The Hawkeyes are Coming

The Montana State University-Northern Lights don’t hit the wrestling mat for nearly two months yet. And February is still a few blizzards and a lot of cold nights away. But the excitement for that month can start building now.

Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge recently announced the Lights’ 2015-16 schedule, but Tuesday, he confirmed perhaps the most exciting home dual in a long, long time.

Feb. 12, Northern will take on one of the greatest NCAA wrestling programs in the history of the sport, the Iowa Hawkeyes. And it will happen inside the famed Armory Gymnasium.

“We’ve known about it for a couple of weeks, but we had to keep quiet about it until it was fully official,” Thivierge said of the dual against the Hawkeyes. “But it’s exciting. I think it will be a great thing for us, and for our fans.”

It isn’t the first time Northern has wrestled Iowa, or the first time the Lights have hosted an NCAA Division I program. The Lights took on the Hawkeyes in 1996 in Great Falls. More recently, the Boise State Broncos made an appearance in Havre, but, in the most recent era of MSU-N wrestling, the visit by the Hawkeyes will be something special.

Since 1975, Iowa has won 23 NCAA team titles, including 15 by Hall of Fame coach Dan Gable. Iowa is now under the direction of former Hawkeye great and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Tom Brands. He’s guided Iowa the last 10 seasons and has led the Hawkeyes to three NCAA championships and five Big Ten championships. Brands will bring a stout team to Havre, too, as the Hawkeyes finished second at the 2015 NCAA championships last March.

Brands’ brother, Terry, who is Iowa’s associate head coach, is the Hawkeye’s connection to Northern. On his way up the coaching ranks, Terry was an assistant coach to legendary Northern head man David Ray from 2001-2002. Terry Brands was a bronze medalist at the 2000 Olympics in Sidney. Of course, the Hawkeye program has a strong connection to Montana as two of its all-time greats, Mike and Bill Zadick are from Great Falls.

Meanwhile, Thivierge and the Lights are not only excited about the dual against Iowa, which will be Northern’s final home dual of the 2015-16 season, but they are excited about the upcoming season as a whole.

Despite losing stars Ethan Hinebauch and Jared Miller to graduation, the Lights return plenty of firepower, including 2015 NAIA All-Americans Garrett DeMers and Toby Cheff. DeMers finished second last season at 197 pounds, while Cheff placed third at heavyweight. In the upper weights, the Lights are once again loaded, with the return of Willie Miller and Cole McArthur, both national qualifiers a year ago, while in the middle of the lineup, the additions of Brandon and Matt Weber will certainly make Northern a team to be reckoned with.

And with the addition of the Iowa dual in February, the Lights will certainly have the competition to peak for the national tournament, which takes place March 4-5 in Topeka, Kansas. Northern starts off February with a home dual against Embry-Riddle, then hosts arch rival UGF on Feb. 10 before facing the Hawkeyes two nights later. That dual will be MSU-N’s last before the Western Regional Feb. 20 in Prescott, Arizona.

The Lights will first take to the mat Oct. 11 for their annual Alumni Dual, followed by the Maroon/Gold Dual Oct. 22. MSU-N opens the regular season Oct. 31 at the Trapper Open in Powell, Wyoming, and its first dual of the season will be the annual rivalry with the Argos. Northern and UGF meet first Nov. 12 in Great Falls. The Lights make their regular season home debut Nov. 19 against another big rival, Southern Oregon, and that match will be the only home dual the Lights will have before February. Northern rounds out November with the Cardinal Duals and Spokane Open Nov. 21-22.

In December, the Lights will be at the Battle of the Rockies, and will travel to dual Menlo College Dec. 17 before moving on to the Reno Tournament of Champions Dec. 20. After a break for the holidays, the Lights will travel to the Missouri Valley Invitational and Dickinson State in January, before their big home month in February.

And, with UGF already on the schedule in February, the month was going to be big anyway, but with the addition of the Hawkeyes, who return four NCAA All-Americans from last season’s second-place team, the month, and the season just got even bigger.

“It’s just one of the surreal moments and we're excited about it,” Thivierge said. “We've got a long season ahead of us, we'll prep for them and give them the best we've got.”

2015-16 MSU-N

Wrestling Schedule

Oct. 11 Alumni Dual

Oct. 22 Maroon/Gold

Oct. 31 at Trapper Open

Nov. 7 at Cowboy Open

Nov. 12 at UGF

Nov. 14 at North Idaho

Nov. 19 vs Southern Oregon

Nov. 21 at Cardinal Duals

Nov. 22 at Spokane Open

Dec. 4-5 at Battle of the Rockies

Dec. 17 at Menlo College

Dec. 20 at Reno T.O.C.

Jan. 15-16 at Missouri Valley Invite

Jan. 22 at Dickinson State

Jan. 23 at Tyler Plummer Classic

Feb. 5 vs Embry-Riddle

Feb. 10 vs UGF

Feb. 12 vs Iowa

Feb. 20 at West Regional in Prescott, AZ.

March 4-5 NAIA national tournament in Topeka, Kansas