Wrestling Closes Regular Season Dual Schedule

Head Coach Brian Smith and the Tigers head into the last weekend on dual competition with a 10-10 record.

WrestlingFebruary 13, 2000

Wrestling Closes Regular Season Dual Schedule

Feb. 14, 2000

Columbia, Mo. - The University of Missouri wrestling team closes out its dual schedule this week with home matches versus #3 Oklahoma and Northern Illinois. The Big 12 Conference dual with OU takes place Wednesday, February 16 at 8 p.m. The match will be held in the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse. Sunday's final dual of 2000 with Northern Illinois begins at 1 p.m.

Missouri, 10-10, is coming off an 0-2 weekend on the road. Both defeats came at the hands of top-10 opponents. No. 2-ranked Iowa State beat MU, 31-9 on Friday night and No. 9 Northern Iowa handled the Tigers Sunday, 31-2. MU is now 0-6 versus top-25 opponents this season. However, Missouri wrestling's last victory over a ranked opponent came on a February night in 1994, when the Tigers turned the then-No. 9 Sooners to their backs for a 20-19 win in Columbia.

Senior JEFF URBAN (149) remains MU's hottest wrestler heading into the regular season's final week. The Wichita, Kan. native sports a 28-9 record, including 12 wins in his last 13 duals and 16 wins in his last 18 matches overall dating back to Dec. 19. During that 18-match stretch, Urban has outscored his opponents 130-57 and has three pins. On Friday, Urban defeated No. 10 Billy Maldonado of Iowa State , 7-1 for his 15th dual victory, tying him for the team-lead with KEVIN HERRON (197).

The third-ranked Sooners of Oklahoma represent a tall hill for the Tigers to climb with a 15-3-1 team dual record and all ten starters in the nation's top-20 individual polls. Of those ten ranked OU grapplers, seven are listed among the nation's top-10. Oklahoma's Bryon Tucker is the No. 1-ranked wreslter in the NCAA at 174. Mizzou's John Kopnisky and his 28-5 record, will be looking to hand the Sooner his first loss of the season on Wednesday. Tucker currently stands at 25-0.

Sunday, MU will hope to end their 2000 season the way they ended the 1999 campaign, with a victory over the Northern Illinois Huskies. Last year, MU tamed the Huskies in DeKalb, Ill., 21-15 to finish its season, 4-9. A victory this Sunday would give MU either 11 or 12 wins, depending on Wednesday's outcome. NIU is 3-11 on the year and has lost 11 of its last 12 duals. Included in that string are losses to Eastern Illinois and Brown, both of whom were Missouri Tiger victims in 2000.

The Big 12 Conference championships are next on the schedule for MU, Sunday March 5 at the Devaney Center in Lincoln, Neb. At the conference meet, Missouri's wrestlers will be looking for great performances to help advance them to the NCAA Championships, March 16-18 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Mo.

PROBABLE MISSOURI STARTING LINEUP

125 Jesse West 9-4

133 Mark Bader 11-25

141 Jeremy Spates 28-9

149 Jeff Urban 28-9

157 Jesse Jordan 24-15

165 Tim Hawks 3-14

174 John Kopnisky 28-5

184 Josh Maze 16-26

197 Kevin Herron 23-9

HWT Chad Hertzog 16-16

TIGER TEAM LEADERS Total Wins John Kopnisky, 28 Jeff Urban, 28 Jeremy Spates, 28