Keegan O'Toole reacts to winning second straight NCAA Wrestling title for Missouri

Keegan O’Toole was the defending champion at 165 pounds but was an underdog Saturday night. The Missouri star lost to Iowa State’s David Carr twice this season before the NCAA finals.

But in the end, that didn’t matter as O’Toole rolled for an 8-2 victory over the Cyclone and 2021 157-pound national champ.

The win came just two weeks after O’Toole’s second loss to Carr in the very same building at the Big 12 Championships in Tulsa.

“I think David’s an amazing person, amazing wrestler,” O’Toole said. “It’s just amazing to have that many high-level people in my weight class. My class was stacked this year. I had so many guys and three national champs, national finalists, bunch of All-Americans. I’m very grateful for the opportunity. And getting to say hi to my mom hopefully here soon, couldn’t find her. My dad, all my teammates.”

O’Toole scored the first takedown of the match and had a 2-0 lead after the first period but led just 2-1 going into the third.

That’s when the now-two-time champion took over. He escaped, took Carr down and managed to get two nearfall points.

Keegan O’Toole added the riding time point to clinch the six-point margin and prevented Carr from winning his second title for Iowa State.

Missouri fell just short of a team trophy as the Tigers finished in 5th place, six points behind Ohio State in the top four cutoff. O’Toole kept it in perspective and despite achieving a high individual honor, he focused on his team.

“I’m so happy for our team and we had a great performance,” O’Toole said. “So damn close to being top four. It’s almost heartbreaking. Kind of bummed me out a lot. One of my best friends and life-long training partners that I’ve been with since I was a little kid, Peyton Mocco, finally got it done as an All-American. That meant so much for me.

“I was warming up my semifinals yesterday and I went out on the mat and there was tears in my eyes just because he won his match. And I’ve been with him since three feet tall. So amazing to have so many great people around me.”

Due to the COVID-19 waiver, O’Toole has two years of eligibility left despite three years of competition now done.

After a third place finish in 2021, O’Toole won the last two titles at 165 pounds.

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Through three years, O’Toole is 64-3.