March 16, 2000
St. Louis, Mo. - Two University of Missouri wrestlers have advanced to the second day of competition at the NCAA Division I Championships at Kiel Center in St. Louis, Mo. Senior Jeff Urban (149) and freshman Jeremy Spates (141) will continue to represent MU in the consolation round of the championships on Friday. Sophomore John Kopnisky was eliminated from competition with two losses on Thursday.
After losing his first bout to the No.2-seed Adam Tirapelle of Illinois, Urban pinned Old Dominion's Dennis Whitby in the first wrestleback match and then earned a 10-2 major decision over Boise State's Jay McGuffin. Urban, now 32-13, will take on Jared Frayer of Oklahoma the No.12-seed. Urban split two bouts with the Sooner this season, most recently defeating him at the Big 12 Chamnpionships on March 5. The win over Whitby was Urban's 100th as a Tiger, inclduing his redshirt season.
Spates won his first match in an upset of Nick Flach of Northern Iowa, the No. 12-seed, but dropped a 7-4 decision to the No. 5-seed Jamill Kelly of Oklahoma State in the second round. Spates' Friday opponent will be determined tomorrow in the first round of competition. Spates is tied with Urban for the team-lead in wins with a 32-12 record.
Kopnisky dropped his first match to Gabe McMahan of Iowa, who is seeded ninth, 15-9 and then lost an overtime battle to Delaney Berger of Minnesota, 3-1. The MU sophomore ends the season at 30-9.