Opportunity: Lights ready to capitalize on Cascade Conference Championship being in their house

Under now longtime head coach Tyson Thivierge, the goal of the Montana State University-Northern wrestling team is to win a national championship. It doesn't change. And that's the goal in 2022.

But, the journey to a national championship begins with qualifying as many Lights as they can for the NAIA national tournament next month. And to do that, Northern must perform well at the Cascade Conference Championships, which fortunately, will be held on their home mats this year.

The CCC, which was supposed to be held in Havre last year, but was canceled due to the pandemic, will take place Friday and Saturday in the Armory Gymnasium, where the No. 8 Lights will be one of the favorites for the team title.

"This weekend for the Cascade is always a tough one," Thivierge said. "There are so many great teams and it is always a tight race in the top three. Menlo, ERAU, MSU-N, SOU and Providence are always right there. Now EOU is building and getting super tough, Vanguard is an up and coming program. It's hard for any of our 12 conference teams to get 12 guys to the NAIA National Championships, but with the 12 we have selected, we have confidence they can get the job done."

To get the job done, the Lights will have to contend with standout grapplers from all of the aformentioned teams, in what is easily the toughest of all the conference qualifiers in the NAIA. With No. 9 Menlo, No. 16 EOU, No. 19 ERAU, Vanguard, Providence and Southern Oregon all in the latest Coaches Poll, and all bringing ranked wrestlers to Havre, the field for this weekend will be brutal.

The qualifier for nationals is also different than it once was, as the NAIA has allocations per conference, per weight class. The Cascade has the most allocations with a total of 34, broken down by three spots at 125 pounds, six at 133, two at 141, three at 149, four at 157, six at 165, four at 174, three at 184, just one at 197 and two at 285. Additionally, there will be seven wildcard wrestlers selected from the CCC at the conclusion of the tournament.

And Northern is hoping to have as many grapplers moving on as it can. Of course, the one spot at 197 up for grabs in Havre is dominated by defending national champion Isaac Bartel, who is ranked No. 1 and unbeaten in NAIA competition over the last two seasons.

The Lights' lineup for this weekend will also include another former national champion in senior Nick Kunz, who is ranked No. 11 at 133, as well as returning All-American Chase Short, ranked No. 5 at 165.

In the lower weights, the Lights will also send out Kaleb Frank at 125 pounds, 11th-ranked Martin Wilkie at 141, Collin Silverthorn at 149, Connor Harris at 157, seventh-ranked NaKoda Siegel and Rylin Burns at 174, sixth-ranked Carl Hansen at 184 and Rylan Moldenhauer at 285.

And, while the field is certainly going to be tough, and the wrestling fierce, Thivierge has high confidence in his Lights, and is excited that they get to showcase themselves on such a big stage on their home mats this weekend.

"Our expectations will never change, hasn't in 14 years, we expect to win conference and national championships," Thivierge said. "That will never go away. If I ever get to a point where I'm just hoping to qualify kids, I'm not fit for this job. We have selected the 12 guys we feel give us the best shot at attaining our goals. The selection process is never an easy one for our coaching staff, but we feel these 12 guys give us our best opportunity moving forward. We have other guys who could do great things for us at conference and nationals, but this is the group we feel helps us get that job done.

"I hope we as a community take advantage of being at home, this won't happen for almost another decade," he added. "So I'm hoping, as a community, we show we have the greatest support locally in the Cascade Conference."

The Cascade Conference Championships begin Friday at noon and run through Saturday evenings finals. All of the action takes place inside the Armory Gymnasium.