No. 20 Dragons Route Sioux Falls Cougars
MOORHEAD, Minn. – The No. 20 Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons wrestling team continued their home stand with a dual matchup against future NSIC foe Sioux Falls (S.D.) at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. The Dragons made quick work of the Cougars and sent their future conference opponents packing with a 45-4 win.
The Dragons started with the team leader in wins, redshirt junior Corey Ulmer, who came into the dual with 15 wins on the year. Ulmer showed why he has been climbing the national rankings against the Cougars’ Brandon Goodwin.
No. 6 Ulmer worked Goodwin over to lead the match, getting a takedown and racking up a pair of two-point nearfalls and a three-point nearfall. Ulmer gained four more points in the second en route to a 17-1 technical fall at the 3:10 mark to give the Dragons a 5-0 lead.
After a major decision win for Sioux Falls’ Joe Goolsby, Tyler Steinwand bounced back at 149 pounds with a takedown just 35 seconds into the opening period against Tom Thompson. Steinwand worked Thompson onto his back and gained a pinfall at the 2:23 mark of the match to give the Dragons six points.
At 174 pounds Trent Sovde’s trio of takedowns had him out in front early as he took on Tal Bakke. After leading 6-3 heading into the third, Sovde reversed Bakke and finished with an 8-4 win.
At 184 pounds, freshman Kody Kalkbrenner escaped out of a Casey Finnicum takedown and took down Finnicum 24 seconds later and gained a three-point nearfall to lead 5-0. Finnicum was unable to continue into the second match, taking a medical default decision.
In the 197-pound matchup, sophomore Brian Woelfel gained a pair of takedowns but yielded a pair of points to his opponent Shea Klooster by way of a penalty for stalling and an escape.
After Klooster chose the bottom position to begin the second, he gained an escape but was immediately taken down just 14 seconds later. An early takedown in the third period, along with 4:54 of riding time, lead to a 10-4 decision for Woelfel.
Senior Jon Swart had an active match to end the night, battling the Cougars’ Jon Skow in the dual’s finale. Swart took a 2-0 lead into the second by way of a takedown, and began to rack up the points on Skow.
After a quick reversal 15 seconds into the match, Swart began exchanging two-point takedowns with Skow’s one-point escapes to give himself a 10-3 lead heading into the third. Swart finished off Skow in the third with a takedown with only three seconds remaining in the match to put him over the top for a 13-4 major decision.
The No. 20 Dragons 45-4 win brings their record to 4-5 on the season while dropping the Cougars to 0-7. The No. 20 Dragons will go back on the conference schedule as they head to No. 2 ranked St. Cloud State on Sunday. The Dragons return home on Feb. 10 to take on Northern State (S.D.) for the annual John Sterner Endowment Dual.