MU junior J’den Cox closer to qualifying for Olympic wrestling team

Missouri junior J’den Cox overpowered Kyle Dake in the 86-kilogram freestyle championship series Sunday during the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

Cox, a two-time NCAA champion at 197 pounds, upset his way into the final, where he reached the cusp of his Olympic dream with two wins against Dake in the best-of-three series.

Cox trailed 1-0 in the opening match after the first 3-minute period, but he steamrolled from there to an 8-1 victory and the series lead with a dominant second period.

Dake, a four-time NCAA champion at Cornell and the only wrestler in history to win four national titles at four different weight classes, moved up from 74 kilograms (about 163 pounds) to get away from reigning world and Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs.

Meanwhile, Cox trimmed down last week to wrestle at 86 kilograms (189 pounds) and benefited from roughly a 20-pound weight advantage compared to Dake, whose edge in experience was no match for Cox’s brute strength and athleticism.

That didn’t stop Dake from rallying, erasing a first-period deficit for a 5-3 win in the second match, forcing a winner-take-all third match in the championship series.

With the Olympic trials title on the line, Cox jumped in front with a first-period takedown and fended off an increasingly desperate and feisty Dake for a 4-3 win.

He kneeled and dropped to the mat, beaming with excited relief as Dake’s corner threw out the challenge brick, but the result was upheld after a two-minute review and Cox got to celebrate again.

Unfortunately, Cox isn’t automatically qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which begin in August, because the United States didn’t finish in the top six at 86 kilograms during the 2015 World Championships or the top two at the Pan-American qualifier.

He’ll still need to finish in the top three April 22-24 during an Olympic world-qualifying tourney in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, or finish in the top two May 6-8 during a last-chance qualifier in Istanbul, Turkey.

Cox will leave Thursday for Mongolia, where he’ll try to join Ben Askren in 2008 as the only Mizzou wrestlers to reach the Olympics.

It took three wins Sunday morning for Cox to reach the final. He needed late back points to escape with a 7-7 opening-round win against Clayton Foster by virtue of having the highest-scoring move in the bout.

Next, Cox dominated top-seeded Jake Herbert, a 2012 Olympian, in the quarterfinals 8-1.

Against Keith Gavin in the semifinals, a more methodical Cox advanced with a 3-1 win. Gavin is a former NCAA champion at Pittsburgh and was No. 3 in Team USA’s ranking at 86 kilograms.

Cox won an 197-pound NCAA title as a freshman in 2014, finished fifth as a sophomore last season and reclaimed the national crown March 19 with a 4-2 against Penn State’s Morgan McIntosh in the 197-pound final at Madison Square Garden.

Wrestling freestyle at 74 kilograms, Nick Marable, a former Missouri wrestler who now serves as an assistant at West Virginia, reached the challenge bracket final before settling for fourth place.

Marable lost 2-1 against top-seeded Andrew Howe with a berth in the final against Burroughs, who received a bye into the championship series as a reigning world champion.

Alex Dieringer then outlasted Marable 2-1 in the third-place match.

Alan Waters, a two-time All-American at Mizzou, also finished fourth, also going 4-2 in the 57-kilogram freestyle bracket.

Waters, a Park Hill graduate, reached the quarterfinals before losing 9-2 against eventual Olympic trials champion Dan Dennis.

Among three consolation wins, Waters claimed a 6-0 win against Nate Tomasello, avenging a loss in the 2015 NCAA semifinals, before dropping the third-place match against second-seeded Tyler Graff.

Deron Winn, a 2007 Liberty graduate, went 1-2 in the same bracket as Cox, ending his international wrestling career. He told The Star before the tournament he would retire and begin a mixed martial arts career if he didn’t win the Olympic trials.

Jake Fisher, a 2002 Platte County graduate, also went 1-2 in Greco-Roman 75-kilogram action.

Dom Bradley, a Blue Springs and Mizzou graduate, finished third Saturday at 125 kilograms.

This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 4:51 PM with the headline "MU junior J’den Cox closer to qualifying for Olympic wrestling team."