David Michaud

The SDSU wrestling team competed against the Wyoming Cowboys in a Western Wrestling Conference dual on Feb. 5 in Frost Arena. The Jacks won three of the nine matches and lost with a score of 34-9.

The Jacks started the day out strong though, as 149 Nick Hagar came out with a big win in the night’s first match. This dual did not start at 125 as the coaches went by random weight class. Hagar scored a close, hard-fought decision 3-1 over Kasey Garnhart to give the Jacks an early spark.

That spark was quickly diminished by the Cowboys, as in the 157 match Nick Flynn was soundly defeated by Jimmy Belleville, 12-2. The match began the Cowboys’ three-match winning streak while they also received a forfeit.

“We were out-techniqued, out-muscled, out-worked and pretty much just out-wrestled all around,” said Flynn. “They were just better today.”

Out-muscled would be the best way to describe the 165 match, as Seth Moe moved up from 149 again to fill in an empty spot for the Jacks. Moe wrestled No. 9 Shane Onufer in a match where the contestants appeared 30 pounds apart. Onufer would have his way with Moe, winning by pin in 4 minutes, 19 seconds.

In the next weight class, the Jacks were again open, giving Brock Smith a forfeit and furthering the Cowboys’ lead.

At 184, SDSU put David Michaud on the mat against No. 9 Joe LeBlanc in an obvious mismatch. LeBlanc took an early lead before pinning Michaud at the 4:15 mark.

The next match would be one of the Jacks’ few bright spots, as 197 Tyler Sorenson padded his undefeated Conference dual record with a closer-than expected 3-2 win over Alfonso Hernandez.

The Heavyweight match featured Jackrabbit Kevin Kelly battling Lee Helbig. Kelly would keep the match close throughout, but fall 4-1 to the faster Helbig.

After the Hwt. match, the little guys came up, with SDSU’s 125 Aaron Pickrel grappling with No. 12 Michael Martinez. Pickrel took more shots, but Martinez had more points, winning 10-4.

For the Jacks at 133 was Tyler Johnson, against Cory VornBaur. VornBaur, like most of the Cowboys, had the lead from the beginning before putting Johnson on his back and recording Wyoming’s third and final pin.

In the final match of the night, the Jacks had 141 Dustin Walraven taking on Chase Smith. Walraven came out strong, scoring an early takedown, and never looking back from there. Walraven would push the score up to 8-1, the Jacks’ biggest victory of the night.

Assistant coach Zack Schaffer saw some good things in the dual, saying “we took three matches from the team favored to win our conference. We are improving in many areas, and it’s really great to see.”

The Jacks’ next match is Feb. 12 at Utah Valley State and then Feb. 14 at Northern Colorado.