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2024 Missouri vs Northern Colorado - Men's

5 Reasons To Watch #6 Missouri Wrestling At #20 Northern Colorado

5 Reasons To Watch #6 Missouri Wrestling At #20 Northern Colorado

The Missouri wrestling team travels to Greeley for a Big 12 dual against the Northern Colorado Bears on the opening weekend of the season.

Oct 30, 2024 by David Bray
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The #6 Missouri wrestling team travels to #20 Northern Colorado for a Big 12 dual meet on the opening weekend of the season. Here's why you won't want to to miss Saturday night's dual between the Tigers and the Bears.

Nov 3, 12:00 AM UTC

2024 Missouri vs Northern Colorado - Men's



Probable Lineups

125 lbs - #17 Noah Surtin, Missouri vs #12 Stevo Poulin, Northern Colorado

133 lbs - Kade Moore, Missouri vs #21 Dominick Serrano, Northern Colorado

141 lbs - #10 Josh Edmond, Missouri vs #1 Andrew Alirez, Northern Colorado

149 lbs - #17 Logan Gioffre, Missouri vs Adam Busiello, Northern Colorado

157 lbs - James Conway, Missouri vs #16 Vincent Zerban, Northern Colorado

165 lbs - #16 Cameron Steed, Missouri vs Clayton Ulrey, Northern Colorado

174 lbs - #1 Keegan O'Toole, Missouri vs Ayden Rix-McElhinney, Northern Colorado

184 lbs - #13 Colton Hawks, Missouri vs AJ Heeg, Northern Colorado

197 lbs - #3 Rocky Elam, Missouri vs Franklin Cruz, Northern Colorado

285 lbs - Seth Nitzel, Missouri vs Remington Peterson, Northern Colorado

1. First Look At Keegan O'Toole at 174 lbs

One of the biggest off-season developments was Keegan O'Toole's move from 165 lbs, where he's won NCAAs twice and finished top-three for four straight years, to 174 lbs. Wrestling fans will get their first look at the Tigers' top man in his new weight class on Saturday. 

O'Toole did compete near this weight last month in the 79kg bracket at the World Team Trials. In that outing, O'Toole beat his long-time nemesis, two-time NCAA champ David Carr but fell to potential NCAA finals opponent Levi Haines. This weekend, we'll see how he looks up a weight in folkstyle. O'Toole's likely opponent this weekend is second-year starter Ayden Rix-McElhinney who's fresh off a summer than included making a U20 Greco-Roman World Team.

Keegan O'Toole's 2023 NCAA finals victory over David Carr

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2. Andrew Alirez is BACK From Olympic Redshirt

2023 undefeated NCAA champion, Andrew Alirez, begins his bid for another undefeated season on Saturday against two-time NCAA qualifier Josh Edmond of Missouri. Edmond finished just one win shy of All-American honors in March, and he'll provide a legitimate test for Alirez in his first folkstyle match in a year and a half.

Alirez vs Edmond is one of the top potential individual matchups of the first weekend of the NCAA calendar and also the premiere bout of this dual. All eyes will be on Greeley for the return of Andrew Alirez.

Andrew Alirez's 2023 NCAA finals victory over Real Woods

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3. Stevo vs Surtin Rematch At 125 lbs

One of the top matchups of this dual will be at 125 lbs between All-American contenders Stevo Poulin and Noah Surtin. These two last met in the first round of the 2024 NCAA championships in a bout Poulin won 3-1. Poulin also won their first matchup 4-2 in the 2023 Big 12 finals.

Poulin vs Surtin in the 2023 Big 12 finals


Surtin will look to flip the script in their third meeting, and his big move makes him dangerous in every match he wrestles. Check out a highlight of Surtin's memorable fall against Damian Moreno in last season's dual against Arizona State.


4. Plenty of Highlight Potential

This dual is full of matches that could produce high level wrestling exchanges. All of the aforementioned Tigers and Bears have produced their share of highlights, but the list doesn't end there. Before the dual on Saturday, check out some of the memorable highlights these guys have produced in the past.

In the Southern Scuffle finals, 157-pounder Vinnie Zerban pulled off a massive victory over Stanford All-American Daniel Cardenas. His takedowns were as exciting as the post-match celebration in which he repeatedly punched himself in the face.

Last season, Mizzou 133-pounder Kade Moore put himself on the map by pinning Virginia Tech All-American Sam Latona with a nasty turn from a leg lace.

Dom Serrano made his mark on the national scene in last season's Southern Scuffle semifinal. He earned a gritty takedown against Little Rock All-American Nasir Bailey to punch his ticket to the finals.

Perhaps Josh Edmond's biggest moment of last season came in a dual against Northern Iowa when he upended Cael Happel who was ranked 8th at the time.

5. New Look For Northern Colorado Lineup

Northern Colorado has made productive use of the transfer portal for the last few seasons. 125-pounder Stevo Poulin started at NC State, and 133-pounder Dom Serrano began his career at Nebraska. Those two were staples in the Bears' lineup a year ago, but they'll be joined by some new transfers this season.

Adam Busiello could slot in at 149 lbs for Northern Colorado this season. He started his career at Penn State before spending two seasons at Nassau Community College. He was on the Northern Colorado roster last season but didn't compete.

Former Hokie Clayton Ulrey may be the starter for the Bears at 165 lbs this season after amassing a 46-29 record for Virginia Tech.

AJ Heeg was 4-0 against Division 1 competition last year at 174 lbs for Oklahoma State. He looks to be the top man at 184 lbs this year in Greely. He'll have a big test Saturday against Missouri's Colton Hawks.