North Dakota State senior Trent Sprenkle and junior Steven Monk continued to climb in the latest Division I wrestling individual rankings released on Tuesday. Sprenkle moved up to No. 5 in the nation in two polls, becoming the highest-ranked wrestler in NDSU’s Division I era.
Sprenkle, pegged as high as No. 6 at 125 pounds entering last weekend’s Bison Quad, was ranked at No. 5 by both Amateur Wrestling News and Intermat on Tuesday. The senior from Billings, Mont., owns an 8-0 record on the season including five pins.
Sprenkle is 20-3 in his last 23 matches dating back to Jan. 20, 2012, with two of those three losses coming against the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked wrestlers in the nation at last season’s NCAA Championships. On Nov. 24, Sprenkle defeated then-No. 5 David Thorn of Minnesota, 4-3.
Monk climbed to No. 7 in the Amateur Wrestling News rankings and No. 8 in the Intermat poll at 165 pounds. The junior from Wausau, Wis., defeated No. 10 Cody Yohn of top-ranked Minnesota on Nov. 24 and now owns a 9-0 mark on the season.
Monk is 26-3 over his last 29 matches dating back to Jan. 13, 2012.
Senior Mac Stoll (Dent, Minn.) remained in the Top 20 in both rankings, climbing one spot to No. 16 in Amateur Wrestling News and holding steady at No. 17 in Intermat. Stoll is 6-2 on the young season, with both losses coming to wrestlers ranked in the top 12 spots.
While NDSU fell to No. 27 in the USA Today/NWCA/AWN Division I Coaches Poll, the Bison moved up to No. 24 in the Intermat rankings, which are based on NCAA Tournament strength rather than dual meet strength.
The Bison travel to Las Vegas this weekend for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational on Nov. 30-Dec. 1.