Northern wrestlers dominate Jimmies

With everything going on this weekend, Montana State University-Northern wrestling coach David Ray knew there would be some scheduling conflicts with his team's dual against Jamestown College. But Ray wasn't about to not wrestle this weekend.

To his surprise, a good crowd showed up to watch Northern completely handle Jamestown College 36-9, losing just one match and forfeiting another.

"We couldn't not wrestle this weekend," Ray said. "We needed some matches and you always want home matches. Even with so much going on, we still had a nice crowd."

The Lights didn't disappoint the crowd, with plenty of wins and a little late excitement.

The trio of David Waters, Kyle Fisher and Emmett Willson notched consecutive first-period pins to end the dual on a dominating note.

Ray was forced to do some lineup juggling after heavyweight Mazi Burke came down with a skin infection and couldn't compete. Ray inserted Lance Nelson in at 165 and moved the remainder of his starting lineup up a weight class.

Nelson, who normally wrestles 149, struggled at 165, giving up too much weight to Chris Feist, but still had a chance to pull out a win until a late takedown put the match out of reach.

The weight move had little effect on Aaron Jensen at 174, who put together perhaps his best match of the season with a 19-7 win over Luke Switzer.

"To score 19 points is impressive," Ray said. "Aaron did a nice job and he really picked up the tempo in the match."

Jensen's win was followed by the succession of pins from Waters, Fisher and Willson.

"Waters had been sick all week," Ray said. "He got his guy in a headlock and that's kind of his move. It was nice to see Kyle get going early in the match."

The excitement was a welcome change from a relatively slow start. After Northern forfeited the 125-pound match, Caleb Schaeffer picked up a 13-4 win over Eric Grund.

"Caleb really wanted a pin to get us going," Ray said. "He didn't look very good at times and tried to force something that wasn't there. If he was a little more patient, I think the pin would have come."

At 141 pounds, Chris Smith scored a 13-7 win over Travis Ayres, while Anthony Haukenberry defeated Jake Esser 6-1 at 149 pounds. At 157, Stryder Davis scored a big win over Tom Iverson 13-5.

"Overall, it was a good weekend," Ray said. "We saw some things we still need to work on, and Jamestown wasn't the toughest competition, but it was still good to get on the mat."

The Lights will face some tougher competition Tuesday when they travel to Dickinson, N.D., for a dual with the always-solid Dickinson State Bluehawks.

MSU-Northern 36, Jamestown College 9

125 - Shane Hase, JC win by forfeit; 133 - Caleb Schaeffer, MSUN def. Eric Grund 13-4; 141 - Chris Smith, MSUN def. Travis Ayres 13-7; 149 - Anthony Haukenberry, MSUN def. Jake Esser 6-1; 157 - Stryder Davis, MSUN def. Tom Iverson 13-5; 165 - Chris Feist, JC def. Lance Nelson 5-2; 174 - Aaron Jensen, MSUN def. Luke Switzer 19-7; 184 - David Waters, MSUN pinned Clyde Switzer 1:30; 197 - Kyle Fisher, MSUN pinned Edwin Fink :50; HWT - Emmett Willson, MSUN pinned Joe Vincent :56.