Consistent is the best word to describe Mizzou wrestling’s performance at the NCAA Championships this season. The Tigers took 14th place as a team, the same finish they had last season, but with 34 points this time around compared to 32 points in 2025.
Aeoden Sinclair and Cam Steed were the only two wrestlers from the team to place. Sinclair took third place in the 184lbs division while Steed took fifth place in the 174lbs division. Let’s take a look at how all six Mizzou wrestlers performed in Cleveland,
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All individual rankings are according to NCAA seeding.
125: No. 32 Mack Mauger
The first match of this season’s NCAA Championship was between Mauger and No. 33 Jace Schafer (Bloomsburg). He took the 4-1 decision victory with a takedown in the final seconds of the third period, his reward being a bout with No. 1 Luke Lilledahl (PSU). Mauger lost the match by an 11-2 major decision.
The redshirt freshman’s season ended in the first round of wrestlebacks against No. 16 Ezekiel Witt (NDSU), falling by a 6-2 decision. Earning a national qualification in his first season as a starter sets a strong baseline for what Mauger can accomplish in the seasons to come.
133: No. 19 Gage Walker
Walker finished a successful true sophomore campaign with a first-round upset of No. 14 Ethan Berginc (Army) in a 5-0 decision shutout. He did, however, lose his next two matches. Walker lost to No. 3 Marcus Blaze (PSU) by a 17-2 tech fall and then to No. 13 Jacob Van Dee (NEB) in a 4-2 decision.
He stepped up big time for Mizzou when the usual starter, Kade Moore, incurred a season-ending injury. Barring a transfer from one of them, both are set to be on the roster next season and both will compete for a starting spot, perhaps one of them making the move up to 141lbs.
174: No. 7 Cam Steed
Steady improvement has defined Steed’s tenure with Tiger Style. He came on strong to end last season with a seventh-place finish at nationals, and this season he took home a Big 12 title and an improved fifth-place finish at nationals. Steed wrestled in six matches across the championships, going 4-2. He won his first three matches to earn his second career All-American status and put himself in the semifinals against No. 3 Christopher Minto (NEB).
Although Steed lost that bout by a 5-1 decision and his ensuing consolation match by a 5-2 decision against No. 4 Carson Kharchla (OHST), he maintained focus in the fifth-place match. He took down No. 15 Danny Wask (Navy) by decision for the second time in the tournament. Steed will have one more shot at an NCAA title next season.
184: No. 2 Aeoden Sinclair
Sinclair ended as Mizzou’s highest placer with a third-place finish in his first trip to nationals. He finished the tournament with a 6-1 record, his only loss coming in the quarterfinals against No. 7 Angelo Ferrari (Iowa) by a 4-1 sudden victory. Ferrari was the only wrestler in the nation to defeat Sinclair through the entirety of this season.
He reached All-American status in the wrestlebacks with a 5-2 decision win over No. 4 James Conway (F&M). Sinclair took down four wrestlers in the top 10 of seeding en route to third. NCAA title contention will be in his grasp for the remainder of his time with Mizzou; he’s the new face of the program.
197: No. 25 Evan Bates
There was a lot of pressure put on Bates’ shoulders coming into nationals. He was on a streak of four losses, and he was going up against a wrestler who easily handled him less than two months ago in No. 8 DJ Parker (OU). Although Bates didn’t place in the tournament, he left a mark in what was his final collegiate wrestling competition.
He took down Parker by a 4-3 decision in the first round. Bates trailed 3-0 until the last 10 seconds of the third period. A takedown plus the riding time point gave him one of the most electric wins of the tournament. Bates went 1-2 after that point. His one-year rental with the Tigers had its ups and downs, but he helped make their top half of the lineup one of the best in the Big 12.
285: No. 28 Jarrett Stoner
Stoner received an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship after a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 tournament, making it his first national qualification. Even so, his seed was poor because of a subpar regular season. Stoner was the only Tiger to go winless, leaving the tournament early with a 0-2 record.
He did compete well against No. 5 Nick Feldman (OHST) in the first round, narrowly losing in a 5-4 decision, but was shut out in a 9-0 major decision defeat against No. 12 Braxton Amos (WISC) in the wrestlebacks. Stoner will likely need to put on some more weight to be a true contender in the heavyweight class next season.
It was an unprecedented season for Tiger Style as it lost multiple high-level contributors to the transfer portal and to graduation. Even though the final placement was the same as a season ago, the road was not. Head coach Brian Smith had to trust multiple unproven wrestlers to carry on the program’s legacy, and we should be set to see many starters return more polished next season.
