March 19, 2003
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -
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The University of Missouri wrestling team loaded up their van for the two hour drive to Kansas City this morning. Packing the essentials; scale, luggage, singlets, headgears and seven national champion hopefuls. Sophomore Tyron Woodley, juniors J.P. Reese, Jeremy Spates, Kenny Burleson, Scott Barker and seniors Dante Stone and Kevin Herron are on their way to the NCAA Wrestling Championship at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Each with the dream of becoming Missouri's first individual champion. Their dream starts tomorrow with the first round starting at 11:00 a.m., the championships wrap up with the finals at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday March 22.
As with most trips, the amount of luggage you come back with is often more than you left with. The Tigers hope their excess luggage includes a National Championship trophy. With five wrestlers seeded in the top 12 in the tournament, the Tigers are in good position to make a run at the championships. Two Tigers are seeded in the top-five. Barker is seeded fourth in the 184-pound weight class and Woodley is seeded fifth in the 165-pound class.
Barker will face North Carolina's Dusty Heist in the first round. Woodley will face Nick Nemeth from Kent State. Neither of the two Tiger wrestlers has faced his first round opponent this season.
Reese, Spates and Burleson all received 12th-seeds in their respected weight classes. Reese faces Michigans' Clark Forward, with a win over Forward Reese will have a potential match-up with Big 12 foe and 2002 NCAA Champion Aaron Holker of Iowa State. Reese is 1-1 against Holker this season, recently defeating Holker 10-5 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championships.
Spates faces of against Penn's Jody Giuricich in his first round match. Burleson will wrestle Craig Pequignot from Millersville in his first round match.
Stone and Herron are not seeded and will have to wrestle some tough competition to reach the finals. Stone will wrestle the winner of 11th-seed Matt Greenberg (Cornell) and Brett Faustman (Central Michigan) match. Herron has a much tougher road. He faces fifth-seed Boe Rushton of Boise State.
ESPN2 will provide same-day, tape-delayed coverage of the finals from 7-9 p.m. EST. Results will be available after each session at http://thewrestlingmall.com/htmls/tournamentresults.asp?TournamentID=4252