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Surging Lights take aim at Cascade Championships

The Montana State University-Northern wrestling team had a strong finish to the regular season, beating arch rival Providence last Thursday night. But, there's little time to rejoice as the postseason is now here.

Northern heads to Prescott, Arizona, for the 2023 Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships Friday and Saturday. The CCC, formerly the West Regional, is easily the toughest tournament in the NAIA, with 50 allocations allowed for the upcoming NAIA national tournament.

And Northern is a big reason why the CCC will be so difficult. The Lights are ranked No. 20 in the NAIA heading into the postseason, and the Lights are part of a loaded field in Arizona which includes No. 7 Menlo, No. 8 Eastern Oregon, No. 9 Providence, No. 18 Embry-Riddle, as well as Vanguard and Southern Oregon, which are both receiving votes in the last NAIA Coaches Poll.

Individually, the CCC will be loaded, too. There 50 nationally ranked grapplers competing this weekend in the tournament, which include Martin Wilkie at 149 pounds, Devin Crawford at 165, NaKoda Siegel and Rylin Burns at 174 and Carl Hansen at 197.

As for the full lineup, the Lights will send out Tanner Cook at 125 pounds. Cook is ranked No. 9 in the CCC, with six points up for grabs to national. Northern, of longtime head coach Tyson Thivierge, is entering junior Noah McDermott and freshman Cooper Cook at 133 pounds, where there are five national tournament spots, and Menlo's Gulomjon Abdulleav is the top seed. At 141, Colin Silverthorn is sixth in CCC and is fighting for just one berth at nationals. EOU's Jaxon Morlan is the No. 1 seed. Wilkie is No. 2 at 149, with SOU's Aaron Gandar tops. There are three openings at that weight, as there are at 157, where sophomore Connor Harris competes for the Lights, and Abraham Del Toro of Menlo is the No. 1 seed.

Northern is very strong in the upper weights, with Crawford fifth at 165, where there are six vacancies to nationals, with ERAU's Rock Keller the top seed. Northern is loaded at 174, where Siegel is the top seed and Burns is seventh in a weight class which has a whopping eight spots up for grabs. Freshman Austin Vanek is ranked seventh in the CCC at 184, where Menlo's Isaiah Morales is first and there are six openings. There are seven openings at 197, where Hansen is ranked fourth in the conference, led by EOU's Marco Retano. MSU-N senior Rylan Moldenhauer rounds out Northern's lineup at heavyweight, where there five openings.

The two-day Cascade Conference Tournament starts Friday and runs through Saturday's championships. All wrestlers who advance to nationals will compete at the 2023 NAIA national tournament March 3-4 in Wichita, Kansas.

 

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