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Willson scores 7-3 win in All-Star dual
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
There shouldn't be any questions left to ask about Emmett Willson's place
in collegiate wrestling this year. Because the Montana State
University-Northern senior has answered them all.
Willson's latest achievement came late Monday night when he defeated Northern
Iowa's Shawn Stender 7-3 in the 197-pound match at the NWCA All-Star Classic
dual matches at the UNI Dome on the University of Northern Iowa's campus.
Willson fought through a bit of a chest cold and an agonizingly long dual to
pick up the win over Stender, who is ranked sixth in NCAA Division I.
"I didn't wrestle very well," Willson said Tuesday in Havre.
"My lungs were hurting in the first period and I had a pretty long wait
before I wrestled. It was a combination of things that kind of made me not
feel great."
Said Northern head coach David Ray: "Emmett didn't look great, but he
did what he had to do. It was a really long night. He weighed in at 7 p.m.
and his match didn't start until 10:15 p.m. That's tough on a wrestler to
have that long break and they didn't have mats on the side to get loose
again."
Basically, Willson did what it took to win in a relatively low-scoring match.
In front of a partisan crowd cheering for
home favorite Stender, Willson picked up an early takedown to grab a 2-0 lead
after the first period.
He added an escape in the second period to take a 3-0 lead in the third
period. Willson was firmly in control, riding Stender's legs to accumulate a
riding time advantage.
Stender finally scored late in the third period, getting an escape. He then
was able to score a takedown on Willson to knot the score at 3-3. It stayed
tied for all of about six seconds as Willson quickly escaped and scored
another takedown just before the match ended to go up 6-3. Willson's riding
time advantage gave him an added point at the end of the match.
"Emmett escaped the takedown immediately," Ray said. "Besides
that little spurt at the end, he controlled the whole match."
Willson said that Stender's style of wrestling played a factor in the pace of
the match.
"Our styles just clashed too much," Willson said. "I wanted to
tie up on one side and he wanted to tie up on the other. So we really never
got close enough to each other to have some offensive attacks."
With UNI already picking up two wins in the duals, the large crowd was primed
for a third, but Willson quieted it with his performance.
"They had those two wins early and (Stender) had some momentum going
into the match," Ray said. "Emmett shot that down pretty
quickly."
Not a bad accomplishment for being the "asterisk guy," Willson
joked.
Being the "asterisk guy" was a little joke between Willson and Ray,
which came from the dual's wrestling program. In Willson's bio in the
program, there was an asterisk next to his No. 1-ranked status because he was
wrestling in the NAIA.
"Coach called me the asterisk guy," Willson said. "It didn't
really bother me. It just shows that you can be a good wrestler no matter if
you're at a big or small school. It just matters how hard you work to get the
job done."
Indeed, Willson is just the second non-NCAA Division I athlete to compete in
the All-Star Classic since 1989.
"It felt to good to go out there and represent the NAIA, the school and
Montana," Willson said. "It was a neat experience."
Said Ray: "It was great exposure for him, great for Northern and
fabulous for the NAIA. It gives us even more credibility."
Ray, Willson and the rest of the Lights will hit the road for a Thursday dual
against the University of Mary in Bismarck. Northern will also be hosting the
Northern Regional wrestling tournament on Feb. 14.
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