Nick Hartley

The SDSU grapplers looked for their first Western Wrestling Conference win against the University of Wyoming on Feb. 2. Head Coach Jason Liles scheduled in-state rival Dakota Wesleyan University as the under card in order to have a warm-up against the UW cowboys.

Going against DWU, an NAIA team, the Jacks used five pins to propel them to a 36-15 win. The Jacks were led by Tyler Sorenson (184 weight class), Adam Everson (141 weight class), Weston Blasius (157) and Justin Retallic (174 weight class) who earned pins for the Jacks. Derek Pirner (133 weight class) and Ryan Meyer (165 weight class) also picked up decisions for the Jacks.

After earning their first victory of the season as a team, the Jacks then looked ahead to WWC rival, Wyoming, who much like the Jackrabbits were winless in conference play. The Jacks did not compete in two-weight classes (heavy weight class and 125 weight class) and could not match UW’s depth and talent, losing 26-16.

The match started well for the Jacks as Sorenson won uncontested at the 184 weight class. Swier won a close match-up against Dan Barrone. Swier took down his opponent with just seconds left to win 4-2.

After two matches, SDSU was ahead 9-0. The third and fourth match saw the Cowboys receiving back-to-back forfeits; Wyoming then led 12-9.

Nick Kulseth (133 weight class) picked up another overtime decision for the Jacks, while SDSU’s Adam Everson managed to earn a major decision over Brandon Gifford to net the Jacks four dual points. Everson was rewarded a takedown in every period as he won 10-2. The Jacks held the lead with two matches to go, but were unable to win either matches and lost the conference dual.

The Cowboys (2-7 overall, 1-2 in the WWC) had some line up changes in order to prepare for the Jackrabbits.

“We moved some things around a bit because we felt it was so important to get a win tonight,” said University of Wyoming head coach Stevan Suder. “It’s a battle every time you go out on the mat, especially in our conference, and our guys have continued to fight all season. We took some risks in order to get the job done, and it paid off.”

The Jacks (1-7, 0-4) head to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for a dual against Northern Iowa on Feb. 10 at noon.