Northern wrestlers continue dominance at Northern Regional
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
The MSU-Northern wrestling team continued its dominance over the NAIA
Northern Regional tournament with yet another dominant showing in Huron, S.D.
The Lights had seven wrestlers win individual titles and two others finish
second to propel them to 170 team points and their eighth straight team title.
"We really emphasized how important it was to dominate each individual
weight class and finish as high as we could for seeding at the national
tournament," said Lights' head coach
For the most part, Ray's team did that, and a little
more, as evidenced by the seven individual champs.
Senior transfer Brian Luna got Northern rolling with a pin of Spencer Griffiths
of the
"Luna wrestled tough," Ray said. "He's a man on a mission and is
just very focused right now.
Dan Shaw followed up Luna's win with a title of
his own at 141, defeating Adam Montrom of Si-Tanka/Huron 11-2.
"I really liked Shaw's style of wrestling this weekend," Ray said.
"He had his weight under control and was very aggressive."
At 149 pounds, senior Dustyn Azure picked up a tough
7-3 win over
"Azure had an excellent weekend," Ray said. "We knew that would
be a tough match in the finals. He took the lead early in the match and led the
whole way."
Northern continued its run at 157 as Stryder Davis
defeated teammate Dale Seley 7-1 in the finals.
"Stryder looked solid," Ray said. "I
was pleased with how Seley wrestled. He's only been
on the mat about three or four times the past 10 days because of how sick he
was."
At 165 pounds, junior Aaron Jensen had a good weekend, defeating DSU's Tyson Springer 4-2 in the finals. Jensen also avenged
a loss to
"Jensen had a great tourney," Ray said. "
Jesse Juarez had little trouble picking up a title at 184 pounds. He pinned
Elijah Simburger at
"Jesse looked very dominant," Ray said. "Simburger
finished seventh at nationals last year, so he wasn't a pushover."
Northern's final title came at heavyweight as junior
Chase Gormley, capped a solid weekend with a 4-2 win
over No. 1-ranked Brandon Lemer of
"Chase went in as the No. 1 seed because Lemer
lost last week," Ray said. "And he did everything to maintain that
seed. He wrestled a great match in the finals."
Northern's other second-place finish came at 174 as
Ryan Mattingly was pinned by Matt Michaelson of
"Mattingly looked great in his first matches," Ray said. "He
just wrestled a bad match in the finals. He got caught in a pinning combination
right away."
Northern's other placers came at 174 as David Waters
finished a solid third. He defeated second-seeded Eugene Pierre of Si-Tanka/Huron to open the tourney. After losing to Michaelson in the semis, he battled back to defeat
At 125 pounds, Mike McPeak finished fourth, losing to DSU's
Mark Johnston in the consolation finals. McPeak lost a tough 8-5 match to
eventual champ Cory Johnston in the semis.
Northern's other wrestler, Emory Willson,
finished fifth at 165, but was unable to qualify for the NAIA national tourney.
He will be replaced on the tourney roster by freshman Brian Fritchman
at 184 pounds. Fritchman sat out this weekend because
of medical reasons.
Northern will have the week off from competition and will prepare for the NAIA
National Tournament in
Team Scores
1. MSU-Northern 170; 2.
Championship Matches
125 - Cory Johnston, DSU dec. Shane Hase, JC 13-7
133 - Brian Luna, MSU-N pinned Spencer Griffiths, UGF 3:54
141 - Dan Shaw, MSU-N dec. Adam Montrom,
STH 11-2
149 - Dustyn Azure, MSU-N dec.
Keri Stanley, DSU 7-3
157 - Stryder Davis, MSU-N dec.
Dale Seley, MSU-N 7-1
165 - Aaron Jensen, MSU-N dec. Tyson Springer, DSU
4-2
174 - Matt Michaelson, DSU pinned Ryan Mattingly,
MSU-N 2:03
184 - Jesse Juarez, MSU-N pinned Elijah Simburger, UM
3:57
197 - Justin Schlect, DSU dec.
Stacey Mello, JC 6-2
HWT - Chase Gormley, MSU-N dec.
Brandon Lemer, JC 4-2