Nov. 9, 2000

St. Joseph, Mo. - Several University of Missouri wrestlers competed unattached last Saturday at the Lindenwood Open in St. Charles, Mo.

"I am pleased with our results from the weekend, but I'm not happy yet," said Head Coach Brian Smith. "We did some positive things, but there are naturally going to be a lot of adjustments that need to be made. Some of our guys wrestled really well."

One of those "guys" is true freshman Justin Spates at 125 pounds, who pinned Lindenwood's Josh Buchanan in the finals and was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Also at 125, junior Mark Bader placed third.

At 149, Jeremy Spates also took champion honors. In an earlier round, he wrestled Jon Sioredas, another unattached Tiger, winning in overtime. Sioredas placed third, beating another teammate, Kenny Burleson, in the consolation finals. Burleson placed fourth.

Placing third, 157 pound junior David Neff had a tournament high four pins. Also at 157, freshman Brian Hinson placed fourth.

In one of the more exciting finals matches, 165 pound freshman Tyron Woodley placed second, losing by one point in double overtime. Freshman Clint Freeman was fourth at 165.

At 174, freshman Matt Turner finished third.

In addition to placing first, 184 pound sophomore Rob Stolin was unscored upon throughout the tournament.

The 197 pound division saw a host of unattached Tigers competing. Junior Kevin Herron placed took champion honors, freshman Scott Barker was second, and Dante Stone finished third. Both Barker and Stone's only losses were to Herron.

Six members of the starting lineup did not compete, including juniors John Kopnisky, Chad Hertzog, Jesse Jordan, Jesse West, and Ry Stone, and sophomore J.P. Reese.

On Friday, the Tigers will travel to Edwardsville (Ill.) Junior High School for their first regular season dual, meeting the Fighting Illini of Illinois at 7 p.m.