March 15, 1999

Columbia, Mo. - Missouri junior wrestler, Jeff Urban will head to the NCAA Championships in State College, Pennsylvania later this week as Missouri's representative at 149 lbs. Urban has compiled a 20-12 record for the season and advanced to the national tournament via a wild card berth from the Big 12 Conference. Jeff's opponent will be determined at the event after all the qualifying wrestlers have passed weight and the seeding process is completed.

"At the national tournament, you have to have your best wrestling days," head coach Brian Smith said. "Jeff has the talent to do that and hes beaten some ranked guys this year, so all he needs to do is put it all together. It is real important for him to be there this year as he heads into his senior season next year."

With 20 wins this year, Urban has now recorded two consecutive season with twenty wins or more. As a sophomore in 1998-99, Urban won twenty-five matches and placed fourth at the Big 12 Conference Championships. The Witchita, Kansas native first attended New Mexico University for one year before tranferring to MU. As a Lobo, Jeff was 10-15 and finished third at the WAC Touney in his freshman season. The 1996-97 season was Urbans first at Mizzou as he posted a 10-4 record as a redshirt sophomore.

"With Jeff going this year, we now have two wrestlers (Jason Moore in 1998) who have been to nationals and can come back and tell the team about their experience. That helps in showing the kids that it can be done and it also is a big help with recruiting and building the program," Smith said.