Wrestling Readies For Big 12 Championships
3/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 3, 2000
Columbia, Mo. - MISSOURI TIGERS READY FOR BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The University of Missouri wrestling team begins its post-season competition at the Big 12 Conference Championships, Sunday, March 5 at the Devaney Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska. Mizzou's participants will face opponents from No. 2 Iowa State, No. 3 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Oklahoma, and No. 8 Nebraska. All rounds of the conference meet will take place on Sunday, with 34 Big 12 wrestlers advancing to the NCAA Championships to be held March 16-18 at Kiel Center in St. Louis, Mo. The University of Missouri will co-host the national tournament with the St. Louis Sports Commission. Oklahoma was the 1999 Big 12 Champion at Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University.
TIGERS VYING FOR CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT
These Missouri Tigers have begun to put MU wrestling back in the collegiate wrestling picture. Missouri finished its dual schedule at 11-11, a vast improvement from its 1999, 4-9 mark. Of the nine duals added its to schedule for the 2000 season, MU posted a 7-2 mark, with losses coming to No. 21 Central Michigan and Northwestern, a team which was in and out of the top-25 all season. In fact, Missouri nearly upset NU in Evanston on Jan. 23, losing the dual 19-17, but adding more confidence to the Missouri team. This Big 12 Championships may also show signs of improvement in the Tiger program as they face four of the top-10 programs in NCAA wrestling.
THREE'S COMPANY AT 30 WINS
Though we are not sure who is playing which parts from the 80's television show, Jeremy Spates, Jeff Urban, and John Kopnisky have made a name for themselves this season. Spates has already reached 30 wins for the season, and Urban and Kopnisky are not far behind with 29 wins apiece. If both 29-match winners take a victory at the Big 12 meet, the three Tigers will become the first Missouri trio of 30-match winners since Craig Martin, Jim Handy, and Al Morgan each won thirty during the 1987-88 season. Urban is Missouri's lone senior, finishing his Tiger career with a career-best season, while Kopnisky is a sophomore and Spates, one of the top freshman in the country.
CALLING MISSOURI'S 20-WIN CLUB, PARTY OF FIVE
As a team, Missouri's 11 wins were the most dual wins in fifteeen years. Many of those wins were keyed by five Tigers who won twenty matches or more during the season. We have already promoted the wrestling virtues of Spates, Urban and Kopnisky, but chances are Missouri would not have had the season it did without wins from Kevin Herron and Jesse Jordan. Both sophomore wrestlers have registered career-best seasons at 24-10 and 25-12 respectively. Five 20-match winners are the most on a MU team since six Tigers reached the mark during the 1994-95 season.
MORE ON THE TIGERS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER
Head Coach Brian Smith knows that patience is a virtue when it comes to taking Missouri wrestling into the top-25. Missouri's roster is full of young wrestlers who need experience, but in their second year under Smith, six Tigers have shown improvement in the win column since doning the black and gold. Sure, not all the records are on the better side of .500, but wins are wins. The aforementioned redshirt sophomores Jordan and Kopnisky, have posted the best change from last season, each winning 11 more matches in 1999-2000 than in 1998-99. Here's how all six have done thus far this season:
Name 98-99 99-00 Chg.
John Kopnisky 18 29 +11
Jesse Jordan 14 25 +11
Kevin Herron 15 24 +9
Jeff Urban 20 29 +9
Chad Hertzog 9 16 +7
Mark Bader 10 11 +1
STARTING 'EM EARLY
If you are looking for proof on why Missouri wrestling is going to improve in the coming years, visit the MU wrestling room on Monday and Wednesday nights. That is when the Columbia Youth Wrestling Program holds it practices, along with some special guests. The guests are members of the Missouri wrestling team who donate their time to kids just beginning to undertsand the sport. At these sessions, conference seeding is not an issue and NCAA qualifying is not discussed. Rather young kids begin to enjoy and understand wrestling through student-athletes who have been there and done that. "That is what is going to help us improve in the future," Head Coach Brian Smith has said. "For the young kids its a chance to learn from a Jeff Urban, who was a national qualifier or John Kopnisky, who will hopefully be an All-American. Kids remember that and if they have that exposure to Missouri wrestling it only helps our program as some of those kids choose to come to school here and take their turn at giving back."
TIGERS LAND #1 RECRUIT
University of Missouri Head Wrestling Coach Brian Smith has announced the signing of Justin Spates of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, to a National Letter of Intent. Spates is the brother of current Missouri wrestler Jeremy Spates and the son of Oklahoma Head Wrestling Coach Jack Spates, whom Smith coached under at Cornell from 1992-93. Spates is currently ranked as the top recruit in the nation overall. Last season as a junior, Spates was the Pennsylvania state champion at 125 lbs. for Mount Pleasant High School. As a sophomore, Spates was the runner-up for the high school state championship in Oklahoma at 125 lbs. Both states are traditionally recognized among the best in the nation for high school wrestling competition. "We are very excited to have Justin join the Missouri program," Smith said. " He has unbelievable wrestling talent, plus he is a great student and a National Honor Society member. It is tough to find good 125 lb. wrestlers, but now the University of Missouri has one of the very best."
MISSOURI LINEUP
Wgt. Name/Yr. Record
125 Jesse West/So. 9-6
133 Mark Bader/So. 11-27
141 Jeremy Spates/Fr. 30-9
149 Jeff Urban/Sr. 29-10
157 Jesse Jordan/So. 25-14
165 Mark Vollmar/Fr. 10-19
174 John Kopnisky/So. 29-6
184 Josh Maze/Fr. 16-28
197 Kevin Herron/So. 24-10
HWT Chad Hertzog/So. 16-18
TIGER LEADERS
Wins 30, Jeremy Spates
Dual Wins 16, Jeff Urban 16, Kevin Herron
Takedowns 65, Jeremy Spates
Reversals 16, Jesse Jordan
Near Fall 2 8, Kevin Herron
Near Fall 3 14, Kevin Herron
Pins 8, Kevin Herron
Riding Time 8, Jeremy Spates 8, John Kopnisky
Total Pts. 215, Jeremy Spates
Dual Points 80, Kevin Herron
All Points 103, Kevin Herron
NUMBERS & SUCH
1, Number of wins both Jeff Urban and John Kopnisky are from 30 wins each.
3, Missouri wrestlers in the national rankings entering the Big 12 Championships.
5, Number of John Kopnisky's six losses which came to top-10 wrestlers.
11, Team dual wins by Missouri, most since the 1984-85 season.
12, Win streak by Kevin Herron during the season, tied for the longest of the season.
12, Win Streak by Jeff Urban during the season, tied for the longest of the season.
