The Jacks finished the stretch of home duals with a win over Air Force, evening the all-time dual record between the two.
South Dakota State handled Air Force in the matchup, winning all but two of the matches. Head coach of the Jacks Damion Hahn gave props to the Air Force team for how they wrestled.
“Were they outmatched in a handful of weight classes? Absolutely, but their guys fought the entire time,” Hahn said. He feels that is the type of wrestling the team needs to see as they get deeper into the season and competition.
Starting out the dual for the Jacks, Tanner Jordan pulled out a win in a close match against Tucker Owens winning 5-3.
The backup 133-pounder Logan Graf added to his perfect record beating Brenden Barnes 4-3. Following Graf’s win, teammate Clay Carlson fell behind early in his match against Garrett Kuchan but took control of the match with a seven-point second period to win 10-7 at 141 pounds.
Alek Martin kept it rolling for the Rabbits as he won by major decision over Joe Fernau at 149 pounds. Extending his winning streak to six, Cael Swensen handled Brooks Gable winning by technical fall 17-2 ending the match 23 seconds into the third period of the 157 pound match.
In the following match, the Jacks suffered their first of two losses in the dual, with a loss at 165 pounds. Air Force’s Giano Petrucelli put his team on the scoreboard with a 5-0 decision win over Tanner Cook.
South Dakota State kept the ball rolling after this match with three more bonus-point wins of their own all in a row. These bonus-point wins would come at the weights of 174, 184 and 197 pounds.
Starting off the three bonus-point wins, Cade DeVos earned a win by major decision over Gage Musser 14-4. The following match between SDSU’s No. 13 Bennett Berge and No. 7 ranked Sam Wolf was one to watch.
Berge was heavy on his offense and scored the first takedown of the match with 30 seconds left in the first period. These would be the only points scored until the third period where Wolf chose a neutral start.
This choice would end up hurting Wolf as Berge continued with his offense scoring his second takedown, putting him up 6-0 in the third. With Berge adding two back points to that takedown, the match ended 8-0 with Berge winning by major decision.
Tanner Sloan proved his dominance on the mat once again earning his 99th career victory with a first period fall over Air Force’s Calvin Sund. Along with earning his 99th career victory, Sloan improved his dual win streak to 33.
The Jacks’ second and final loss of the dual came at heavyweight where No. 2 Falcon Wyatt Hendrickson ended the dual with a fall over Luke Rasmussen of the Jacks.
Coach Hahn wants the guys to keep improving and staying consistent not only in the practice room but outside of it too, taking care of themselves. This is important to become prepared for the upcoming Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.
“This next string of matches we have coming up; they are going to test us. They are going to test us on the road, they are going to test us at home and again it’s all preparation,” Hahn said.
The Jacks will hit the road this week heading to Wyoming and Utah. They will dual Wyoming Thursday, Feb. 1 and Utah Valley Saturday, Feb. 3.