Johnnie Wrestling Hosts St. Cloud State Friday Night

The nationally-ranked Saint John’s wrestling team hosts No. 2 (Division II) St. Cloud State this Friday, Jan. 14. The dual is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Sexton Arena in Collegeville. – Listen Live (WBHR-660 AM) | Live Results/Blog

Preview Video:
–Head coach Brandon Novak (2:28)

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: No. 6 SJU (11-3 dual record) finished sixth out of 16 teams at the esteemed NWCA/Cliff Keen Division III National Duals last weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Johnnies defeated No. 26 Johnson & Wales (R.I.) 42-0 in the first round before losing two matches in overtime and forfeiting the heavyweight match in a 24-10 loss to No. 6 Ithaca (N.Y.). SJU bounced back with a 23-18 win over No. 25 Delaware Valley (Pa.) in Saturday’s finale. SJU defeated familiar-foe Concordia-Moorhead 22-21 to advance to the fifth-place dual, which was won by No. 5 Coe (Iowa), 23-18. SJU surrendered six points at the start of each dual due to a forfeit at 125 pounds.

A LOOK AT THE HUSKIES: SCSU (10-1 dual record) captured third place at the Division II Duals last weekend. The Huskies opened the tournament with a 32-6 win over Limestone (S.C.) and then charted a 27-9 win over No. 13 North Carolina-Pembroke on Jan. 8. In day two of the tournament, the Huskies lost a tough 18-15 decision to No. 3 Augustana (S.D.). SCSU rebounded in the match for third place with a convincing 25-9 win over No. 5 Newberry (S.C.).

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Saint John’s fell to No. 6 in the latest Brute-Adidas National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III team rankings released Jan. 11. Five of the Johnnies’ starting 10 were ranked individually: senior Matt Baarson (15-2 record; Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) moved up two spots to No. 3 at 165 pounds; senior Minga Batsukh (11-1 record; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) slipped one spot to No. 4 at 149; junior Matt Pfarr (12-4 record; Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) rejoined the rankings at No. 4 at 174; junior Dustin Baxter (12-4 record; Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) moved up one spot to No. 7 at 184; and senior Tony Willaert (9-6 overall record, 8-4 record at 197; North Mankato, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) stayed at No. 10 at 197.

The Huskies were ranked No. 2 in the latest NCAA Division II Coaches’ poll released Jan. 4. Six Huskies were ranked individually: Gabe Suarez (No. 7 at 141 pounds), John Sundgren (No. 6 at 157), Tad Merritt (No. 2 at 165), Shamus O’Grady (No. 6 at 174), Mic Berg (No. 5 at 184) and Jake Kahnke (No. 1 at 285).

RECENT SERIES: SJU is 6-9 against the Huskies in the last 15 meetings, including a 3-4 record in Collegeville. Each of the last two meetings, both wins by SCSU (17-16 and 22-17), have been decided by one match.

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: A forfeit at 125 pounds proved to be the difference as then-No. 9 (NCAA Division II) St. Cloud State defeated then-No. 9 (NCAA Division III) Saint John’s 22-17 on Feb. 11 in St. Cloud. Senior Drew Larson (Willmar, Minn.) started the dual at 149 pounds with a 13-5 major decision to give SJU an early 4-0 lead. The Huskies took their first lead at 6-4 with a pin from John Sundgren at 157 pounds. Baarson improved to 21-2 on the season with an 11-4 decision at 165. Baarson was two seconds away from a major decision as the referee began to count back points as the match ended. SCSU regained the lead with a decision at 174 before the evening’s lone upset occurred. Sophomore Mitch Hagen(Sunburg, Minn./Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg) upset Derek Skala, the third-ranked 184-pounder in NCAA Division II, by a 6-4 decision. The victory gave SJU its last lead of the dual at 10-9.

The Huskies took a 22-10 lead via a major decision, decision and forfeit at 197, 285 and 125, respectively. The Johnnies fought back, literally, to win the dual’s final two matches. Mogi Baatar was down 9-2 early in the third period before outscoring his opponent 13-5 to claim a 15-14 victory at 133. Batsukh improved to 10-2 on the season with a 13-3 major decision to end the dual. Pfarr did not compete at 174 pounds for the Johnnies due to injury.

125 – Trent Herold (SCSU) wins by forfeit [10-22]
133 – Mogi Baatar (No. 6, SJU) dec. Shane McQuade, 15-14 [13-22]
141 – Minga Batsukh (No. 2, SJU) major dec. Gabe Suarez, 13-3 [17-22]
149 – Drew Larson (SJU) major dec. Jacob Horn, 13-5 [4-0]
157 – John Sundgren (No. 8, SCSU) pinned John Vaith, 1:22 [4-6]
165 – Matt Baarson (No. 6, SJU) dec. Joe Andersen, 11-4 [7-6]
174 – Shamus O’Grady (SCSU) dec. Dustin Raygor, 7-2 [7-9]
184 – Mitch Hagen (SJU) dec. Derek Skala (No. 3), 6-4 [10-9]
197 – Luke Munkelwitz (No. 6, SCSU) major dec. James Carlson, 19-5 [10-13]
Hwt – Jake Kahnke (No. 6, SCSU) dec. Tony Willaert, 11-6 [10-16]

SDSU Jacks open conference schedule with UNI

The South Dakota State wrestlers host the no. 43 (Intermat) Northern Iowa Panthers Saturday in the Jackrabbits’ first Western Wrestling Conference matchup of the season. Action is slated to begin at 7 p.m. from Frost Arena.

Aaron Pickrel leads the Jackrabbits with a 5-2 duals record and an 18-7 overall record. Five of Pickrel’s wins were by fall with the fastest in one minute three seconds. Four other Jacks have three dual wins this season in Nick Flynn (3-3 duals, 8-11 overall), Kevin Kelly (3-6 duals, 8-12 overall), David Michaud (3-4 duals, 7-4 overall) and Tony Vaske (3-1 duals, 12-7 overall). Five of Michaud’s seven wins on the season were by fall, with the remaining wins by decsion.

The probable lineup for the Jacks includes: Pickrel (125 pounds), open at 133 pounds, Tyler Johnson (141 pounds), Jimmy Hamilton (149 pounds), Flynn (157 pounds), Seth Moe (157 pounds), John Nething II (165 pounds), Joe Rasmussen (165 pounds), Michaud (174 pounds), Scott Elliott (184 pounds), Cord Willers (197 pounds) and Kelly (285 pounds).

This week’s Competition 
Northern Iowa Panthers – Northern Iowa enters the week’s WWC matchups with a 5-7 record on the season. The Panthers face the North Dakota State Bison Friday before heading to Frost Arena Saturday.

No. 13 (Intermat) Ryan Loder, a 184-pound redshirt freshman, claimed his second WWC weekly honor this week after a 3-0 record over ranked oppenents at the 2011 National Wrestling Coaches Association/Cliff Keen National Duals last weekend. Loder upset Missouri’s no. 13 Mike Larson 3-1 before defeating no. 20 Cody Magrum (Ohio State) and no. 11 Chris Perry (Oklahoma State). Loder is 16-8 on the season and has won nine of his last 11 matches.

The Panthers also boast ranked-wrestler no. 15 Christian Brantley, a 285-pound junior. Brantley finished the National Duals last week with a 2-1 record. At the Duals, Brantley dropped a 5-2 decision against no. six Dom Bradley (Missouri). He went on to top Dom Jontony (Ohio State) and Tyson Yoder (Oklahoma State). Brantley is 18-5 on the season, including 10-2 in duals.

Wrestlers on Facebook – Fans can show their support for the Jackrabbit wrestlers on Facebook. Log onto Facebook.com/JackrabbitWrestling to keep up with the Jackrabbit grapplers.

Fans can also follow Jackrabbit Athletics on the all new Facebook page by logging onto Facebook.com/SDSU.Jackrabbit.Nation. If the new page reaches 5,000 fans or “likes” by Wednesday, Jan. 19, SDSU will send a promo code to every fan of the page that allows them to purchase $10 general admission tickets to the Jan. 22, basketball doubleheader vs. IPFW.

Jackrabbit Extra – Subscribers to the Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com can view select SDSU wrestling matches live on the internet. To subscribe to the Jackrabbit Extra, log onto GoJacks.com, select Jackrabbit Extra on the Audio/Video tab and click  “sign up.”

Jackrabbit Insider on FOX and FSN –  “Jackrabbit Insider” airs at 10:30 p.m. Sundays on KTTW FOX 7.  The show can also be seen on FOX Sports North Tuesdays at 6 p.m. CT. FOX College Sports Central will air the program Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. “Jackrabbit Insider” is also available through the Jackrabbit Extra video on-demand service at GoJacks.com.

Hosted by Tyler Merrium, “Jackrabbit Insider” is a weekly half-hour program that provides Jackrabbit fans with a behind-the-scenes look at South Dakota State University Athletics.

Last week – The Jacks added the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals to the schedule last week with duals agaisnt no. four Wisconsin and no. 29 Oregon State.

Nick Flynn led the Jacks at the Duals with a 2-0 record and scored the only points for the Jacks as the team dropped the dual to Wisconsin 42-3 and Oregon State 45-3. Flynn defeated Charles York (Wisconsin) by a 5-2 decision and Alex Elder (Oregon State) by a 6-4 decision.

Next Up – The Jacks host Northern Colorado at Frost Arena Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.  The wrestlers wrap up January with a road trip to Wyoming and Air Force Jan. 28 and 29.

Gophers Prep for Big Ten Opener

MINNEAPOLIS — The No. 5 Golden Gophers (8-3 overall, 0-0 Big Ten) return to action this weekend with a pair of duals including just the second home dual of the season for Minnesota. The Gophers open the Big Ten season on Friday night against Indiana at 7 p.m. in the Sports Pavilion. The Hoosiers (10-2 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) are coming off a dominating performance at the IU Duals, combining to outscore its opponents 140-9. Minnesota follows up the conference opener with a short bus ride to Ames, Iowa on Sunday for a 2 p.m. dual against Iowa State. The Cyclones (6-4 overall) are coming off 2-3 performance at the National Duals that led to an eighth-place finish at the event.

Follow the Action
Can’t see the Gophers live and in person? Both of this weekend’s duals will be broadcast online. Friday’s home dual will be streamed online at BigTenNetwork.com, and Sunday’s dual at Iowa State can be watched in the GoldZone at Gophersports.com. You can also follow the action with live stats, and results on Gophersports.com and the Golden Gopher Wrestling social media sites.

Match of the Meet(s)
Each and every Gopher wrestling match is full of excitement and entertainment but this weekend two bouts stand out among the rest. Friday’s Match of the Meet is a heavyweight contest between No. 5 Tony Nelson of Minnesota and No. 17 Ricky Alcala of Indiana. The two heavyweights met in the wrestlebacks of this year’s Southern Scuffle with Nelson picking up a 2-0 decision. Sunday’s Match of the Meet pits No. 8 Scott Glasser against top-ranked and unbeaten John Reader in a battle of 174 pounders.

2001 NCAA Title Team Honored
Minnesota will honor the 2001 NCAA Championship team during Friday’s dual against Indiana as the team celebrates the tenth anniversary of Minnesota’s first-ever national title. Not only was the 2001 team the first program in college wrestling history to field a team of 10 All-Americans, but the Gophers also won the team title without having a single wrestler in the championship round — another first for the NCAA tournament.

Last Time Out
The Gophers are coming off a 4th-place finish at the 2011 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Minnesota opened the event with a 26-9 win over Northern Illinois and added an 18-17 come-from-behind win over No. 6 Boise State to close out Day One. But a semifinal matchup against No. 1 Cornell ended in a 20-16 loss for the Gophers and No. 4 Wisconsin added salt to the wound with a 19-17 win over the Gophers in the consolation finals. Zach Sanders (125 lbs.), Mike Thorn (141 lbs.) and Tony Nelson (285 lbs.) each posted four wins for the Gophers over the weekend.

Next Up
Minnesota heads back on the road next weekend with a pair of Big Ten duals against nationally ranked teams. The Gophers take on No. 21 Purdue in West Lafayette next Friday at 6 p.m. CST before competing against No. 15 Illinois on the road on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.

Get Score Updates on Your Phone
Fans can get scoring updates from all of Golden Gopher athletics through the Twitter page @GopherScores. Just find and follow @GopherScores, then set up your phone or mobile device to receive the text updates. If you are not already on Twitter, you will need to create an account.

Follow the Gophers
Want exclusive, up-to-the-minute access to Golden Gopher Wrestling? Follow the team online at twitter.com/gopherwrestling andfacebook.com/gopherwrestling for news, results and other exclusive content.

SJU Ranked Sixth Nationally, Five Wrestlers in Top 10

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – The Saint John’s University wrestling team fell to No. 6 in the latest Brute-Adidas National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III team rankings released Jan. 11.

NWCA Team Rankings | NWCA Individual Rankings

Other teams ranked from the NCAA Great Lakes Region include Augsburg (No. 3), Concordia-Moorhead (No. 7), Elmhurst (No. 24) and North Central (No. 27).

Five of the Johnnies’ starting 10 were ranked individually: senior Matt Baarson (15-2 record; Brooklyn Park, Minn./Champlin Park) moved up two spots to No. 3 at 165 pounds; senior Minga Batsukh (11-1 record; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) slipped one spot to No. 4 at 149; junior Matt Pfarr (12-4 record; Le Sueur, Minn./Le Sueur-Henderson) rejoined the rankings at No. 4 at 174; junior Dustin Baxter (12-4 record; Fairbanks, Alaska/West Valley) moved up one spot to No. 7 at 184; and senior Tony Willaert (9-6 overall record, 8-4 record at 197; North Mankato, Minn./Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial) stayed at No. 10 at 197.

The Johnnies return to action this Friday, Jan. 14, against No. 2 (Division II) St. Cloud State. The dual is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Sexton Arena in Collegeville and will be broadcast live on WBHR-660 AM The Bear.

No. 3 Augustana begins NSIC dual season against MSU Moorhead

This week: Augustana (6-1), ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division II, opens the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference dual portion of its schedule on Saturday when Minnesota State Moorhead (2-3) comes to Sioux Falls for a 7 p.m. contest.

WATCH LIVE  |  LIVE STATS

Last time out: Augustana earned runner-up honors at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals this past weekend, picking up wins over San Francisco State, No. 6 Minnesota State and No. 2 St. Cloud State before falling to No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha in the finals.

Quite a run:  The Vikings were enjoying wins in their last six duals before meeting No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha last Sunday for the NWCA National Duals title.  Augustana opened the National Duals by handing San Francisco State a 23-9 loss on Saturday morning.  The Vikings followed that with a commanding 31-6 victory over No. 6 Minnesota State later in the day.  Those wins set the Vikings up with second-ranked St. Cloud State, where the Vikings pulled off the mild upset 18-15.  In the finals, Augustana nearly knocked off No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha, holding a 15-14 lead heading into the heavyweight match.  But UNO’s Taylor Escamilla came up big for the Mavericks in the heavyweight bout, sneaking out a 3-1 win over Lance Peters for the decisive lead change.

We’ll meet again:  While the Vikings are likely still feeling the sting from the loss to No. 1 Nebraska-Omaha, they will have a chance to avenge the loss next month.  Augustana and the Mavericks are slated to meet on Feb. 16 in the Elmen Center at 7 p.m.  The Vikings will also have rematches–both at home–with No. 2 St. Cloud State (Jan. 27) and No. 6 Minnesota State (Jan. 28).

Jeremiason honored:  The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced Monday that Jason Jeremiason has been named its Wreslter of the Week for his 4-0 performance at this past weekend’s NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  Jeremiason, a native of Marshall, Minn., collected a 4-0 record at 133 pounds for Augustana. He opened the weekend with 5-1 decision over San Francisco State’s Brian Tharp.  He followed that by pinning Minnesota State’s Skyler Moore in 2:02, and in the semifinals, Jeremiason’s 3-1 decision over St. Cloud State’s Eric Ellington allowed the Vikings to knock off the Huskies. The junior beat Nebraska-Omaha’s Yasiim Bribieseca 2-0 in the championship dual.

Northern Sun honors:  Jason Jeremiason‘s pick as the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Wrestler of the Week marked the second time Augustana has had someone earn the honor as Cody Lensing picked up the accolade on Nov. 29.

Duals to finish:  From here on out, the Vikings’ schedule is filled with duals.  Augustana has no opens for the remainder of the season.

National news: Augustana retained its No. 3 spot in the NCAA Division II Wrestling Rankings released Jan. 4 by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. The Vikings received 140 points.  Nebraska-Omaha remained No. 1 with 159 points, while conference neighbor St. Cloud State again took the No. 2 spot with 153 points.

Who’s ranked: Augustana had six individuals ranked in the latest NCAA Division II rankings.  Defending national champion Jay Sherer kept his top spot at 141 pounds. A pair of Viking wrestlers grabbed No. 2 ranking as Marcus Edgington was second at 157 pounds and Ty Copsey earned that spot at 197 pounds.  Other ranked wrestlers included Nate Herda (No. 3 at 149 pounds), Al Meger (No. 4 at 125 pounds) and Gavin Nelson(No. 7 at 165 pounds).  To view the latest national rankings, click here.

Northern Sun rankings:  Augustana is ranked No. 2 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.  The Vikings accumulated 61 points in the conference rankings and 56 in the region rankings.  Individually, Jay Sherer (141 pounds), Nate Herda (149 pounds), Marcus Edgington (157 pounds) and Ty Copsey (197 pounds) each took the No. 1 position. Others in the top five included Al Meger (No. 3 at 125 pounds), Cody Lensing(No. 3 at 133 pounds), Gavin Nelson (No. 2 at 165 pounds), Carl Serck (No. 3 at 174 pounds) and Lance Peters (No. 4 at 285 pounds).  To view the complete conference rankings, click here.

Concordia 26 Ridgewater 16

MOORHEAD, Minn. (1/12/11) — No.7-ranked Concordia rallied from a 13-0 deficit, won the last six matches against Ridgewater on Wednesday and claimed a 26-16 dual meet victory.

The win marks the second straight season that the Cobbers have bettered the Warriors and pushes their dual-meet record in 2010-11 to 4-2.

Concordia used a mix of newcomers and veterans to come away with the win against Ridgewater. The Cobbers fell behind 13-0 after the first three matches of the meet before freshman Jake Long started CC on their rally road. Long earned a tight 5-3 decision at 141 to cut the lead to 13-3. For Long it was his seventh win of the season and evens his season record at 7-7.

All-American Justin Berns then scored the only pin fall of the match for CC as he pinned his opponent at the 4:04 mark in the 157-lb match. Berns is now 15-3 on the season and has 118 career wins which puts him seven away from breaking the school’s all-time win mark.

After a Ridgewater win at 165, Concordia closed out the match with four straight wins from their “murderer’s row” lineup at the end of the weight classes. All-American Ross Dankers beat nationally ranked Travis Peralta 7-3. Dankers, who is currently ranked fifth in Division III, came up with his 14th win of the year over Peralta who is ranked fourth in the NJCAA.

National Champion Phil Moenkedick won by forfeit at 184 to claim his team-leading 19th win of the year and 119th career victory. He is one win ahead of Berns and only six shy of breaking the all-time win total.

Sophomores Nathan Schmitz and Tom Bouressa sealed the team win with victories at 197 and 285. Schmitz posted a 7-1 decision at 197 and is now 13-7 on the year while Bouressa recorded a technical fall at 285 by beating his opponent 16-0. For Bouressa it was his 13th win of the year which is one shy of his overall total from last season.

The Cobbers will now take on Calumet College (Ind.) on Friday, Jan. 14 at 5 p.m. at the University of Minnesota. The match is part of the NCAA National Championship Celebration the Gophers are holding to honor the 2001 DI title team. Concordia assistant coach Matt Nagel was a part of the 2002 national championship team while Calumet head coach Leroy Vega was a member of the 2001 title team.

NCAA Wrestling Box Score

#7 Concordia 26, Ridgewater 16    Team Score
125 – Lonny Boosu (RCC) maj. dec. John Busch (CC); 21-10    0-4
133 – Nate Friedrich (RCC) pin fall John Kryska (CC); 3:53    0-10
141 – Javior Portillo (RCC) dec. Tim Ruter (CC); 4-3    0-13
149 – Jake Long (CC) dec. Mariono Portillo (RCC); 5-3    3-13
157 – Justin Berns (CC) pin fall Sam Perrin (RCC); 4:04    9-13
165 – Trevor Krueger (RCC) def. Josten Coleman; 9-6    9-16
174 – Ross Dankers (CC) dec. Travis Peralta (RCC); 7-3    12-16
184 – Phil Moenkedick (CC) wins by forfeit    18-16
197 – Nate Schmitz (CC) dec. Aaron Samuelson (RCC); 7-1    21-15
285 – Tom Bouressa (CC) tech. fall Derek Carlson (RCC); 16-0    26-16

Match Notes:
– #7 Concordia is now 4-2 in dual meets this season.
– Cobbers won six of the final seven matches after falling behind 13-0.
– Concordia won 6 of 10 individual matches in the dual
– Cobbers won three matches by decision, one by technical fall, one by pin fall and one by forfeit.
– Cobber senior Phil Moenkedick earned his team-leading 19th win of the year (19-1)
– Moenkedick is now 119-10 in his career and needs six more wins to break the school’s all-time win record

St. Olaf 22 Rochester CTC 20

January 12, 2011 at Rochester, Minn

St. Olaf 22 Rochester CTC 20
125: Jered Kemp RCTC Forfeit
133: Lothus RCTC over Zac Miller 11-2
141: Ryan Timmerman STO Pin 1:53 over Steve Stark
149: Thomas Mork STO Pin over Aaron Niles in OT
157: Sam Schad RCTC Dec over Justin Skillings 8-2
165: Joseph Waples STO Dec over Peter McPhail 4-2
174: Joseph Pesta STO Dec over theo Jensen-Innis 3-0
184: Josh Kinneman RCTC over Elliott Courchain 10-0
197: Joe Schlueter STO over RCTC Andy Godeen 10-2
Hwt: Chris Holland RCTC over St Olaf Justin Luthey