COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Three Saint John’s wrestlers placed at the rugged North Country Open on Saturday, Feb. 7, in Collegeville.
The 153-man tournament featured wrestlers from NCAA Division I Minnesota (16 wrestlers) and North Dakota State (9), as well as Division II MSU-Mankato (9), St. Cloud State (33) and Southwest Minnesota State (7). SJU’s 22 participants were joined by Augsburg (8) and Concordia-Moorhead (26) as members of Division III.
Sophomore Colin Fisher (Eagan, Minn.) went 3-2 on the day to finish fourth at heavyweight. He started the day with a pin and 5-3 decision, but fell to St. Cloud State’s Mike Hobbs in the semifinal. Fisher bounced back with a pin of North Dakota State’s Jerrad Nieland before falling to the Gophers’ Luke Destiche by a narrow 2-0 score in the third-place match.
Senior Evan Guffey (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt) and freshman Nick Pegelow (Eagan, Minn./Eastview) each finished sixth at 133 and 184 pounds, respectively. Guffey, like Fisher, started the tournament with two wins before falling in the semifinal via fall. Guffey exited the tournament after the match and is 12-12 on the season. Pegelow, meanwhile, battled back from a loss in his first match to take sixth. Both of his wins were against fellow Johnnies.
Junior Ben Henle (Spicer, Minn./New London-Spicer), who is ranked eighth nationally at 141 pounds, pinned his first opponent but fell to Minnesota’s Gannon Volk, 10-5 in the second round. He exited the tournament after the loss and is now 24-6 on the season, in which all six losses are to Division I and Division II opponents.
Senior Ryan Michaelis (Monticello, Minn.), who is 10-1 and ranked sixth by D3wrestle.com at 197 pounds, did not compete.
The Johnnies return to dual competition with a 7 p.m. contest against No. 6 Concordia-Moorhead on Friday, Feb. 13, in Sexton Arena.
125
-Ben Kollaja (0-2)
133
-Evan Guffey (Sixth, 2-1)
-Tevin Zavadil (1-2)
141
-Ben Henle (1-1)
-Andrew Perry (0-2)
149
-Branden Schorr (0-2)
-Adam Sutlief (0-2)
157
-Ochirbat Bayanjargal (2-2)
-Brian McCann (0-2)
-Chase Monger (0-2)
165
-Jack Edberg (0-2)
-Teddy Erickson (1-2)
-Jesse Rogers (0-2)
174
-Glenn Castro (0-2)
-Jackson Graham (2-2)
-Nick Hoff (1-2)
-Devin Nanik (1-2)
184
-Aaron Baker (1-2)
-Nick Pegelow (Sixth, 2-3)
-Robert Tait (2-2)
285
-Colin Fisher (Fourth, 3-2)
-Bryan Scepaniak (0-2)