The South Dakota State wrestlers host the no. 47 (Intermat) Northern Colorado Bears Friday in Western Wrestling Conference action. Action is slated to begin at 7 p.m. from Frost Arena.
Aaron Pickrel leads the Jackrabbits with a 5-2 duals record and an 18-7 overall record. Five of Pickrel’s wins were by fall with the fastest in one minute three seconds. Four other Jacks have three dual wins this season in Nick Flynn (3-4 duals, 8-12 overall), Kevin Kelly (3-7 duals, 8-13 overall), David Michaud (3-5 duals, 7-5 overall) and Tony Vaske (3-1 duals, 12-7 overall). Five of Michaud’s seven wins on the season were by fall, with the remaining wins by decsion.
The probable lineup for the Jacks against Northern Colorado includes: Pickrel (125 pounds), open at 133 pounds, Tyler Johnson (141 pounds),Jimmy Hamilton (149 pounds), Andrew Youngblom (149 pounds), Nick Flynn (157 pounds), Seth Moe (157 pounds), Joe Rasmussen (165 pounds), John Nething II (165 pounds), Michaud (174 pounds), Cord Willers (184 pounds), open at 197 pounds and Kelly (285 pounds).
Frost Arena is also set to host the Brookings High School and Watertown High School junior varsity and varsity duals Friday. The JV rivals square-off at 5 p.m., with the varsity match-up kicking off at 6 p.m.
This week’s Competition
Northern Colorado Bears – Northern Colorado, ranked no. 47 by Intermat, heads into the weekend with a 0-4 season record and a 0-1 WWC record.
Last week the Bears traveled to the Lone Star Duals in Grand Prairie Texas where they fell 30-19 to no. 14 Arizona State, 28-12 to Appalachian State and 24-14 to The Citadel.
No. 10 Justin Gaethje defeated Taihei Fukumoto of no. 14 Arizona State by a major decision. Gaethje also tallied wins against Russ Benner (Appalacian State) by major decision and Derek Royster (The Citadel) by technical fall. The 149-pounder owns a 9-1 record on the season.
The Jacks are 18-10 all-time against the Bears.
Wrestlers on Facebook – Fans can show their support for the Jackrabbit wrestlers on Facebook. Log onto Facebook.com/JackrabbitWrestling to keep up with the Jackrabbit grapplers.
Fans can also follow Jackrabbit Athletics on the all new Facebook page by logging onto Facebook.com/SDSU.Jackrabbit.Nation.
Jackrabbit Extra – Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com can view select SDSU wrestling matches live on the internet. To subscribe to the Jackrabbit Extra, log onto GoJacks.com, select Jackrabbit Extra on the Audio/Video tab and click “sign up.”
Jackrabbit Insider on FOX and FSN – “Jackrabbit Insider” airs at 10:30 p.m. Sundays on KTTW FOX 7. The show can also be seen on FOX Sports North Tuesdays at 6 p.m. CT. FOX College Sports Central will air the program Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. “Jackrabbit Insider” is also available through the Jackrabbit Extra video on-demand service at GoJacks.com. Hosted by Tyler Merrium, “Jackrabbit Insider” is a weekly half-hour program that provides Jackrabbit fans with a behind-the-scenes look at South Dakota State University Athletics.
Last week – The SDSU wrestlers recorded a 38-9 loss to the no. 43 (Intermat) Northern Iowa Panthers last week in the conference-opening matchup of the season.
John Nething II put three team points up on the board for the Jacks, while a win by forfeit for Cord Willers notched the last six team points.
Nething, a 165 pounder, ended the first period of his match against UNI’s John Simon down 0-2 but came back with a two-point near fall in the second period. Simon’s escape late in the second period put the score at 2-3, Simon. Nething notched an escape and a takedown early in the third period to up the score 5-3. Simon tallied an escape but Nething added one last takedown with eight seconds to go for the 7-4 decision win.
Next Up – The wrestlers wrap up January with a road trip to Wyoming Jan. 28 and Air Force and Jan. 29. The matches are set to begin at 7 p.m. Mountain Standard Time and 7:05 p.m. MT, respectively.