The South Dakota State University wrestling team returns to home competition Saturday, hosting Utah Valley as part of a Big 12 Conference multi-team dual event at Frost Arena.
Action between the Jackrabbits and Wolverines is set for an 11 a.m. start. The SDSU senior class of Colten Carlson, Danny Vega and Blake Wolters will be honored prior to the dual.
The format for the day-long event has been altered from what was announced at the beginning of the 2020-21 season. Instead of wrestling Air Force in a dual, the Jackrabbits will square off against the Falcons in a series of extra matches following the dual against Utah Valley. Air Force will compete in dual action against North Dakota State at 11 a.m.
Utah Valley and North Dakota State also will wrestle a dual at 12:45 p.m. with wrestlers from all four squads competing in extra matches throughout the day.
The revised schedule is as follows:
- 11 a.m. Utah Valley at SDSU (Mat 1); Air Force vs. North Dakota State (Mat 2); Extra Matches (Mat 3)
- 12:45 p.m. SDSU-Air Force Extra Matches (Mat 1); Utah Valley vs. North Dakota State (Mat 2); Extra Matches (Mat 3)
- 2:30 p.m. Extra Matches (all three mats)
Action on Mats 1 and 2 will be aired on FloWrestling.org (subscription required).
SDSU enters the weekend with a 4-6 overall dual record, including a 1-5 mark against Big 12 Conference opponents. The Jackrabbits dropped a pair of closely contested duals Feb. 7 in Fargo, North Dakota, dropping an 18-16 decision to host North Dakota State before falling 19-12 to 12th-ranked Iowa State.
The Jackrabbits’ lone Big 12 dual victory so far this season was a 24-14 triumph at Air Force on Jan. 17.
Utah Valley, meanwhile, has posted a 2-2 dual record so far this season and has wrestled only one Big 12 opponent so far, dropping a 19-16 decision to then-25th-ranked Northern Colorado on Jan. 8.
THE SERIES: South Dakota State will attempt to pull even in the all-time series with Utah Valley when the two squads meet Saturday.
The Jackrabbits and Wolverines have met every season since the 2005-06 campaign, when both squads became charter members of the Western Wrestling Conference. Utah Valley holds an 8-7 series advantage, although SDSU has won the past six matchups,
including a 24-12 victory on Nov. 22, 2019, in Orem, Utah.
Highlighting the Jackrabbit victory were pins by Zach Carlson (184) and Clay Carlson (141). Four other SDSU wrestlers were winners by decision the 2019-20 Big 12 dual opener for both teams.
Before the Jackrabbits’ current series winning streak, Utah Valley had won seven duals in a row.
South Dakota State 24, Utah Valley 12 (Nov. 24, 2019 at Orem, Utah)
149: #16 Henry Pohlmeyer (SDSU) dec. Landon Knutzen (UVU), 8-4
157: Colten Carlson (SDSU) dec. Jed Loveless (UVU), 13-6
165: Garrett Jordan (SDSU) dec. Koy Wilkinson (UVU), 3-2
174: #13 Kimball Bastian (UVU) dec. Cade King (SDSU), 4-0
184: #19 Zach Carlson (SDSU) def. Gary Jantzer (UVU), by fall 3:55
197: #19 Tanner Orndorff (UVU) dec. #4 Tanner Sloan (SDSU), 5-3
285: #3 Tate Orndorff (UVU) dec. Blake Wolters (SDSU), 6-4 [SV-1]
125: Kahlen Morris (SDSU) dec. Josiah Nava (UVU), 4-2
133: Taylor LaMont (UVU) dec. Zach Price (SDSU), 7-4
141: #32 Clay Carlson (SDSU) def. Cameron Hunsaker (UVU), by fall 2:34
Note: Individual rankings by FloWrestling
PANEL RANKINGS: South Dakota State is represented by six wrestlers in the first installment of the NCAA?Coaches’ Panel Rankings, which were announced Thursday.
The coaches’ rankings are determined by a vote of 14 coaches in each weight class with two head coaches from each conference. For ranking purposes, coaches may only consider a wrestler that has been designated as a starter at a respective weight class. For the first ranking, wrestlers must have two Division I matches in the weight class to be considered, with at least one match within the last 30 days.
Leading the Jackrabbit contingent with a fifth-place showing in the 197-pound weight class is sophomore Tanner Sloan. A sophomore from Alburnett, Iowa, Sloan is undefeated so far with season with a 12-0 record, winning six matches by technical fall and three by pin.
Sloan is coming off a 2019-20 season in which he posted a 21-6 overall record and was an NCAA?qualifier. He capped his first season in the lineup with a second-team All-America selection by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
Ranked 15th at 133 pounds for the Jackrabbits is sophomore Zach Price. A native of Johnston, Iowa, Price has posted a 7-2 record so far this season, including a 5-2 mark in duals.
Also in the lower weights, sophomore and Willmar, Minnesota, native Clay Carlson is ranked 16th at 141 pounds and Danny Vega is 26th in the panel rankings at 125 pounds. Carlson holds an 8-4 record, while Vega has rebounded from a slow start to post a 7-4 record, carrying a seven-matching winning streak into the weekend. Vega is a senior from Tucson, Arizona.
In the middle weights, redshirt freshman 157-pounder Cade DeVos holds the 18th spot in the coaches panel rankings and sophomore Cade King stands 31st in the 174-pound rankings. DeVos has wrestled six of his 13 matches so far this season against a ranked foe.
King, a native of Waseca, Minnesota, also cracked the individual national rankings for the first time in his collegiate career this week, checking in at No. 28 in the Trackwrestling survey. He has knocked off a ranked opponent each of the last two weekends, downing then-No. 22 Anthony Mantanona of Oklahoma, 7-5, on Jan. 31 and then-No. 17 Julien Broderson of Iowa State, 6-3 on Feb. 7.
ALLOCATIONS ANNOUNCED: Also on Thursday, NCAA?officials announced the pre-allocations for the 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
The weight class conference champion in each qualifying tournament will earn an automatic qualifier to the national championships. Each conference was awarded additional pre-allocations based on the five-year average (2016-20) of pre-allocations earned by the conference in each weight class, with the Big 12 Conference receiving a total of 35 additional allocations for a total of 45 automatic qualifiers. Of the 35 pre-allocations, four spots were awarded to six different weight classes (125, 133, 149, 165, 197 and 285), three spots were awarded to a trio of weight classes (141, 174, 184), with the 157-pound weight class receiving two additional allocations.
In recent years, pre-allocations have been determined by a formula measuring Division Iwinning percentage, ratings percentage index and coaches’ ranking. A decrease in overallmatches, and in particular non-conference matches, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee to transition to using the five-year historical average to determine pre-allocations for 2021.
After the conference tournaments have concluded, the Division I Wrestling Committee willmeet to select the remaining 64 at-large qualifiers to fill out the 33-man bracket in each weight class, which will be announced March 9, while brackets and seeding will be revealed on NCAA.com March 10.
The 2021 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships are set for March 18-20 in St. Louis, Missouri.
SCHEDULE ADDITION: South Dakota State has added a home date to its 2020-21 wrestling schedule.
The Jackrabbits will now close out the regular season by hosting the Last Chance Challenge next Saturday (Feb. 20) at Frost Arena. As of the now, the unscored meet will feature wrestlers from SDSU and North Dakota Statecompeting in a round-robin series of matches in each of the 10 weight classes.
Action is slated for a 2 p.m. start at Frost Arena. The Last Chance Challenge will serve as the final tuneup prior to the Big 12 Wrestling Championship March 6-7 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
For ticket information, contact the Jackrabbit Ticket Office at (605) 688-5422.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are slated to close out the regular season by hosting the Last Chance Challenge Feb. 20. Action is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at Frost Arena.
Check out Jackrabbit Wrestling at gojacks.com and on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram.