No. 23 NDSU Defeats Gardner-Webb 38-8, Falls at No. 12 Virginia Tech 33-7
BLACKSBURG, Va.–No. 23-ranked North Dakota State University defeated Gardner-Webb 38-8 and lost to No. 12 Virginia Tech in a pair of dual wrestling matches held Sunday, Nov. 16. NDSU’s Hayden Zillmer and Mitch Bengtson won a pair of matches on Sunday with Zillmer posting a 3-0 record during the weekend.
Zillmer, a junior 184-pounder from Crosby, Minn., recorded a 19-4 tech fall win over Gardner-Webb’s in his first match. He then defeated Virginia Tech’s Austin Gabel in his second match. Zillmer ranked No. 13 nationally coming into the weekend and improved to 11-1 this season.
Bengtson, a 141-pound redshirt freshman from St. Cloud, Minn., bounced back from Saturday’s loss with a pin of Gardner-Webb’s Ryan Hull at :31-seconds. He followed that effort with a 14-1 major decision over Virginia Tech’s Jerry Ronnau.
Virginia Tech (3-0) won eight weight classes including three matchups featuring nationally-ranked wrestlers. The Hokies’ No. 5-ranked Joey Dance won 6-3 over NDSU’s No. 13 Josh Rodriguez. At 174 pounds, Virginia Tech’s No. 13 Zach Epperly edged No. 14 Kurtis Julson 6-4, while the Hokies’ No. 12-ranked Ty Walz came away with a 3-2 win over No. 10 Evan Knutson.
North Dakota State’s Collin Sohn, Bengtson and Julson each had pins against Gardner-Webb. It was the first collegiate win for Sohn, a true freshman from Plymouth, Minn.
North Dakota State is scheduled to host No. 19 Wisconsin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.
#23 North Dakota State 38, Gardner-Webb 8
125: #13 Josh Rodriguez (NDSU) over Cortez Starkes (GW), major dec 16-5
133: Justin Scherkenbach (NDSU) over Tyler Ziegler (GW), major dec 9-1
141: #20 Mitch Bengtson (NDSU) over Ryan Hull (GW), fall 0:31
149: Clay Ream (NDSU) over Ryan Mosley (GW), major dec 9-1
157: Kyle Ash (GW) over Steven Keogh (NDSU), dec 9-5
165: #20 Austin Trott (GW) over Trevour Chavez (NDSU), tech fall 15-0, 2:15
174: #14 Kurtis Julson (NDSU) over Christian Maroni (GW), fall, 2:09
184: #13 Hayden Zillmer (NDSU) over Gray Jones (GW), tech fall 19-4, 7:00
197: Collin Sohn (NDSU) over Terry Henderson (GW), fall 4:30
285: #10 Evan Knutson (NDSU) over Justin Kozera (GW), dec 9-3
#12 Virginia Tech 33, #23 North Dakota State 7
125: #5 Joey Dance (VaTech) over #13 Josh Rodriguez (NDSU), dec 6-3
133: #18 Kevin Norstrem (VaTech) over Justin Scherkenbach (NDSU), injury, 2:02
141: #20 Mitch Bengtson (NDSU) over Jerry Ronnau (VaTech), major dec 14-1
149: #2 Devin Carter (VaTech) over Clay Ream (NDSU), fall 4:35
157: Saul Mastriani (VaTech) over Steven Keogh (NDSU), major dec 14-4
165: Chad Strube (VaTech) over Anthony Caputo (NDSU), dec 7-2
174: #13 Zach Epperly (VaTech) over Kurtis Julson (NDSU), dec 6-4
184: #13 Hayden Zillmer (NDSU) over Austin Gabel (VaTech), dec 3-1
197: Jared Haught (VaTech) over Collin Sohn (NDSU), tech fall 17-1, 6:31
285: #12 Ty Walz (VaTech) over #10 Evan Knutson (NDSU), dec 3-2