Missouri wrestler Keegan O'Toole wins the NCAA wrestling title at 165 pounds

DETROIT — Keegan O’Toole warmed up in the tunnel here at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night wearing a gold shirt displaying the words “THE CHAMP IS HERE” as well as a picture of a professional wrestling belt.

Turns out, that warm-up gear was something of a premonition.

O’Toole, the Missouri wrestling team’s talented freshman middleweight, became the champion on Saturday night — the national champion, that is. He won an individual NCAA title at 165 pounds with a 6-5 finals win over Stanford’s Shane Griffith.

“I’m still in shock,” O’Toole said afterward. “I really don’t even know what happened.”

What happened was this: The 20-year-old wrestling phenom overcame a 4-2 deficit in the second period to score a takedown with 73 seconds left to beat Griffith, who was the returning national champion.

What happened was this: O’Toole became Mizzou’s sixth all-time individual NCAA wrestling champion, joining three-time champ J’den Cox (2014, 2016-17), two-time champ Ben Askren (2007-08), plus Mark Ellis (2009), Max Askren (2010) and Drake Houdashelt (2015).

What also happened was this: the Hartland, Wisconsin, native did basically the whole thing on a bum ankle.

“I was really banged up in my second match,” said O’Toole, now a two-time All-American after taking third last season. “I popped my ankle and sprained it. It was really hard for me to shoot or do anything. That’s why a lot of those matches were close.”

Indeed, O’Toole limped off the mat Thursday night after a 7-0 second-round victory over Arizona State’s Anthony Valencia, a past All-American. He returned on Friday and labored through two wins over guys who joined him as All-Americans this week — 2-0 over Ohio State’s Carson Kharchla, 4-0 over Michigan’s Cam Amine — to reach the finals.

O’Toole outscored his five opponents this week by a combined 21-5, which includes his 2-0 lead in his 52-second pin over Michigan State’s Caleb Fish in the first round. He finished his second NCAA season with a 25-0 record, and is now 43-1 for his career.

But his final four matches this week were some of his closest matches of the season. In his two years with the Tigers, O'Toole has routinely dominated the opposition. Of his 25 wins this season, seven were by fall, two were by technical fall (a 15-point advantage), and seven were by major decision (a win by 8 points or more).

The key to persevering this week, O’Toole said, was between the ears.

“Just the right mentality,” O’Toole said. “I’ve had amazing mentors, but they’re not always there to hold my hand so I have to figure things out on my own, and I know that. Mental power is more important than physical power.

“If you really believe in yourself and you have faith and you’re not scared and you stay composed and you believe in yourself, the sky’s the limit. That goes for anybody.”

He continued, with a laugh: “I want to get this dang tape off my ankle so bad. I woke up this morning and it was hard to walk. I tried to drill a little bit and it hurt like hell. But like I said, faith over fear no matter the circumstances.”

That mindset served him well in Saturday night’s final.

Griffith raced out to a 4-2 lead by scoring takedowns in the first and second periods, but O’Toole scored a reversal before the end of the second to tie the match at 4. Griffith then chose neutral to start the third, and 30 seconds in, O’Toole countered a Griffith shot by scoring a takedown of his own for a 6-4 lead.

“I was ready to throw down, no matter what the circumstances were,” O’Toole said. “I knew that going into the match, it didn't matter how I was feeling, I had to find a way.”

That sequence held up as the match-winner — Griffith scored an escape with 34 seconds left, but O’Toole evaded his last-gasp efforts. He watched the final seconds tick off the clock and smiled at Missouri coach Brian Smith in the corner.

“This is what Keegan was born to do,” said Smith, who coached the Tigers to a ninth-place team finish with 49.5 points behind a pair of All-Americans (Rocky Elam took fourth at 197 pounds).

“He was able to make adjustments mid-match and to do that at such a high level speaks to how intelligent he is as a wrestler,” Smith continued. “It's just a testament to the work ethic and dedication he puts in on and off the mat every single day.”

The celebration began with a slap of the mat, followed by hugs with the Missouri coaching staff, and continued off the staged championship mat with a massive embrace with his family, much of whom sat mat-side Saturday night.

The announced crowd of 18,164 inside Little Caesars Arena showered him with applause. He pointed and waved and smiled.

The champ, finally, had arrived.

“I wasn’t put on this earth to be afraid of anything,” O’Toole said. “I have faith in my coaches, in God, in my family, everyone around me — I have amazing people around me and that’s why I’m here. These people build me up to what I am.

“I have a deep admiration for the sport of wrestling, and if you have the right people around you, you can do anything.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

Watch Keegan O'Toole's NCAA finals victory over Stanford's Shane Griffith here:

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mizzou wrestler Keegan O'Toole wins national NCAA wrestling title