Feb. 12, 2002

Missouri and Central Missouri State will face off at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in an intrastate battle. The Tigers are 13-2 on the year and are ranked No. 9 in the nation. Central Missouri State enters the dual with an 11-7 record and is ranked No. 10 in the Division II poll.

The dual will be the only dual of the year that will take place in the arena of the Hearnes Center.

MU is coming off a 30-6 win over No. 20 Michigan State on Sunday. The only two duals that the Tigers have lost this season have been to teams ranked in the top seven in the nation (No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 7 Iowa State).

Missouri Outlook
The Tigers are 13-2 on the season and enter Wednesday's battle with Central Missouri State with a No. 9 ranking, a spot they have had have held for six consecutive weeks. Six MU wrestlers are ranked in the top 20 with two holding spots in the top 10 of their weight classes.

Senior John Kopnisky leads Missouri with 19 wins on the season. He is currently ranked eleventh in the 174-pound weight class. With a win Wednesday, Kopnisky will record his 100th career victory at Missouri, becoming only the seventh Tiger to ever reach that milestone.

The highest ranked Tiger is sophomore Scott Barker. Barker is ranked seventh in the 197-pound weight class. He is 17-2 on the year including nine pins. In December, he won the 197-pound division at the Reno Tournament of Champions and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Sophomore Jeremy Spates is ranked No. 13 at 149 pounds and is 18-5 on the season. Other ranked Tigers include redshirt freshman Tyron Woodley (10th at 165 pounds), sophomore Kenny Burleson (15th at 157 pounds) and Dante Stone (20th at 184 pounds).

The Tigers will be in action again at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday when they host Northern Illinois in the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse.

Scouting Central Missouri State
The Central Missouri State Mules are 11-7 on the season. They finished 11th at the Division II Championships last year and have seven returning national qualifiers on this year's squad. Central is ranked No. 10 in Division II according to the latest Intermat poll.

Senior John Rolling (184 pounds) and junior Willie McCowan (heavyweight) are both returning All-Americans. Rolling finished fourth at nationals last year and is 10-9 this season. McCowan took fifth last year at nationals and is 28-8 overall this season.

Other returning qualifiers include senior Ian McGeorge at 125 pounds, senior Luke Shaw in the 133-pound class, sophomore Wes Reynolds at 149 pounds, junior Ryan Hunter in the 157-pound division and sophomore Brett Barbarick in the 165-pound class.

Missouri Projected Lineup (Overall record, Dual record, Big 12 Record)
125- Mark Bader-Jr. (13-12, 8-7, 1-2)
133- Chris McCormick-Fr. (9-12, 5-10, 0-3)
141- J.P. Reese-So. (16-8, 10-5, 2-1)
149- Jeremy Spates-So. (18-5, 10-2, 1-2)
157- Kenny Burleson- So. (13-8, 10-2, 0-3)
165- Tyron Woodley-RSFr. (15-6, 9-4, 1-2)
174- John Kopnisky-Sr. (19-4, 11-3, 3-0)
184- Dante Stone- Jr (14-8, 8-5, 1-2)
197- Scott Barker-So. (17-2, 13-2, 2-1)
HWT- Kevin Herron-Jr. (15-10, 9-6, 1-2)

Central Missouri State Projected Lineup (Overall record, Dual record)
125- Ian McGeorge- Sr. (14-14, 7-4)
or Jim McDaniel- Jr. (6-11, 1-1)
133- Luke Shaw- Sr. (21-12, 9-5)
141- Drew Passley- So. (25-19, 10-6)
149- Eric Pizzi- Jr. (14-11, 4-3)
157- Jared Lien- So. (23-17, 5-9)
165- Alibek Pardakulov (16-5, 6-3)
174- Lee Gatlin- Jr. (16-16, 5-8)
184- John Rolling- Sr. (10-9, 2-1)
197- Seth Shippy- So. (17-10, 9-3)
or Brett Barbarick- So. (24-13, 10-8)
HWT- Willie McCowan- Jr. (28-8, 15-3)

The MU vs. CMSU series
Missouri holds a 32-6 lead in the all-time series between the Tigers and the Mules. The series dates back to the 1963-64 season. That year the teams met twice with Missouri winning both (17-11 and 16-10).

Last year in Warrensburg, Mo., the Tigers knocked off the Mules by a 30-10 score. MU recorded two pins and three major decisions on the way to the win. CMSU won the last meeting in Columbia by a 21-15 score in January of 2000.

Missouri Head Coach Brian Smith
Brian Smith is in his fourth year as Missouri's head coach. He has compiled a record of 35-32-1 while at the helm of the Tigers.

He is a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. where he was a two-time high school state champion. He was a four-year letterwinner at Michigan State and was a Big Ten runner-up his senior year.

Smith started his coaching career at Westran High School in Florida. His collegiate coaching career began at Cornell as an assistant. He then held the head coaching job at Syracuse in 1997 where he helped to stabilize the program and coach a wrestler to All-American honors. He took over at Missouri in 1998 and has seen the Tigers improve each year he has been the MU coach.

Central Missouri State Head Coach Robin Ersland
Robin Ersland is in his seventh season at Central Missouri State and has compiled a record of 67-58-2 during that time.

He has a career record of 140-183-7 in 17 seasons as a head coach. Prior to taking over at CMSU in 1995, Ersland was the head coach at Northern Michigan and California University in Pennsylvania. Ersland was named NCAA Division II Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 1996, 1998 and 2000. In his six previous seasons at CMSU, the Mules have had 15 All-Americans.

After graduating from Luther College in 1980, he spent a year as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa working under wrestling legend Dan Gable. He has also been involved with the U.S. Olympic wrestling program for 17 years, serving as a coach on various national and international teams.

Rankings
Missouri is ranked No. 9 in the nation by Intermat. Mizzou has been in the top 10 for seven consecutive weeks and has been at No. 9 for the past six weeks. The No. 9 ranking is the highest ranking a Tiger wrestling team has ever held.

Missouri opened the season ranked No. 21 and climbed up the polls with its 11-0 start. MU will likely finish the season with its most wins since the 1983-84 team won 14 duals.

Five Tigers are ranked in the top 20 of their weight classes. Scott Barker is No. 7 at 197 pounds, Jeremy Spates is No. 13 in the 149-pound class, John Kopnisky is No. 11 at 174 pounds, Tyron Woodley is ranked tenth at 165 pounds, Kenny Burleson is ranked fifteenth in the 157-pound class and Dante Stone is No. 20 in the 184-pound class.

Intermat Poll- Feb. 12, 2002
1. Minnesota
2. Michigan
3. Iowa
4. Ohio State
5. Oklahoma State
6. Oklahoma
7. Iowa State
8. Pennsylvania
9. MISSOURI
10. Arizona State
11. West Virginia
12. Lehigh
13. Illinois
14. Purdue
15. Lock Haven
16. Edinboro
17. Northern Iowa
18. Wisconsin
19. Central Michigan
20. Michigan State
21. Cornell
22. Boise State
23. Hofstra
24. Fresno State
25. Oregon State