Five MU Wrestlers Place at Great Plains Open
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
January 9, 1999
Lincoln, Nebraska - Five Missouri Tiger wrestlers placed at the Great Plains Open tournament Saturday afternoon and evening. Juniors Jeff Urban (149) and Jake Lapinski (125) earned fourth place awards, while freshman John Kopnisky (165) and sophomore Jason Moore (184) finished fifth in their weight classes. Senior Matt Webster (157) registered the Tiger's highest mark with a third place finish at 157. MU has now gained 18 place finishes in open competition this season.
Jeff Urban continued to wrestle well, picking up where he left off before the break when he won dual matches at Indiana and Purdue. The junior from Witchita, Kan. registered three wins against two losses for the tournament and raised his season mark to 13-7. Those 13 wins are second most on the Tiger team behind John Kopnisky's 14.
Lapinski was 2-2 for the tournament registering a pin in the third match to set up the third/fourth place match with Indiana's Greg Schaffer. The Indiana wrestler had beaten Lapinski last week in dual meet action at IU and again got the best of the Tiger on Saturday.
Team wins leader John Kopnisky was the fifth place wrestler in his class with a 2-2 record for the day including a 10-1 major decision win versus the University of Nebraska-Kearney's Justin Williams. Kopnisky is now 14-6 overall in 98-99.
Sophomore Jason Moore lost two of three matches, but was able to end in fifth place, winning his final match by pinning Calvin McKinney in 3:27. Moore now is 10-9 for the season.
MU senior Matt Webster gained two wins including a major decision victory over Brandon Pfizenmaier of the University of Nebraska-Kearney finishing in third place at 157. Freshman Kevin Herron registered the quickest pin of the season at 31 seconds in a win over Andy Sistex of The University of Nebraska-Kearney.
