Champion at last

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ben Askren is the first national champion in Missouri wrestling history. He claimed the 174-pound title dominating No. 2-seed Jake Herbert 14-2 Saturday evening at the NCAA championships.

Askren finished the longest winning streak this season in college wrestling at 45-0. Herbert had the second longest at 36-0 entering the final, and going back to last season he had won 42 straight.

Herbert shocked many when he chose a tactic most of Askren’s opponents avoided. He tried taking the offensive and squared-up against Askren. It didn’t work out well.

“I’d love to wrestle him again,” Askren said. “He’s confident and he actually tried to wrestle me. But, as far as that goes, I don’t know, I’ve heard that he’s moving up to 184. And I think that would be a smart move for him, He’s a good kid and a goodwrestler. He deserves a title.”

Before the championship matches began, the tournament All-Americans, including Askren and Missouri sophomore 133-pounder Tyler McCormick filed across the red carpet that stretched along the Ford Center floor.

McCormick and Askren walked in the procession circling the wrestling stage in front of a crowd of 16,394.

Askren spent the entire season predicting his championship performance, but it was McCormick’s first NCAA tournament appearance. McCormick clinched a seventh-place finish earlier that morning, and walked the celebratory laps satisfied.

“I wanted to come in here and finish the season off with a win, I didn’t want to finish with a loss, I didn’t want to squeak-in All-American,” McCormick said. “I wanted to prove that I belong here, and I’m going to be here for the next couple of years, hopefully higher up on the podium.”

During the procession, Askren smiled and nodded to the cheering fans and family and teammates sitting in the stands. He showed his characteristic confidence. Meanwhile, his signature hair, an enormous blonde Afro, stood on end as if charged by the roaring crowd’s energy.

After taking the runner-up position the past two years, the championship match was familiar territory for Askren. He fell to Oklahoma State’s Chris Pendleton both times, but Saturday’s outcome was decidedly different.

This time, when Askren, who was named outstanding wrestler of the tournament, finished, he pumped his arms in celebration.

His motions were mimicked by a group of teammates cheering in the fan section. They wore an assortment of colorful Afro wigs, some green, others red or black.

After slapping Herbert on the back and shaking the opposing coaches’ hands, coach Brian Smith rushed Askren and lifted him in the air with a giant hug.

“It’s a great, great accomplishment. Not many people get to experience this,” Smith said. “I

Please see Askren, page 2b

got to coach a national champion at Cornell that I was really close with, David Hirsch, but I was an assistant. This is my first as a head coach, and it has taken a little bit longer than I thought, but hopefully they come easier now.”

Pendleton, Askren’s old nemisis, was a spectator in the stands. He watched his old opponent seize the title that he kept out of reach twice. Thinking back on the past rivalry, Pendleton described it as one of mutual respect.

“My junior year, when I was ranked No. 1, he was a freshman, and he took me into overtime and that kind of set the pace. He should have beat me, I actually had to put him on his back in the closing seconds to send it to overtime,” Pendleton said of his first match with Askren three years ago, “That kind of let me know that this kid is for real, then we had a couple more matches, always pretty close, pretty competitive.”

Askren’s past two NCAA tournament performances were the best individual finishes by a Missouri wrestler since Shaon Fry (167 pounds) in 1993 and Scott Barker (184) in 2003.

And Smith said that momentum is only going to continue.

Missouri finished 15th overall in the tournament after suffering a number of upsets. No. 5-seed Matt Pell, a 165-pound junior, lost in the first round, and No. 9-seed Raymond Jordan a 184-pound redshirt freshman, dropped out of the competition Friday morning.

But the team is so young overall that Smith said he is confident this is the beginning of greatness. Of the seven Missouri wrestlers that qualified for the NCAA championship, only two are seniors, 197-pounder Jeff Foust and 125-pounder Austin DeVoe.

“Coming out, we’ve done something that we’ve never done,” Smith said. “We have a lot of talent coming back. We have Max Askren and Raymond Jordan. I’m starting to plan right now.”