was able to develop really well under Keegan and now Keegan’s one of his coaches and the relationship has just blossomed from there,” said associate head coach Kendric Maple, a former national champion at Oklahoma.

Who is Steed, and how might he win a national championship this year? Let’s look at some statistics.

Steed, from Collinsville, Oklahoma, is wrapping up his fourth year at Missouri. He will be wrestling in the 174-pound weight class at the NCAA Wrestling Championships this weekend in Cleveland. Mizzou wrestlers are competing in the event that continues through Saturday at Rocket Arena.

Steed qualified by winning the Big 12 Tournament two weeks ago. Mizzou competes in the Big 12 because Oklahoma is the only other Southeastern Conference school with a wrestling program.

Last year, Steed made his first NCAA tournament appearance, wrestling in the 165-pound class. He finished in seventh place, which made him an All-American. He was also the winner of the Gorriaran Award, which goes to the wrestler with the most falls in the least time (Steed got three falls in seven minutes at nationals that year).

He also finished second at last year’s Big 12 Tournament.

Steed currently has a 41-13 career record over his three official seasons (not counting his redshirt season). He has picked up fifteen of those wins this season en route to a 15-5 record heading into this weekend’s tournament.

Steed has dealt with injuries that have taken parts of his seasons away, including a stretch of this year’s campaign. That stretch started with having to forfeit a match against Illinois’ Colin Kelly in the final of the National Duals just 24 seconds in. Steed did not return until the Arizona State dual in mid-January.

Of course, in a sport as physically grueling as wrestling, Steed is far from the only collegiate wrestler to have these sorts of seasons.

“And over time, you have all that wear and tear on your body from high school, and then you get to college and you’ve wrestled so many matches that things are finally starting to catch up to you,” Steed said.

Many wrestlers redshirt their first season to get stronger and adjust to the rigors of NCAA wrestling.

In high school, Steed put together quite the career. He was a four-time state champion, and his team also won the team title all four years he was there. Oklahoma is one of the top states in wrestling in the nation and hosts one of the most successful collegiate programs in the country, Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which has won 34 national team titles.

Steed said he didn’t consider wrestling at either Oklahoma State or Oklahoma after Mizzou began recruiting him. He mentioned he had been a huge fan of O’Toole and grew up watching Maple wrestle at Oklahoma, so when Mizzou came calling, Steed was ready to come to Columbia.

He mentioned some of the best wrestlers in the country he wrestled with or against in Oklahoma. One of those wrestlers is currently in his freshman season at Mizzou. Gerald “Boogie” Harris has known Steed for as long as he can remember. He shared an anecdote about a high-school match between Steed and Iowa’s Kael Voinovich at the Kansas City Stampede Wrestling Tournament.

“Cam was wrestling in either the semifinals or the finals and it’s actually a really good match between Cam and Voinovich,” Harris said. “Both were ranked at the time, if I’m not crazy. It’s getting pretty heated. (Voinovich) was on the Stillwater team at the time, and we were at Collinsville, and we were heckling each other and going back and forth.

“Cam is on bottom and gets mat-returned and stands right back up. (Voinovich) goes for a claw and crush lift. ... I don’t know what you really call that, and he picks him (Steed) up and runs him into the (scoring) table like upside down. He slams him through the table, the table flips over, and it was, like, bad; it knocked over everything.”

Harris said a brawl almost broke out between the two schools. Voinovich would eventually get disqualified from the tournament. Harris has a video on his phone of the incident.

The wrestling facility is through a door that is part of wall mural, so it almost seems hidden. On the other side of the door lies a staircase covered with phrases such as “Compete.”

Upon entering the lobby, you notice a trophy case and a series of glass doors on your right that lead the wrestlers and coaches to their workout space. Go through those glass doors and you would see the wrestling room to the right and a weight room to the left, separated by a passageway with some cardio machines.

The wrestling program has taken advantage of the practice gym, left behind by the basketball program when it moved into Mizzou Arena in 2004.

It was here that Steed’s teammate Josh Edmond offered the following assessment: “He’s very dedicated and driven, and he’s a really hard worker, and he’s really good in the face of adversity.”

O’Toole, his training partner and now his coach, credits Steed with helping him win his second national title in 2023. He also said that Steed’s confidence has grown since his first year in the program and that he has gotten bigger and stronger over his career, working his way up from 157 pounds to 174.

“National champ. That’s always been my goal, obviously, and they’ve preached it to me every day, even since I got here,” Steed said. “They’ve always had the most faith in me. Telling me I get to go with top guys every day. I get to go with Keegan, Aeoden (Sinclair), Maple, Jarrett (Jacques), everybody, (Evan) Bates. Just all the guys around my weight are just pushing me to be the best I can possibly be.

“And so, I think, honestly, national champ, team trophy. Guys all around me (will be) All-Americans, national champs.”

Copyright 2026 Columbia Missourian

This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 4:01 PM.