Charlie Maricle

The eighth-ranked SDSU wrestling team split a pair of home duals this weekend, beating St. Cloud State and falling to Minnesota State, Mankato.

The wrestlers began their weekend with a 25-15 victory over SCSU Friday night at Brookings High School.

The highlight of the dual was the match at 165 between fourth-ranked Tyler Bryant of SDSU and first-ranked Matt Neumueller of SCSU.

Neumueller took a lead of 2-1 after the second period and had a 4-2 advantage after a takedown before a key penalty against him and an escape by Bryant tied it.

In overtime Bryant pinned Neumueller for the upset victory.

At 149 SDSU’s Jared Barnes tallied an 8-3 victory. Joe Kenton at 157 then added to the SDSU momentum with an 8-6 decision.

The Huskies got a 4-2 victory at 174. But after a SCSU forfeit at 184, Tim Boldt pushed the Jacks to a commanding 21-3 lead with an 8-2 decision. The Jacks gained their final victory of the evening with a major decision at 125 by Garrett Houska. Kris Dozark at 133 and Jacob Schuring at 141 lost decisions to set the final score of 25-15.

SDSU wrestling Coach Jason Liles earned his 100th dual victory at SDSU with the win over St. Cloud State. Liles, in his tenth season at SDSU, has 189 career victories in dual action.

SDSU concluded their weekend Saturday with a 23-16 defeat by eleventh-ranked Minnesota State, Mankato at Brookings High School.

The dual began with some roster shuffling for the Jacks as they forfeited the opening match at 133 and sent out Dozark at 141 to face Tony Fratzke, the second-ranked wrestler at 133. Dozark fell by the score of 14-2.

SDSU then got on the board with a 13-5 major decision by Barnes. The Jacks lost two heartbreaking matches in overtime at 157 and 165.

SDSU fought back with a 5-4 decision by Cowdin at 174. And Jones won by technical fall. Boldt then tied the score at 16-16 with a 13-3 victory.

The Mavericks reclaimed the lead in the heavyweight match with a 10-3 decision and at 125 with a 9-0 major decision.

Despite the defeat to the Mavericks, Coach Liles was upbeat about the performance of his wrestlers over the weekend. Liles said that the wrestlers had been challenged with several injuries on the roster.

“Overall, we wrestled hard,” Liles said. “We’re still trying to make improvements and keep focused so our young guys are hungry for conference championships.”

The Jackrabbit wrestlers now have a dual record of 11-8.