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Northern wrestlers dominate Jimmies
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
With everything going on this weekend, Montana State University-Northern
wrestling coach David Ray knew there would be some scheduling conflicts with
his team's dual against Jamestown College. But Ray wasn't about to not
wrestle this weekend.
To his surprise, a good crowd showed up to watch Northern completely handle
Jamestown College 36-9, losing just one match and forfeiting another.
"We couldn't not wrestle this weekend," Ray said. "We needed
some matches and you always want home matches. Even with so much going on, we
still had a nice crowd."
The Lights didn't disappoint the crowd, with plenty of wins and a little late
excitement.
The trio of David Waters, Kyle Fisher and Emmett Willson notched consecutive
first-period pins to end the dual on a dominating note.
Ray was forced to do some lineup juggling after heavyweight Mazi Burke came
down with a skin infection and couldn't compete. Ray inserted Lance Nelson in
at 165 and moved the remainder of his starting lineup up a weight class.
Nelson, who normally wrestles 149, struggled
at 165, giving up too much weight to Chris Feist, but still had a chance to
pull out a win until a late takedown put the match out of reach.
The weight move had little effect on Aaron Jensen at 174, who put together
perhaps his best match of the season with a 19-7 win over Luke Switzer.
"To score 19 points is impressive," Ray said. "Aaron did a
nice job and he really picked up the tempo in the match."
Jensen's win was followed by the succession of pins from Waters, Fisher and
Willson.
"Waters had been sick all week," Ray said. "He got his guy in
a headlock and that's kind of his move. It was nice to see Kyle get going
early in the match."
The excitement was a welcome change from a relatively slow start. After
Northern forfeited the 125-pound match, Caleb Schaeffer picked up a 13-4 win
over Eric Grund.
"Caleb really wanted a pin to get us going," Ray said. "He
didn't look very good at times and tried to force something that wasn't
there. If he was a little more patient, I think the pin would have
come."
At 141 pounds, Chris Smith scored a 13-7 win over Travis Ayres, while Anthony
Haukenberry defeated Jake Esser 6-1 at 149 pounds. At 157, Stryder Davis
scored a big win over Tom Iverson 13-5.
"Overall, it was a good weekend," Ray said. "We saw some
things we still need to work on, and Jamestown wasn't the toughest competition,
but it was still good to get on the mat."
The Lights will face some tougher competition Tuesday when they travel to
Dickinson, N.D., for a dual with the always-solid Dickinson State Bluehawks.
MSU-Northern 36, Jamestown College 9
125 - Shane Hase, JC win by forfeit; 133 - Caleb Schaeffer, MSUN def. Eric
Grund 13-4; 141 - Chris Smith, MSUN def. Travis Ayres 13-7; 149 - Anthony
Haukenberry, MSUN def. Jake Esser 6-1; 157 - Stryder Davis, MSUN def. Tom
Iverson 13-5; 165 - Chris Feist, JC def. Lance Nelson 5-2; 174 - Aaron
Jensen, MSUN def. Luke Switzer 19-7; 184 - David Waters, MSUN pinned Clyde
Switzer 1:30; 197 - Kyle Fisher, MSUN pinned Edwin Fink :50; HWT - Emmett
Willson, MSUN pinned Joe Vincent :56.
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