The Missouri Tigers wrestling squad completed its regular season in its final duals match against the visiting Iowa State Cyclones Sunday.
As is tradition, the final home meet of the season was declared Senior Day. The three Missouri seniors, Luke Cherep, Tyler Perry and Todd Schavrien were honored for their contributions to the Missouri wrestling program before the meet began. In appropriate fashion, the Tigers closed out the meet with a win by Schavrien, helping the Tigers to an impressive 23-11 victory.
“I teared up a bit before the meet when I walked out with my parents,” Schavrien said. “It hurts to leave it all behind. I’m going to take some time with my family, reflect on my great experience here and then I have to focus and get ready for my next match.”
Missouri won consecutive matches to start off the meet with a 6-0 lead. The first defeat came in the first ranked matchup of the afternoon with No. 9 freshman Zach Toal facing No. 8 Andrew Sorenson. With the score tied at 3-3 going into the final period, Sorenson started on the bottom and earned an escape. Shortly after, Sorenson got the takedown to seal the victory for the Cyclones, making the final score 7-3 after adding a bonus point for riding time.
“We need to score more takedowns,” coach Brian Smith said. “If Zach had gotten that first takedown I think he could’ve gone on to win it. As a team we need to work on getting takedowns.”
The next match saw No. 20 Dorian Henderson take on top ranked Jonathan Reader. At the close of the match, Reader had scored four near falls worth a total of eight points. He went on to win the match 17-0 and was awarded a five-point technical fall victory.
Possibly the most exciting match of the afternoon was between No. 15 Mike Larson and unranked Cole Shafer.
“I had faced him before so I knew what he was going to come at me with,” Larson said.
Late in the second period Larson was down 2-1, but earned an escape to make it even at 2-2. At the start of the final period, Larson scored a takedown and Shafer escaped putting the score at 4-3. Larson held on for the win, adding three more points to Missouri’s cause to make the team score 9-8 in Missouri’s favor.
“I felt like I was better conditioned for this match than he was,” Larson said. “Also, I knew he had good throws so I wanted to stay off my feet and get him to the ground. It wasn’t easy because he stuffed a lot of my shots.”
In the 125-pound match, Alan Waters claimed his 36th victory of the season with a major decision over Brandon Jones. He went on the win the match 19-7.
The final match of the day was, fittingly, No. 12 Schavrien up against No. 15 Chris Drouin. Heading into the final period, Schavrien held the lead at 1-0. Drouin escaped a takedown to tie the score at one with only one minute left in the third. Schavrien earned a takedown with just 12 seconds left to claim his final win at the Hearnes Center.
“Coming to Missouri was the best decision I have ever made in my life,” he said. “All of the people I have met in and out of wrestling have made this such a wonderful experience and I am so thankful for all of it.”
The Tigers next head to Ames, Iowa for the Big 12 Championship on March 5.
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