Lights dominate DSU Open Classic
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
It would have been easy for the coaches and wrestlers of the teams attending
this past weekend's Dickinson State Open Classic to think that maybe the
Montana State University-Northern wrestling team was down.
After all it has been a somewhat tumultuous season so far. After graduating
three national champs, the Lights also lost a pair of varsity starters after
they were dismissed from the team. Add the fact that the host Bluehawks had
already beaten the Lights in dual action season, and it isn't exactly positive.
With all of that, maybe, just maybe, the Lights won't be the team to beat.
Maybe those opposing coaches and wrestlers were wrong.
Northern crushed those opposing teams with a resounding performance, capturing
the team title with 164 team points, sending a message to schools that the
Lights are still the team to beat in NAIA. Dickinson State was a distant second
with 115.
Besides running away with the team title, Northern also dominated the
individual competition.
The Lights placed 16 wrestlers in the top six
and crowned six individual champions.
"I didn't expect to put nine wrestlers in the final, even with
Brian Luna (133), Dustyn Azure (149), Stryder Davis and Dale Seley (co-champs
157), Aaron Jensen (165), Ryan Mattingly (174) and Chase Gormley (HWT) all
picked up individual titles in their respective weight classes.
Luna, who was making his official varsity debut for the Lights this season, was
dominant as Ray expected.
Luna won his first two matches by decisions and then pinned University of Great
Falls' Spencer Griffiths in the semifinals. In the championship, Luna pinned
teammate Chris Smith in the third period to pick up the title.
Smith was equally dominant, getting to the finals scoring a fall, a technical
fall and a solid 9-3 win over Dickinson's Ryan Synhorst.
Northern also got a solid performance from freshman Mike McPeak, who finished
fourth, losing to Griffiths 3-1 in the consolation finals.
"Luna looked really good," Ray said. "The championship match was
really a 2-0 match in the third period, but Chris got caught in a cradle and
got pinned. I was happy with the way McPeak came back and competed after
getting beat."
Azure looked solid in his debut at 149 pounds, rolling to the championship with
a pair of technical falls and and a pin. He scored a 10-6 decision over Jake
Esser of Jamestown in the final.
"Azure looked very tough," Ray said. "He was very, very
aggressive in every match. He set the standard that said: 'I'm here to battle
and fight if you're going to wrestle me."
At 157 pounds Northern split the title between Stryder Davis and Dale Seley.
Davis continued his dominance this season. Davis barely broke a sweat in his
first match, scoring a pin at the 2:12 mark. He scored a 14-1 major decision in
the quarterfinals and a 10-3 win over Concordia's Lee Rahrilen in the
semifinals.
Seley also had little trouble getting to the finals with a pin in the second
round, a 7-3 win in the quarters and a 10-0 major decision over DSU's Jaime
Garcia in the semifinals.
"Seley looked really good in the semifinals and Stryder continued to
wrestle well," Ray said. "We decided to go with co-champions in the
final because Seley has a bad shoulder and didn't want to risk hurting it by
wrestling Stryder."
Northern continued its championship run at 165 as Aaron Jensen had one of his
best showings of the season. Jensen rolled into the semifinals with a pair of
solid wins. In the semis, he rallied from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Jouni
Rosenlof of Regina, 7-5. In the finals, Jensen defeated Brett Hunter of 3-2.
"Aaron Jensen looked very, very good in the semifinals," Ray said.
"He beat a good wrestler in that match. He wrestled with a lot of
confidence this tournament."
Ryan Mattingly made his presence felt at 174. The newcomer won three matches to
get to the finals, where he pinned Dickinson's Trent Kirchofer early in the
first period.
Emory Willson also had a good tourney, finishing sixth and beating a pair of
opponents who beat him earlier this season.
"Mattingly is going to give us some consistency at 174," Ray said.
"He looked solid, and Emory is really improving and it showed."
Northern's final championship came in the heavyweight division, where Chase
Gormley looked solid, defeating Luke Roberts of UGF 3-2 in the final. Gormley
pinned his first two opponents and then picked up a 3-0 decision over Sam Sand
of Jamestown in the semifinals.
"For being a little out of shape after coming back late, Chase looked
pretty good," Ray said.
Other placers for Northern included Dan Shaw with a second at 141, Jesse Juarez
with a third at 184, Michael Harrington with a sixth at 125 and Josh Robinson
with a fifth at 197.
"I definitely think we are on track," Ray said. "This weekend
was a big confidence builder for some of our younger wrestlers. More
importantly, we set that intimidation factor with the way we performed.
The Lights will return to action on Wednesday when they host the University of
Mary in dual action at 7 p.m.
DSU OPEN CLASSIC
Team Scores
1. MSU-Northern (MSU-N) 164; 2. Dickinson State (DSU) 115; 3. University of
Great Falls (UGF) and University of Mary (UM) 54; 5. Jamestown College (JC)
44.5; 6. Concordia (C) 38; 7. MSU-Moorhead (M) 25; 8. University of Regina (UR)
3; 9. Si Tanka-Huron (ST) ð.
Individual Results
125 Pounds
Championship: Co-Champions, Cory Johnston (DSU) and Mark Johnston (DSU). Third
Place: Devlon Webb (CSC) dec. Kalen Wilson (NC) 11-4. Fifth Place: Robert Cox
(UGF) won by default over Jason Harrington (MSU-N).
133 Pounds
Championship: Brian Luna (MSU-N) pinned Chris Smith (MSU-N) 5:46. Third Place:
Spencer Griffiths (UGF) dec. Michael McPeak (MSU-N) 3-1. Fifth Place: Ryan
Synhorst (DSU) dec. Colt Heger (MSU-N) 7-1.
141 Pounds
Championship: Micah Mathieson (unattached) pinned Dan Shaw (MSU-N) 5:27. Third
Place: Josh Bauer (UM) dec. Albert Starrett (MSU-N) 7-2. Fifth Place: Matt
Miller (JC) won by default over Daniel Kerr (DSU).
149 Pounds
Championship: Dustyn Azure (MSU-N) dec. Jake Esser (JC) 10-6. Third Place:
Chris Chase (UM) pinned Todd Guevara (DSU) 1:03. Fifth Place: Zach Lorenz (DSU)
dec. Tim Pridgeon (unattached) 5-1.
157 Pounds
Championship: Co-Champions, Stryder Davis (MSU-N) and Dale Seley (MSU-N). Third
Place: Lee Rahrlien (C) dec. Jaime Garcia (DSU) 4-2. Fifth Place: Joe Casey
(UGF) dec. Brandon Kok (M) 8-3.
165 Pounds
Championship: Aaron Jensen (MSU-N) dec. Brett Hunter (CSC) 3-2. Third Place:
Jouni Rosenlog (UR) pinned Mike Kummer (UGF) :29. Fifth Place: Tyson Springer
(DSU) pinned Tyrel Harris (UGF) 3:12.
174 Pounds
Championship: Ryan Mattingly (MSU-N) pinned Trent Kirchhefer (DSU) :35. Third
Place: Matt Michaelson (DSU) dec. Eric Hageman (M) 8-0. Fifth Place: Greg
Maurello (NC) dec. Emory Wilson (MSU-N) 5-0.
184 Pounds
Championship: Co-champions, Elijah Simburger (UM) and Todd Paszek (UM). Third
Place: Jesse Juarez (MSU-N) dec. Jake Toavs (DSU) 9-2. Fifth Place: Justin
Green (DSU) dec. Dan Gordon (UGF).
197 Pounds
Championship: Justin Schlecht (DSU) pinned Dennis Kline (C) 4:52. Third Place:
Jack Lindsley (UM) dec. Stacey Mello (JC) 11-8. Fifth Place: Josh Robinson
(MSU-N) dec. Taylor Anderson (UR) 8-6.
285 Pounds
Championship: Chase Gormley (MSU-N) dec. Luke Roberts (UGF) 3-2. Third Place:
Clay Rodgers (DSU) dec. Dany Ledda (JC) 7-4. Fifth Place: Sam Sand (JC) dec.
James Causey (NC) 11-6.