Northern State qualified two wrestlers for the NCAA Division II national wrestling tournament.
The Wolves competed at the Super Regional Three tournament on Sunday. Two-time defending national heavyweight champion Matt Meuleners qualified for his fourth national tournament. NSU sophomore Anthony Bruno qualified for nationals in the 125-pound division.
Meuleners lost to a familiar foe in the title match. St. Cloud State's Jake Kahnke defeated Meuleners 3-1 in sudden victory to win the region championship.
"We will learn from it and we will get better and we will be ready for the national tournament," Northern State coach Pat Timm said.
Meuleners almost earned a take down near the end of regulation. Kahnke, No. 2 in the nation, then scored a take down in overtime against the No. 1 ranked Meuleners.
"We got in a big scramble and kid got on top of it," Timm said. "It could have gone either way."
Meuleners has defeated Kahnke in the last two Division II wrestling championship matches and the two have faced each other multiple times during their college careers. The two conference rivals could meet again in this year's national tournament.
The national tournament is March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala. Bruno is from Madison, Ala., which is less then 100 miles from Birmingham. Bruno wrestled six times on Sunday. He punched his ticket to nationals with a 9-6 win over Chris Paulus of Upper Iowa in the true fourth place match. The top four place winners in each weight class advance to nationals.
"Anthony Bruno wrestled great today," Timm said. "We knew he had the ability to get there. We made it a little harder on ourselves, but getting to the national tournament is the first step and being an All-American is second. We got the first one accomplished. We are excited about him getting his first trip to the national tournament."
NSU senior Chad Gibson came close to qualifying for nationals, but he lost his true fourth place match in the 197-pound weight class.
"It is sad to see one of your seniors like that not make it to the national tournament," Timm said. "Especially a kid that works so hard, but I'm very proud of him and I'm thankful for what he has done for our program."
St. Cloud State won the team title with 140 points. NSU finished ninth as a team with 45 points. The regional featured 13 teams and nearly 130 wrestlers. Six of the 13 teams in the region are nationally ranked and two more are receiving votes, while 27 individuals are ranked in their respective weight classes including four ranked wrestlers at the 133, 184 and 197 pound weight classes.
Team Scores: St. Cloud State 140 , Upper Iowa 95 , Mankato 84 , Indianapolis 72 , Maryville 72 , Wisconsin-Parkside 70 , Augustana College 68 , Southwest 55, Northern State 45 , Mary 27 , Moorhead 25 , Newman 12, Minot State 9 .
|Northern State Results|
125: Anthony Bruno, lost to Eric Forde, St. Cloud State, 5-2; def. Kris Workman, Newman, 6-0; pinned Brandon Oshiro, Maryville, 3:42; def. T.J. North, Augustana, 6-1; lost to David Demo, Mankato, 5-3 (sudden victory); def. Chris Paulus, Upper Iowa, 9-6.
133: Tyler Frost, lost to Alphonso Vruno, Mankato, 17-2 (technical fall); pinned by Philippe Walker, Moorhead, 5:43.
141: Ian Muirhead, lost to Brandon Charbonneau, Augustana, 5-1; pinned Tyrell Galloway, Maryville, 1:52; def, Devin Terry, Southwest, 9-7; pinned Aaron Engels, Newman, 2:09; lost to Angel Vega, Moorhead, 9-3; def. Brandon Charbonneau, Augustana College, 10-4.
149: Grant Steen, lost to Landon Della Silva, Mary, 10-4; pinned by J.P. Carter, Newman, 6:47.
157: Gavin Larsen, lost to Sawyer Hoffman, Mankato, 9-2; lost to Dillon Bera, Wisconsin-Parkside, 8-0 (major decision).
165: Blake Lundgren, pinned by Nick Fishback, Wisconsin-Parkside, 2:22; def. Kerron Williams, Moorhead, 5-3 (sudden victory); lost to Gabe Fogarty, 6-5.
174: Anthony Navarro, pinned by Kyle Begin, Southwest, 2:57; lost to Jesse Puncochar, Moorhead, 11-2 (major decision).
184: Jeb Clay, pinned by Mitchell Schultz, Upper Iowa, 1:52; pinned by Matt Gille, Wisconsin-Parkside, 2:17.
197: Chad Gibson, def. Nathan Hayes, Mankato, 12-3 (major decision); lost to Carl Broghammer, Upper Iowa, 4-1; def. Steven Cooksley, Newman, 8-2; def. Taylor Scott, Indianapolis, 7-4; lost to Jayd Docken, Augustana, 8-3; def. Chris Brassell, St. Cloud State, 6-5.
285: Matt Meuleners, def. Brian Schultz, Augustana, 6-0; Morgan Denson, Maryville, 8-0 (major decision), pinned Evan Wooding, Indianapolis, 3:24; lost to Jake Kahnke, St. Cloud State, 3-1 (sudden victory).