Teams don’t grow when their competition is facile; they grow when mountainous challenges are presented. No. 14 Tiger Style didn’t go through an easy 2025 portion of its season, and the first test of the new year will arguably be the biggest test to date.
13 programs will head to Iowa City, Iowa, to compete on Jan. 3-4. Nine of the teams in attendance are currently ranked, with three in the top five.
Mizzou began tournament play strongly this season after winning its own Tiger Style Invite, but more
recently took fourth in the Cougar Clash tournament. While winning the Soldier Salute may be an outside aspiration, this is as healthy a team the Tigers should have since their opening tournament, making this a tone-setter for the 2026 regular season.
All rankings are according to InterMat.
Tournament Overview
Brackets have yet to be released for the competition, but it will be divided into four different sessions across the two days. The first two sessions will take place on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., respectively. The third session starts at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and the fourth session will comprise all the championship matches, beginning at 5 p.m.
The 12 other teams joining Mizzou at Xtream Arena are Army, Bellarmine, No. 4 Iowa State, No. 28 Navy, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 23 South Dakota State, No. 3 Iowa, No. 13 Minnesota, North Carolina, No. 27 Northern Iowa, No. 21 Wyoming and Virginia Military Institute.
Regarding the individual talent, every weight class has at least four ranked wrestlers, the heavyweight class leading the way with seven ranked wrestlers.
How Mizzou Stacks Up
From a team perspective, the Tigers come in as the fifth-best program based on the rankings. They got back a plethora of talent from injury in their dual against Northern Iowa on Dec. 14 and are projected to have a fully healthy lineup at the Soldier Salute with No. 11 Cam Steed (174lbs) back.
Mizzou’s best shots at titles will come courtesy of No. 15 Joshua Edmond (149lbs) and No. 2 Aeoden Sinclair (184lbs), having both wrestlers in those pools as the second-highest ranked athletes in their pools.
Edmond’s main competition will be a familiar face in No. 8 Ryder Block (Iowa). Back at the National Duals Invite, they faced off and Block barely edged out a decision win in the bout’s first tiebreak period. The other top names at 149lbs are No. 20 Alek Martin (SDSU) and No. 30 Gabe Willochell (WYM).
Also at the top of Sinclair’s list of competition is an Iowa wrestler, No. 1 Angelo Ferrari. Sinclair’s only loss of the season came against Ferrari at the National Duals by a tiebreaker decision. Other names to know at 184lbs are No. 12 Eddie Neitenbach (WYM) and No. 23 Jake Dailey (UNC).
While the Tigers may be pushing their chips in on big performances from Edmond and Sinclair, this team isn’t unaccustomed to surprise finishes. Steed is going to have a lot of eyes on him as a breakout candidate, especially when this is the time of the year he began a hot streak last season.
Mizzou went 6-6 in duals and took first and fourth place finishes in two separate tournaments during the 2025 stretch of its season, leaving more to be desired. Smith didn’t design this campaign to be easy, and the Soldier Salute could prove to be a vital stepping stone for the Big 12 and NCAA Championships.
