No. 1 Huskies dominate en route to 10th NSIC Title
ST. CLOUD, MINN. – Domination: the exercise of control or influence over someone or something; the state of being so controlled.
Aka: the St. Cloud State University wrestling team.
The Huskies exercised control in almost every way possible Thursday evening, as they dominated the No. 19 Upper Iowa University Peacocks in their 33-6 win. The victory secured yet another perfect regular season for No. 1 ranked St. Cloud State (5-0, 5-0 NSIC) and clinched the team’s tenth consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Regular Season Title, an accolade the Huskies shared with Northern State University this season.
Things were rolling for the Huskies Thursday evening, as they won nine of 10 bouts. The highlights included a major decision win at 285, a tech fall at 125 and a pin at 165, all of which helped St. Cloud State secure its 33-6 win over Upper Iowa. In fact, the Huskies only loss was suffered at 197 pounds, as No. 5 Noah Ryan (Mantorville, Minn. / Kasson-Mantorville) lost by injury default late in the third period.
Kameron Teacher (Grove City, Ohio / Central Crossing) kicked things off at 285 pounds, earning an early 4-0 lead for St. Cloud State with a 12-4 major decision over Bodie Garnier. Paxton Creese (Shakopee, Minn. / Shakopee) followed that up with a tech fall of his own, igniting roars of enthusiasm throughout Halenbeck Hall with a 18-1 tech fall win in the second period.
The good times continued to roll for the Huskies at both 133 and 141, as Garrett Vos (Bonifacius, Minn. / Waconia) and Joseph Bianchini (Elk Grove Village, Ill. / Immaculate Conception) both earned wins by decision, extending St. Cloud State’s lead to 15-0. No. 1 Vos beat Donny Schmidt 6-2, while Bianchini took down Tate Murty in the longest match of the evening 7-5 in sudden death overtime.
Garrett Aldrich (Albert Lea, Minn. / Albert Lea) and Colby Njos (Anoka, Minn. / Anoka) earned key points for the Huskies with wins over ranked opponents. Aldrich defeated Eric Faught in one of the closest matches of the evening, downing the No. 12 ranked wrestler at 149 by 3-2 decision. Njos then followed that up with a big win over No. 3 ranked Chase Luensman, hanging on for a big 9-7 win at 157 pounds.
At this point, the dual match victory was in the bag for St. Cloud State, but there were plenty of fireworks in the final four matches of the evening. No. 1 Devin FitzPatrick (Mahtomedi, Minn. / Mahtomedi) was the lone Husky to record a pin Thursday night, as he won by fall at 165 pounds at 1:57. Devin Donovan (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton North) continued the win streak at 174 pounds with a 3-1 win over Colter Bye, before No. 8 Billy Pitzner (Jefferson, Wis. / Milton) earned the Huskies final individual victory of the night with a 6-2 win over No. 10 Dalton Hahn.
In the exhibition matches, Dominic Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill. / Brother Rice) defeated Myron Crawford by 4-1 decision, and Riley Vanik (Sugar Grove, Ill. / Kaneland) won by fall 6:58 at 285.
Thanks to these performances, St. Cloud State defeated No. 19 Upper Iowa and clinched its 10th consecutive NSIC Regular Season Title. The Huskies will return to action on Saturday, February 27 when they compete at the NCAA Division II Super Region V Championships in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
No. 1 St. Cloud State 33 No. 19 Upper Iowa 6
125 – Paxton Creese (St. Cloud State) over Dakota Henry (Upper Iowa): TF 18-1 3:23
133 – Garrett Vos (St. Cloud State) over Donny Schmit (Upper Iowa): Dec. 6-2
141 – Joseph Bianchini (St. Cloud State) over Tate Murty (Upper Iowa): SV 7-5
149 – Garrett Aldrich (St. Cloud State) over Eric Faught (Upper Iowa): Dec. 3-2
157 – Colby Njos (St. Cloud State) over Chase Luensman (Upper Iowa): Dec. 9-7
165 – Devin FitzPatrick (St. Cloud State) over Scott Kellenberger (Upper Iowa): Fall 1:57
174 – Devin Donovan (St. Cloud State) over Colter Bye (Upper Iowa): Dec. 3-1
184 – Billy Pitzner (St. Cloud State) over Dalton Hahn (Upper Iowa): Dec. 6-2
197 – Zach Ryg (Upper Iowa) over Noah Ryan (St. Cloud State): Inj. 6:28.
285 – Kameron Teacher (St. Cloud State) over Bodie Garnier (Upper Iowa) MD 12-4
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