Feb. 15, 2002

Northern Illinois will visit the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse Sunday to face the No. 9 Missouri Tigers. Missouri is 14-2 on the season and is coming off a 41-0 win over Central Missouri State on Wednesday.

Missouri's No. 9 ranking is the highest ever ranking for a MU wrestling squad. The Tigers have been in the top ten of the polls for seven consecutive weeks and have held the No. 9 spot for the past six weeks.

Northern Illinois is 14-3 on the year and are led by senior Scott Owen and sophomore Ben Heizer. Owen is ranked No. 6 in the 157- pound class and Heizer is No. 11 at 184 pounds.

Missouri leads the all-times series between the two teams 9-2 and has won the last seven meetings. Last season the Tigers knocked off the Huskies 24-9.

Following Sunday's match, the Tigers will be on the road at the Cornell Duals on Feb. 13 in Ithaca, N.Y. before returning home to face Oklahoma at 7 p.m. on Feb. 26 in the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse.

Missouri Outlook
Missouri enters Sunday's match with Northern Illinois with a 14-2 record and a No. 9 ranking. The 14 wins are the most for a Tiger team since the 1983-84 team went 14-9-1. 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 20 wins on the season. He is currently ranked eleventh in the 174-pound weight class. Kopnisky recorded win No. 100 at MU on Wednesday.

The highest ranked Tiger is sophomore Scott Barker. Barker is ranked seventh in the 197-pound weight class. He is 18-2 on the year, including ten 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 19-5 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).

Scouting Northern Illinois
The Northern Illinois Huskies come to Columbia with a 14-3 record and have been mentioned in the latest Intermat rankings, but have not cracked the top 25. This season they are 4-1 in the MAC with their only loss coming to Central Michigan 18-14 on Feb. 1.

Northern Illinois has two returning All-Americans on this year's squad and both are ranked in the latest poll.

Senior Scott Owen is the defending MAC Champion at 157 pounds and is ranked No. 6 in the 157-pound weight class. At 184 pounds, sophomore Ben Heizer is ranked No. 11 and was an All-American last season. He, like Owen, is likely to be the favorite in his weight class at the MAC Championships.

NIU is coached by Dave Grant who is in his sixth year as the Huskies head coach. Grant has a record of 39-50-3. The Huskies are in the midst of their best season under Grant. After four losing seasons, NIU was 9-8-2 last year and have eclipsed that mark this season by already compiling 14 wins.

Missouri Projected Lineup (Overall record, Dual record, Big 12 Record)
125- Mark Bader-Jr. (14-12, 9-7, 1-2)
133- Chris McCormick-Fr. (10-12, 6-10, 0-3)
141- J.P. Reese-So. (17-8, 11-5, 2-1)
149- Jeremy Spates-So. (19-5, 11-2, 1-2)
157- Kenny Burleson- So. (14-8, 11-2, 0-3)
165- Tyron Woodley-RSFr. (16-6, 10-4, 1-2)
174- John Kopnisky-Sr. (20-4, 12-3, 3-0)
184- Dante Stone- Jr (15-8, 9-5, 1-2)
197- Scott Barker-So. (18-2, 14-2, 2-1)
HWT- Kevin Herron-Jr. (16-10, 10-6, 1-2)

Northern Illinois Projected Lineup (Overall record)
125- Marlon Felton- Jr (16-8)
133- Sam Hiatt- Fr. (21-9)
141- Oliver Vasquez-Jr. (14-10)
149- Alex Nelson- Fr. (7-18)
157- Scott Owen-Sr. (26-1)
165- Bryce Hasemann- So. (17-13)
174- Bill Lowney- Jr. (20-8)
184- Ben Heizer- So. (22-8)
197- Jack Dennis- Jr. (8-12)
or Terry Martin-Jr. (2-1)
HWT- Jon Lovrich- Jr. (12-9)

The MU vs. NIU series
Missouri leads the all-time series between the two schools 9-2 and MU has won the last seven meetings. The last win for the Huskies over the Tigers came in the 1982-83 season when NIU downed Missouri 22-18.

Last season the Tigers defeated Northern Illinois 24-9 in DeKalb, Ill. Missouri won seven of the ten matches. In the match, Missouri's J.P. Reese recorded a pin over NIU's Ryan Egan in only :56.

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.

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