Dec. 8, 2004
Cedar Falls, Iowa - Wrestling at the University of Northern Iowa Open on Sunday, Dec. 5, four Missouri Tigers finished among the top six of their respective weight class. Redshirt freshman Tim Kephart finished highest for MU, taking fourth at 125 pounds. Together, the nine Tiger wrestlers tallied 11 falls on the day, with Kephart recording the fastest pin in 20 seconds.
A native of O'Fallon, Mo., Kephart opened his day with a techincal fall over Paul Reedy (Wartburg). Earning a 15 point spread in 3:07, Kephart found his next challenge in Matt Morkel of Iowa. Morkel and Kephart exchanged shots through the seven minute match, but Morkel came out the victor, 2-0. Dropping to the consolation bracket, Kephart recorded five straight wins before falling to Charlie Falck (Iowa) in 1:12 in a battle for third place. Kephart is now 15-8 on the season and recorded the fastest fall of his collegiate career on Sunday by pinning Michael Sierra (William Penn) in 20 seconds.
Sophomore Amond Prater (Marietta, Ga.) and freshman Raymond Jordan finished fifth at 133 and 165 pounds respectively. Prater paired with fourth ranked Mark Jayne of Illinois in his second bout of the morning and was able to put five points on the board, although Jayne won the match 15-5. On his way to a fifth place finish, Prater scored four consecutive decisions and won his final bout against Nate Hansen (Luther) 11-7.
Jordan, of New Bern, N.C., took fifth after recording three straight falls in the 165 pound championship bracket. Before dropping to Garret South (Luther) 8-0, Jordan pinned Sean Beere (SCS) in 5:27, Tyler Clar, (Wisconsin) in 1:18 and Anthony Castillo (Illinois) in 2:53. Jordan met at center circle with 12th ranked Nick Baima of Northern Iowa and kept the match close before suffering a 3-2 loss. Jordan's final win came again against Castillo, 4-1.
Milton, Wis., redshirt freshman Josh Wagner finished sixth at the UNI Open. Wagner recorded two back-to-back falls on the day starting with Dusty Kavitz (Eastern Illinois) in 2:30 and followed by a pin on Kris Thayer (Nebraska-Omaha) in 7:33. Wrestling against Jeff Patzke (Luther) later in the afternoon, Wagner scored his fastest fall of the day in 34 seconds. Wagner has four falls on the season and holds an 8-2 record.