Three win titles, but Lights finish without trophy
By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
The 15-hour drive home from Sioux City, Iowa, might have been a little bit
easier for the members of the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team
if there was a trophy from the 2005 NAIA national wrestling tournament riding
in the van with them.
Instead, the Lights have only individual hardware to show from this weekend's
national tournament, having finished fourth as a team with 111 points. No.
1-ranked Lindenwood University won the team title with 178.5 points. Missouri
Valley was second with 128.5, while Cumberland College of Kentucky edged out the
Lights for the third-place trophy with 115.5 points.
"I have mixed emotions," Ray said in a phone interview. "We had
five guys place and they did a good job. But this team was more than capable of
finishing third or even second, but we didn't get the performances that we
needed or expected."
Of Northern's five placers, three claimed individual championships.
At 157 pounds, senior Stryder Davis wrapped up a brilliant two-year career at
Northern with his second straight national title.
Davis was dominant all weekend, opening with a pin over Brian Seibel of
Southern Oregon in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Davis found himself
down 4-3 in the second period. But that changed in a hurry as he went on to
whip Angelo Love of William Penn 17-6. In the semifinals, he outlasted
sixth-ranked Darion Terry 4-0 and then went on to defeat second-ranked Jake
Diffenbach of Lindenwood 4-0 in the finals.
"In a word, Stryder was dominant,"
Ray said. "In the finals, his opponent stalled and didn't even try to take
shots. He should've been penalized two more stalling points. But Stryder did a
good job of staying focused."
For his efforts in the tournament and the season overall, he was named the
tournament's outstanding wrestler.
"It was our fifth straight year of winning the outstanding wrestler,"
Ray said. "It is definitely an accomplishment. No other team has ever won
it more than twice in a row. Stryder deserves it. He had a great season. He
finished 41-1 with his only loss coming to the No.1 ranked wrestler in NCAA
Division I."
Northern got another national champion at 133 pounds as senior transfer Brian
Luna capped his brilliant, but all too brief Northern career with a pin of Kyle
Jahn of McKendree in the finals. Luna was the odds-on favorite to win the title
coming in and did little to make people think otherwise.
He pinned Nick Ripsom of
"Luna was all business," Ray said. "He pins three of his four
opponents. You can't complain about that. He was on a mission to win a national
title and that's exactly what he did."
Northern's other national title came at 184 pounds as senior Jesse Juarez
scored a 12-4 major decision over Joffre Lander of Embry-Riddle. Juarez, who
had battled injuries late in the year, put together a solid stretch of
wrestling starting with a pin of Webster Farris of Dana College in the second
round. He then scored a tough 5-3 decision over sixth-ranked Matt Juncal in the
quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he defeated No. 1-ranked David O'Brien of
Southern Oregon 7-6.
"Jesse had a great tournament," Ray said. "He said before the
tournament that it was his goal to win a national title and he came and did
what he had to do. He beat some very good wrestlers in the quarters and
semis."
Northern's only other placers came at 141 and 149 as seniors Dan Shaw and
Dustyn Azure each placed sixth in their respective divisions.
Shaw started off the tournament on a roll with a 12-6 win over Josh Sorum of
Bacone College in the first round. In the second round, he defeated last year's
national runner-up Jason Lozier of Dana College 9-4.
"That was a huge win for Shaw," Ray said. "Lozier was banged up
a little, but he's still a competitor. Shaw wrestled one of his best matches of
the year."
The win over Lozier moved Shaw into the quarterfinals against Nick Vogt of
McKendree. He dispatched of Vogt to move into the semifinals, where his short
run was stopped by Brad Stockton of Waldorf, who would eventually finish
second. Shaw lost to Mark Dugan of McKendree in the consolation quarterfinals
and he fell to Leo Martinez of Lindenwood to finish sixth, but still earn
All-American honors.
"Shaw had to face some tough opponents right after he got beat," Ray
said. "He wrestled tough, but just wasn't quite as sharp as he had been
earlier in the tournament."
Competing in what was labeled as the toughest weight division, Azure scrapped
and fought his way to a sixth-place finish in the final wrestling tournament of
his career.
Azure opened with a technical fall over Lewis Settle of York College and
followed that up with a pin of Southern Oregon's Early Ulrey. His championship
hopes were derailed in the quarterfinals as Simon Fraser's Chris Harada edged
him 7-5.
"That was a tough loss for Azure," Ray said. "We knew it would
be a tough match because Harada is solid. He just came up a little short."
Azure bounced back from the loss to score another technical fall, this time
over Kelly Rydberg of Waldorf in his first wrestlback match. He scored a 3-1
win over Shane Cristelli of Missouri Valley. In the fifth-sixth place match,
Cumberland's Ernie Spreitzer edged Azure 5-4.
"Dustyn Azure left everything he had on the mat," Ray said. "He
wrestled with a lot of heart and effort. He had some tough losses. That was one
the deepest weight classes in the tournament."
While most teams would love to have five placers and three national champions,
Ray knows that by his program's lofty standards, it must be better.
"We had three guys that didn't place that I thought were capable of being
All-Americans," Ray said. "Obviously they didn't go in there to lose,
but they didn't find ways to win, which is what it takes to be an
All-American."
TEAM SCORES
Lindenwood 178.5, Missouri Valley 128.5, Cumberland (Ky.) 115.5, Montana
St.-Northern 111, Dana (Neb.) 86, Embry Riddle (Ariz.) 84, William Penn (Iowa)
77, Dickinson St. 62, Mary (N.D.) 55, Great Falls (Mont.) 54, S. Oregon 53.5,
McKendree (Ill.) 52.5, Menlo (Calif.) 44.5, Bacone (Okla.) 33, Waldorf (Iowa)
32, Newman (Kan.) 30.5, Cumberland (Tenn.) 27.5, Jamestown, N.D. 23.5,
Morningside (Iowa) 16.5, Simon Fraser 14.5, Campbellsville (Ky.) 12.5,
Northwestern (Iowa) 12, Missouri Baptist 7, Bethel (Ind.) 6.5, Brian Cliff
(Iowa) 4, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 4, Si Tanka (S.D.) 0, York (Neb.) 0.
125 - Michael McPeak 3-2
McPeak, MSU-N dec. Michael Copeland, NEW 7-5
Andrew Bradbury, LIN dec. McPeak, MSU-N 8-4
McPeak, MSU-N dec. Jared Dingmann, DWU 15-10
McPeak, MSU-N pinned Jeff Aguilar, MEN F, 1:47
Kendall Horrocks, WPC dec. McPeak, MSU-N 6-4
133 - Brian Luna 4-0 (National Champion)
Luna, MSU-N pinned Nick Ripsom, SOU 1:45
Luna, MSU-N dec. Brad Cooper, CC 9-5
Luna, MSU-N pinned Louis Edmonds, LIN F 4:55
Luna, MSU-N (31-1) pinned Kyle Jahn, MKC (20-7) F, 3:40
141 - Dan Shaw 3-3 (sixth place)
Shaw, MSU-N dec. Josh Sorum, BAC 12-6
Shaw, MSU-N DEC. Jason Lozier, DC 9-4
Shaw, MSU-N dec. Nick Vogt, MKC 7-3
Brad Stockton, WAL dec. Shaw, MSU-N 13-3
Mark Dugan, NEW dec. Shaw, MSU-N 6-4
Leo Martinez, LIN dec. Shaw, MSU-N 10-3
149 - Dustyn Azure 4-2 (sixth place)
Azure, MSU-N WBTF. Lewis Settle, YOR , 5:25-8; 6:15
Azure, MSU-N pinned Earl Ulrey, SOU 3:36
Chris Harada, SFC dec. Azure, MSU-N 7-5
Azure, MSU-N WBTF Kelly Rydberg, WAL T1, 5:58
Azure, MSU-N dec. Shane Cristelli, MVC 3-1
Ernie Spreitzer, CC dec. Dustyn Azure, MSU-N 5-4
157 - Dale Seley 2-2
Seley, MSU-N major dec. John Wilcox, Missouri Baptist 22-9
Rich Vigorito, Southern Oregon dec. Seley, MSU-N 6-5
Seley, MSU-N F win by forfeit
Donaco Watts, Missouri Valley dec. Seley, MSU-N 5-4
157 - Stryder Davis 4-0 (National Champion)
Davis, MSU-N pinned Brian Seibel, SOU 4:40
Davis, MSU-N dec. Angelo Love, WPC 17-6
Davis, MSU-N dec. Darion Terry, MVC 4-0
Davis, MSU-N (41-1) dec. Jake Dieffenbach, LIN (22-7) 4-0
165 - Aaron Jensen 1-2
Jensen, MSU-N dec. Antonio Duarte, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 9-4
Scott Vaughn, CAM dec. Jensen, MSU-N 3-2; TB1
Corey Johnson, LIN pinned Jensen, MSU-N F, 2:04
174 - David Waters 1-2
Casey Sullivan, WAL dec. Waters, MSU-N 11-2
Waters, MSU-N dec. Eugene Pierre, STH 9-6
Josh Fitzgerald, Southern Oregon dec. Waters, MSU-N 8-0
174 - Ryan Mattingly 1-2
Todd Allen, CC dec. Mattingly, MSU-N 7-1
Ryan Mattingly, MSU-N dec. Derek Pike, WAL 6-0
Junior Liberal, MEN dec. Mattingly, MSU-N 4-2
184 - Brian Fritchman 0-2
Blair Alderman, DC dec. Fritchman, MSU-N 7-3
Smith, WPC dec. Fritchman, MSU-N 13-9
184 - Jesse Juarez 4-0 (National Champion)
Juarez, MSU-N pinned Webster Farris, DC 2:54
Juarez, MSU-N dec. Matt Juncal, CC 5-3
Juarez, MSU-N dec. David O'Brien, SOU 7-6
Juarez, MSU-N (17-3) dec. Joffre Lander, ERU (29-22) 12-4
HWT - Chase Gormley 1-2
Gormley, MSU-N pinned Renwick Richardson, CC F, 3:51
Jacob Hallmark, MEN dec. Gormely, MSU-N 5-4; TB2
Keith McCleary, Mary (N.D.) dec. Gormley, MSU-N 8-4