Zach Perry

It was a rough week for the SDSU Jackrabbits wrestling squad, as they dropped a pair of conference duals against North Dakota State and the University of Northern Iowa.

On Feb. 20, the Jackrabbits fell to the NDSU Bison 36-5 in Frost Arena. NDSU (5-10-1, 2-4) started strong, as the first two matches ended with Bison pins of Jason Stripling by Tyler Hemmesch in the heavyweight class and of Alan Marvin by Justin Solberg in the 125-pound class.

The 12-0 NDSU lead would triple to 36-0 on the strength of three major decisions and four decisions over the next seven matches.

In the final match of the evening and the lone win for the Jacks, Tyler Sorenson recorded an 18-3 technical fall victory over Drew Ross in the 197-pound class. Sorenson upped his record to 12-0 on the season.

On Feb. 21, the Jackrabbits squared-off against No. 21 Northern Iowa (10-6, 4-0) in Frost Arena. The Jacks would lose the contest by a final score of 33-3.

Things started off well on Senior Night as Jackrabbit senior Jason Stripling won a 3-0 decision over Dustin Bauman in the heavyweight class. Stripling improved to 31-10 on the year and moved into a 22nd place tie in all-time wins at SDSU.

Unfortunately – just like in the dual against the Bison- SDSU would win only one match on the evening.

In the second match, Jackrabbit senior Alan Marvin took on Cruse Aarhus in the 125-pound class in what would be an exciting back-and-forth match. Marvin led 6-4 at the end of the second period and 7-6 in the third but would eventually drop the match 9-7 to Aarhus.

Dustin Walraven also lost a close decision to Trent Washington in the 141-pound class by a score of 8-6. Walraven was down 6-2 entering the third period before battling back to tie the match at six.

The match of the evening paired up No. 13 Sorenson of SDSU against No. 14 Andrew Anderson. Sorenson entered the match a perfect 12-0 on the year. It was tied up at two after two periods and at four with fewer than 30 seconds remaining. However, Anderson would record a late takedown that proved to be the difference in a 6-5 decision in Anderson’s favor.

With the two losses, SDSU falls to 9-11-1 on the season and 0-6 in the Western Wrestling Conference. The Jackrabbits return to action March 7 at the West Regional in Greeley, Colo., for a chance to move on to the NCAA Tournament.