MSUM Wrestlers Top Wolves, 23-15 on Senior and Alumni Night
MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead wrestling team picked up its first conference win of the season with a 23-15 victory over Northern State Friday night at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.
MSUM is now 4-7 in duals overall and 1-3 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with the win while Northern State fell to 4-8 overall and 0-4 in the league.
The Dragons also honored their seniors at their final home dual: Nader Abdullatif, Blake Bosch, Isaac Novacek and Dan Murakami. Abdullatif and Novacek each won, while Bosch won by forfeit. Murakami’s college career was cut short by an injury. It was also Alumni Night for the Dragons with several former wrestlers back at the match. At the same time, the Moorhead vs. Fargo Davies high school dual was taking place.
“I thought we wrestled well,” MSUM head coach Kris Nelson said. “We had a great crowd, with several alumni back. With the Davies-Moorhead dual at the same time, it was a fun atmosphere.”
MSUM built a 12-0 lead after three matches on Friday. Sophomore Jared Goldsmith (12-12) beat Northern’s Matthew Leier, 5-3 at 125 to put the Dragons on the board. Bosch (22-1) won by forfeit at 133 to make it 9-0.
Sophomore Kristian Vazquez (8-8) added a 6-4 win over CJ Voegeli at 141 to make it 12-0 Dragons.
After Northern State won by decision at 149, the Dragons responded with a win by technical fall from senior Isaac Novacek at 157. Novacek (13-11) beat Kaiden Dorris, 17-0 to give the Dragons a 17-3 lead.
“Isaac wrestled very tough for seven minutes,” Nelson said. “He was very tough in the top position.”
The Wolves won by major decision at 165 to cut the lead to 17-8. Sophomore Adam Blees (13-7) picked up a win at 174, a 4-2 victory over Tanner Olson, to give MSUM a 20-8 advantage.
Northern State cut the lead to 20-15 with a win at 184 and a technical fall at 197. At the decisive 285-pound match, Abdullatif (15-8) finished off the win for MSUM with an 8-2 victory over Harrison Townsend.
“Nader came through big at heavyweight and wrestled a really good match,” Nelson said.
MSUM’s final four duals are on the road, starting Feb. 5 at Mary. The dual begins at 1 p.m. in Bismarck, N.D.
MSU-Moorhead 23, Northern State 15
125-Jared Goldsmith (MSUM) dec. Matthew Leier, 5-3
133-Blake Bosch (MSUM) won by forfeit
141-Kristian Vazquez (MSUM) dec. CJ Voegeli, 6-4
149-Tyler Stenberg (NSU) dec. Dylan Connell, 8-1
157-Isaac Novacek (MSUM) tech. fall Kaiden Dorris, 17-0
165-Ben Fichter (NSU) maj. dec. Brayden Kuntz, 15-3
174-Adam Blees (MSUM) dec. Tanner Olson, 4-2
184-David Murphy (NSU) dec. Logan Rhode, 5-3, OT
197-Joe Gomez (NSU) tech. fall Cody Anderson, 20-4
285-Nader Abdullatif (MSUM) dec. Harrison Townsend, 8-2