Mid-American Conference

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE NAMES THREE WRESTLING POST-SEASON AWARDS
Missouri’s Smith Wins Coach of the Year, Miklus Named Freshman & Houdashelt Wrestler of the Year

Cleveland, Ohio – The Mid-American Conference announced today three wrestling post-season awards for the 2015 season as Missouri swept this year’s awards as Tigers Wrestling Coach Brian Smith was named MAC Wrestling Coach of the Year, while Missouri freshman Willie Miklus was selected as MAC Freshman of the Year and senior Drake Houdashelt was named MAC Wrestler of the Year.

All three awards were voted on by each of the conference’s nine head wrestling coaches following the conclusion of the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Tournament.

Smith was named MAC Wrestling Coach of the Year for the third consecutive year.  Smith led Missouri to the Tigers third consecutive MAC Tournament Wrestling Title in the programs third year as an affiliate member in wrestling.  

Smith and his Tigers earned a 24-0 overall undefeated record this past season, including 8-0 in the MAC.  Missouri earned its third overall consecutive conference tournament title as the Tigers won the MAC Tournament Title.  Missouri finished the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championship with 73.5 points for fourth overall in the nation and five Tigers earned All-American status, including Drake Houdashelt winning the National Championship at the 149-weight class.

This season marked the 17th for Smith at the helm of the Tigers wrestling program.  Under his leadership, Missouri has posted a 223-90-3 record and 23 of his wrestlers have become All-Americans claiming a total of 38 medals.  In addition, Smith’s squads have posted 14 consecutive winning seasons. 

Smith witnessed Missouri senior Drake Houdashelt became the 10th MAC wrestler in Conference history to win a National Championship.  Houdashelt won the 149-weight class with a 3-1 OT win over Edinboro's David Habat at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis at the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships. 

A native of O’Fallon, Mo., Houdashelt became the third MAC National Champion in the last five years -- joining Kent State's Dustin Kilgore in 2011 (197 weight class) and Missouri's J'Den Cox in 2014 (197 weight class).  Houdashelt also became the fifth individual and sixth overall National Champion in Missouri wrestling history.

In addition to winning MAC Wrestler of the Year, Houdashelt also became just the third wrestler in Missouri program history to accumulate three or more All-American honors in a career.  He also ends his collegiate career a four-time Conference Champion (2012 Big 12; 2013-15 MAC) to become the first wrestler in Missouri history to accomplish this feat.  Houdashelt ends his career with 134 wins, third place in Missouri all-time wins list, and a .854 career winning percentage (fifth most) and 39 career major decisions which is the most in Tiger wrestling history.

Missouri redshirt freshman Willie Miklus finished seventh overall at the 184 weight class at the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships to earn All-American status.  Miklus finished the season with a 33-9 overall record and finished second in the MAC Wrestling Championships after falling to Old Dominion’s Jack Dechow, 6-4, in the 184-weight class.

Miklus, a native of Altoona, Iowa, began the 2014-15 season with 18 consecutive victories.  He added 14 falls which was tops among Missouri starters and his 82 dual points accumulated was second best on the team, trailing J’Den Cox’s 87 points.