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Lights qualify eight for NAIA mat tourney

Northern crowns four champs at Western Regional Qualifier

The Montana State University-Northern wrestling team had another day of triumphs and unexpected surprises in what has been a roller coaster 2013-14 season.

Northern finished third at the Western Regional NAIA Qualifier Saturday in Menlo, Calif., and the Lights advanced eight grapplers on to the NAIA national tournament.

In the team race, MSU-N scored a solid 107.5 points, and the Lights had to do it without senior Kody Reed, who injury defaulted out of the 184-pound bracket. Reed was injured in practice Friday and couldn’t compete, but he did receive a wildcard entry into the national tournament. Southern Oregon was first Saturday with 147 points and Great Falls was second with 129.5 points.

Losing Reed was a tough blow, and the Lights didn’t get any points at 125 or 149 pounds. But on the other side of the coin, Northern was dominant in crowning four champions. Senior Cameron Neiss won a regional title at 141 pounds, junior Mickey Cheff won at 157 pounds, as did junior Ethan Hinebauch at 165. Sophomore Toby Cheff also cruised to the 197-pound title.

“It was a little bit of both,” Northern head coach Tyson Thivierge said. “We had another unfortunate thing happen in that Kody Reed wasn’t able to compete after getting injured in practice. Fortunately, the coaches voted to give him a wildcard spot to nationals, so he’ll be ready to go. On the other hand, as a team, we wrestled pretty well. We went 4-for-4 in the finals and 2-for-2 in the third-place matches, and we battled to stay in it as far team points go.”

Neiss got some revenge on his way to the 141-pound title. Just last week, he was upset by UGF’s Kyle Wilson, but Saturday, Neiss earned a 4-2 win over Wilson in the final. He also beat Hector Lopez of Simpson and Jonathan Gay of SOU on his way to the championship.

Mickey Cheff bested Menlo’s David Rios 7-0 in the final on his way to going 3-0 on the day. Hinebauch, who came in ranked behind Menlo’s Eric Lopez, instead had to dispatch two UGF wrestlers to claim his title. Hinebauch beat Brock Picard in the semifinals, then faced off against nemesis Shaun Lau in the final. Lau upset Lopez in the semis, but Hinebauch worked his way to a 6-0 decision in the finale.

Toby Cheff pinned Embry-Riddle’s Troy Kilgore in the semifinals, then was handed a forfeit victory in the final. He was set to battle No. 2 Charles Johnson of Southern Oregon, but Johnson bowed out. MSU-N red-shirt freshman Garrett DeMers lost to Johnson in the semifinals, but came back to place third at 197.

In the difficult 174-pound bracket, Northern junior Jared Miller wound up third. After pinning UGF’s Taylor Vaughn in the first round, he lost a heartbreaker, 7-6, to Simpson’s Brady Beamon in the semis. Miller rebounded to beat Vaughn again, 11-2 for third.

Northern also got a big boost from red-shirt freshman Jorrell Jones at heavyweight. Jones lost in the semifinals, and to Southern Oregon’s Clayton Burtis in the consolation semis. But because he hadn’t faced Menlo’s Justin Harrison, who placed fourth, he was able to wrestle a challenge match against Harrison for a spot at nationals, and he prevailed, giving the Lights an eighth grappler at the national tournament.

At 157 pounds, Tommy Cooper came up short in his bid to reach nationals, going 1-2, while Brenton Beard went 1-2 at 133 pounds. Riley Miller went 0-2 at 125 pounds.

“We’re taking eight guys to nationals,” Thivierge said. Given what’s all happened to us this season, we feel pretty good about that. So it was a good tournament for us.”

Northern will now prepare to head to the NAIA national tournament, which runs March 7-8 in Topeka, Kan.

 

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