TULSA – Keegan Moore, a redshirt senior at Oklahoma, placed fourth at 184 pounds at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships and qualified for the NCAA tournament in the process.
The Jackson County Central graduate won four matches and lost two in the tournament at BOK Center.
On Saturday, the seventh-seeded Moore opened his tournament with a 7-6 win over Jacob Armstrong of Utah Valley. In the quarterfinals, second-seeded Marcus Coleman of Iowa State sent Keegan to the consolation bracket with a 9-5 win over Moore.
Moore would bounce back with two wins before the first day was done.
In the first round of the consolation bracket, Moore scored 10 points in the third period of a 12-2 win over Jacob Thompson of Air Force. He then upended third-seeded Tate Samuelson of Wyoming 11-5 to advance to the second day.
On the second day of the tournament, Moore won a 9-4 decision over No. 4 seed Dakota Geer of Oklahoma State to clinch his spot in the national tournament. The OU Twitter account sent out the good news:
In the third-place match, Coleman defeated Moore for the second time in the tournament, this time by a 19-6 margin.
Keegan will take an 8-4 record to the NCAA tournament that starts Thursday, March 17 in Detroit. He also wrestled in the 2018 NCAAs while competing for Oklahoma State in 2018.
The Sooners, who are sending nine wrestlers to the national tournament, were second in the team standings at the Big 12 tourney with 113 points. Missouri was first with 131.5 points.