By Special to the Havre Daily News
The Montana State University-Northern wrestling team is ranked number three by the NAIA Coaches Association preseason poll. The two teams ranked above Northern are University Wisconsin-Parkside and Lindenwood University, ranked number one and two respectively. Following Northern is Southern Oregon University (fourth) and the University of Mary (fifth), rounding out the top five NAIA teams.
The ten Northern wrestlers ranked are:
Carl Valley, 125 pounds, ranked seventh
Caleb Schaeffer, 133 pounds, ranked third
Dustyn Azure, 149 pounds, ranked third
Bobby Mantle, 149 pounds, ranked ninth
Josh Wright, 157 pounds, ranked ninth
Mike Lester, 165 pounds, ranked fifth
Kyle Fisher, 174 pounds, ranked second
Tyson Thivierge, 184 pounds, ranked first
Emmett Willson, 197 pounds, ranked seventh
Dane Jacobsen, heavyweight, ranked fourth
This weekend the MSU-Northern wrestling team, after an interesting and exciting Maroon and Gold intrasquad meet last Friday and a 39-3 dismantling of the University of Calgary Dinosaurs on Oct. 19, travels to Powell, Wyo. to entertain the Northwest College Trappers and Dickinson State Blue Hawks.
"These guys are very hungry to compete against anyone but teammates," head coach David Ray said. "They are one of the hardest working groups of young men I have coached in my years here at Northern. What I would like to see is for these guys to go out and compete with a vengeance, fire in their eyes, not worry about technique or the score, but try and dominate."
Each wrestler is guaranteed two matches, but may have up to four. Weigh-ins start at 9 a.m. with wrestling scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
"We need the mat time not in the room, but against our opponents," Ray said. "This will allow the coaching staff to evaluate our weaknesses and strengths and it allows the wrestlers to release some tension after several weeks of intense training.
"I've been listening and talking about these matches and they know it is show time to go out and do what they have been training for."
The Lights are not at full strength; out with injuries are Eric Dunmire, All-American, Dustyn Azure and Kyle Klonizos.
Northern's first home dual meet is Thursday, Nov. 8 against the defending National Junior College Champions, North Idaho College at 8 p.m.
The following are the results from the Calgary Dual on Oct. 19 and the Maroon and Gold intrasquad on Oct. 26:
MSU-Northern vs. University of Calgary
125 pounds Brett Favorite def. Vic Truong, 10-1
133 pounds Carl Valley lost to Mike Stitt, 3-0
141 pounds Caleb Schaeffer def. Joseph Bentley, 5-4
149 pounds Kyle Nay def. Damon Booth, 11-1
157 pounds Bobby Mantle def. Joe Loucks, 10-0
165 pounds Mike Lester pinned Anthony Baldwin in 2:15
174 pounds Kyle Fisher pinned Matt Eckfeldt in 2:10
184 pounds Tyson Thivierge def. Hakan Kadir, 10-0
HWT. Emmett Willson def. Robert Young, 11-1
MSU-Northern Intrasquad match
125 pounds Andy Thompson pinned Carl Valley in 4:28
133 pounds Caleb Schaeffer pinned Tim Kaczmarek in 3:36
141 pounds Dustin May pinned Joc Muir in 5:49
149 pounds Bobby Mantle def. Kyle Nay, 12-5
157 pounds Josh Wright def. Trevor Floerchinger, 5-3
165 pounds Mike Lester won by injury default over Kyle Klonizos in 2:51
174 pounds Kyle Fisher pinned Aaron Jensen in 3:42
184 pounds Tyson Thivierge def. Emmett Willson, 4-3
HWT Joel Stuker pinned Trevor Nelson in 6:12
