MOORHEAD, Minn. — It’s been a very good six days for the Cobber wrestling program. On Friday Concordia beat defending national champion Augsburg and routed No.6-ranked St. John’s. They capped those two wins by beating up on No.20-ranked MSU Moorhead on Wednesday at Concordia in front of an announced crowd of 421.
The Cobbers won five of the final six matches against the Dragons and came away with a 21-12 victory to beat MSU Moorhead for the second time in the past three seasons.
It is the eighth straight dual-meet win for Concordia who moves to 10-2 on the season. The Dragons, who entered the night ranked 20th in the latest NCAA Division II poll, fall to 4-7 on the year.
Concordia ended up winning six of the 10 individual matches against the Dragons and nine of the 10 matches were decided by a decision. The lone non-decision of the night belonged to Cobber senior National Champion Phil Moenkedick, who picked up his 19th pin fall of the season when he put Kody Kalkbrenner on his back and pinned him at the 5:57 mark of their match at 184. Monekedick’s win gave the Cobbers the lead for good as he turned a 12-9 team deficit into a 15-12 lead.
The win was Moenkedick’s 26th of the season and 126th of his career. He is now 26-1 on the year and 126-10 in his three-plus seasons in maroon and gold.
Not to be outdone in the career victory total, fellow senior Justin Berns used his skill to carve out a precision-like 5-1 win at 157. Berns is now 21-3 and also has 126 career victories.
MSU Moorhead won three of the first four matches in the dual meet to jump to a 12-3 lead. The lone CC win in that stretch came from Daron Hohbein who outlasted Evan Forde at 133 to record a 4-2 win.
Berns started the comeback trail with his win at 157. After Concordia junior Matt Jeska fell 6-4 in OT at 165, the Cobbers ran the table by posting four straight wins in the heavier weight classes. Ross Dankers grabbed an 8-2 win over Trent Sovde at 174 to get CC within three at 12-9.
Moenkedick responded with his pin fall and then Nate Schmitz and Tommy Bouressa closed out the dual by earning hard-fought decisions. Schmitz won 3-1 in OT at 197 after both wrestlers were only able to earn escape points in the three periods. For Schmitz it was his 19th win of the year and he is now 19-7. Bouressa continues to impress in the latter stages of his sophomore season. He won 5-1 at 285 and has now been victorious in 15 of his past 16 matches. Bouressa has shown so much improvement lately that he has only allowed two points in his last nine matches and during that time he has posted a pair of pin falls and won by seven matches by a combined margin of 59-2.
Concordia will compete in the North Country Invite hosted by St. John’s on Saturday, Feb. 5 before finishing off the regular season by squaring off against the University of Mary in a dual meet in Bismarck, N.D. on Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.
Date: February 2, 2011
Location:Moorhead, Minn.
Arena:Concordia College – Memorial Auditorium
Start Time:7 p.m.
End Time: 8:50
Total Time: 1:50
Attendance: 421
#7 Concordia-Moorhead 21, #20 MSU Moorhead 12
125: Corey Ulmer (MSUM) dec. Ben Presler (CC); 6-3
133: Daron Hohbein (CC) dec. Evan Forde (MSUM); 4-2
141: Connor MacGregor (MSUM) dec. David Baker (CC); 9-4
149: Tyler Steinwand (MSUM) dec. Jake Long (CC) dec.; 5-2
157: Justin Berns (CC) dec. Tallen Wald (MSUM); 5-1
165: Tyler Kivel (MSUM) dec. Matt Jeska (CC); 6-4 OT
174: Ross Dankers (CC) dec. Trent Sovde (MSUM); 8-2
184: Phil Moenkedick (CC) pin fall Kody Kalkbrenner (MSUM); 5:57
197: Nathan Schmitz (CC) dec. (MSUM) Brian Woelfel; 3-1 OT
285: Tom Bouressa (CC) dec. Jon Swart (MSUM); 5-1