Thursday’s dual marks the ninth time in program history that Missouri will open its season against the Fighting Illini. The two teams last met in 2001 and Missouri won the dual, 20-13. Illinois holds a 19-8 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 1927-28 campaign. Competing at Illinois in 1927, the Fighting Illini took the 24-3 win over Missouri, the first of six season-opening victories over the Tigers. Prior to the 2001-02 campaign, Missouri won its last season opener against Illinois in 1987 under the direction of then-Head Coach Wes Roper, 19-15.
Both teams will take to the center circle with five wrestlers ranked among the top-25 in the nation in their respective weight class. The 2009-10 campaign marks the eighth straight year in which the Tigers open the season ranked among the top-15 in the nation. For Illinois, 2009 marks the first time in over 10 years that the Fighting Illini are not ranked.
Missouri returns three All-Americans to its 10-man lineup with 2009 defending heavyweight National Champion Mark Ellis ranked the highest of his teammates at No. 1 in the nation. Fellow seniors and two-time All-Americans Maxwell Askren and Nicholas Marable begin the season ranked among the top-10 at 184 and 165 pounds, respectively. Askren, down one weight class from his previous three years of collegiate competition, stands at No. 2 in the nation behind three-time All-American and 2008 National Champion Mike Pucillo of Ohio State. Marable, a third place finisher at the 2008 National Championships and seventh-place finisher one year ago, enters the campaign ranked No. 7.
Three Missouri wrestlers, Askren, along with junior Todd Schavrien and sophomore Dorian Henderson, are competing in different weight classes from one year prior. Schavrien, a 2009 NCAA qualifier at 133 pounds, has bumped up to 141 this fall, while Henderson, a 2009 NCAA qualifier at 184 pounds, has dropped to 174 pounds. Both Schavrien and Henderson open the season ranked, Schavrien at No. 18, Henderson as high as No. 14.
Two redshirt freshman are slated to make their first dual appearance Thursday night in the Hearnes Center. Nathan McCormick will wrestle at 133 pounds while Brent Haynes will enter the lineup at 197 pounds. Haynes will take on 12th-ranked senior and three-time NCAA qualifier Patrick Bond of Illinois.
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