SJU Rolls to 40-3 Wrestling Win Over Division II Mary
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John’s wrestling won its second dual in the row with a 40-3 decision over Division II Mary (N.D.) on Saturday, Jan. 31, in Collegeville.
Freshman Chase Monger (Eden Prairie, Minn.) started the dual with an exciting 7-5 win in overtime at 157 pounds. Down 4-0, Monger scored an escape in the second period and chose down to start the third. He tallied a reversal and two-point near fall to gain a 5-4 lead, but his opponent’s point for riding time sent it to overtime, 5-5. Monger scored a takedown 19 seconds into the extra frame to win the match, his first competitive bout since Dec. 6, to improve to 5-6 on the season.
Sophomore Teddy Erickson (Annandale, Minn.) followed with a 7-4 decision at 165 pounds and freshman Nick Hoff (Rushford, Minn./Rushford-Peterson) pinned his opponent in 1:00 at 174. Hoff now has a 9-5 record with eight pins.
A forfeit at 184 pounds gave SJU (6-16 dual record) an 18-0 lead before senior Ryan Michaelis (Monticello, Minn.) moved his season record to 10-1 with a 10-5 win at 197. He is ranked seventh nationally by D3wrestle.com.
Travis Smith recorded the lone win for Mary (1-11 dual record) at heavyweight over sophomore Colin Fisher (Eagan, Minn.), 4-0.
Following the Marauders’ second forfeit at 125 pounds, senior Evan Guffey (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt) extended the Johnnies’ lead to 30-3 with an 8-6 win, his 10th of the season (10-11 record), at 133.
Junior Ben Henle (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer) improved to 23-5 with a pin in 2:21 at 141 pounds and sophomore Adam Sutlief (Browerville, Minn.) ended the dual with a 12-4 major decision at 149. Henle is ranked as high as seventh by D3wrestle.com and has won 17 of his last 18 matches.
The Johnnies host the annual North Country Open at 9 a.m. next Saturday, Feb. 7, in the Donald McNeely Spectrum (fieldhouse).
Saint John’s 40, Mary 3
157: Chase Monger (SJU) dec. Paul Michaelson, 7-5 OT [3-0]
165: Teddy Erickson (SJU) dec. Riley Nagel, 7-4 [6-0]
174: Nick Hoff (SJU) pinned Jered Keller, 1:00 [12-0]
184: Aaron Baker (SJU) won by forfeit [18-0]
197: Ryan Michaelis (No. 7, SJU) dec. Tom DeVito, 10-5 [21-0]
285: Travis Smith (UM) dec. Colin Fisher, 4-0 [21-3]
125: Ben Kollaja (SJU) won by forfeit [27-3]
133: Evan Guffey (SJU) dec. Hunter Menendez, 8-6 [30-3]
141: Ben Henle (No. 7/8, SJU) pinned Miguel Rivera, 2:21 [36-3]
149: Adam Sutlief (SJU) major dec. Dane Fischer, 12-4 [40-3]