Saint John’s travels to face St. Olaf for a 7 p.m. dual tonight in Northfield.
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: The Johnnies (11-4 dual record) look to rebound from their first two-dual losing streak of the season following last Friday’s 24-12 loss to No. 2 (Division II) St. Cloud State. SCSU’s Zach Stewart started the dual with a 20-5 technical fall of junior Scott Padrnos(Brainerd, Minn.) to give the Huskies a 5-0 lead. The result could have been a lot different, however, as Padrnos nearly pinned Stewart in the first period. Down 2-0, Padrnos scored a reversal, then put Stewart on his back for nearly 15 seconds but could not get the pin called. Stewart then scored a reversal following the three-point near fall and went on to score 16 consecutive points. Junior Chad Henle (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer) cut the deficit to 5-3 with a 5-2 decision at 133 pounds. Senior #Minga# Batsukh (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) brought the dual to within three points again with an 11-8 win at 149 lbs. Batsukh is currently ranked fourth in Division III. The Huskies grew their lead to 12-6 with a pair of wins from ranked wrestlers at 157 and 165. The Johnnies bounced back with a pair of wins of their own at 174 and 184; the dual’s two matches in which both wrestlers were nationally-ranked. Junior Matt Pfarr (Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson), the fourth-ranked wrestler in Division III, upset No. 6 (Division II) Shamus O’Grady by a 6-5 margin. Fellow junior Dustin Baxter (Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley), the seventh-ranked wrestler in Division III, followed with a convincing 7-2 upset of No. 5 (Division II) Mic Berg to cut the Huskies’ lead to 16-12. SCSU sealed the dual victory with a decision at 197 pounds and added a technical fall at heavyweight.
A LOOK AT THE OLES: St. Olaf picked up three second-place finishes and a third-place nod at the Central (Iowa) Invitational last Saturday. The Oles’ Ryan Timmerman (141; 17-6 record), Joey Waples (165; 13-3 record) and Andrew Rudd (184; 12-4 record) each finished as the runner-up in their respective weight classes, while Joe Schlueter was third at 197 (10-6 record). Timmerman lost a 12-4 decision in the final while Waples dropped a 6-3 match in his championship bout. Collin Jergenson is also 12-4 at 174 pounds.
WINNING STREAK: Going back to the 1990-91 season, SJU is 17-0 against St. Olaf and has outscored the Oles 669-180 during that span.
LAST YEAR’S DUAL: Then-No. 5 Saint John’s posted two pins and three major decisions en route to a 39-3 win over the Oles on Dec. 8, 2009, in Collegeville. Sophomores Jay Woiwor (Becker, Minn.) and Cody Goldschmidt (Waconia, Minn./BOLD) recorded back-to-back major decisions at 141 and 149, respectively, to make it 17-0 in favor of SJU. The Johnnies’ lone setback of the night was a 6-4 loss at 157.
125 – Trenton Seck (SJU) wins by forfeit [6-0]
133 – Mogi Baatar (No. 3, SJU) dec. Ryan Timmerman (STO), 10-4 [9-0]
141 – Jay Woiwor (SJU) major dec. Tom Mork (STO), 17-7 [13-0]
149 – Cody Goldschmidt (SJU) major dec. Leo Juarez (STO), 13-4 [17-0]
157 – Joey Waples (STO) dec. John Vaith (SJU), 6-4 [17-3]
165 – Kyle Glynn (SJU) pinned Mike Roth (STO), 2:04 [23-3]
174 – Matt Pfarr (SJU) major dec. Collin Jergenson (STO), 16-5 [27-3]
184 – Dustin Raygor (SJU) dec. Andrew Rudd (STO), 8-3 [30-3]
197 – Mitch Hagen (SJU) pinned James Noneman (STO), 2:30 [36-3]
Hwt – Tony Willaert (SJU) dec. Dustin Heiser (STO), 8-1 [39-3]