The Jackrabbits will compete in the Big 12 Wrestling Championship on Saturday and Sunday at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“There is a lot riding on the line,” said head coach Damion Hahn. “I like where our guys are at as far as seeds in the bracket. I think we had nine of our ten guys seeded which is good and that’s seeded in the top eight.”
South Dakota State features a ranked wrestler in nine of the ten weight classes with Avery Allen of SDSU being the sole unraked Jackrabbit in the tournament.
184-pounder Bennett Berge is South Dakota State’s highest-ranked wrestler walking into the tournament. Berge holds the third spot in the 184-pound class behind Parker Keckeisen (first) of Northern Iowa and Dustin Plott (second) from Oklahoma State.
The redshirt sophomore has compiled a 21-4 record on the year and will wrestle Arizona State’s Shay Addison in the first round.
Cobe Siebrecht (157 pounds), Drake Rhodes (165 pounds) and Zach Glazier (197 pounds) all received fourth-place rankings in their first year as a Jackrabbit.
13-5 Glazier received a bye in the first round and will take on the winner of fifth-ranked Ian Bush of West Virginia and Jesse Cassatt of Mizzou.
For Siebrecht, he will be facing off against Ryker Fullmer, an opponent he beat 8-6 in SDSU’s victory over Utah Valley on Jan. 31. Similar to Siebrecht, Rhodes will be up against a wrestler he has not only seen but beat this season. In the team’s 30-10 victory over Northern Colorado, Rhodes matched up against Clayton Ulrey and walked away with a victory by decision 4-1.
Sixth-year Tanner Jordan was awarded the fifth seed in the conference and will be competing against Mitchell Neiner of California Baptist in the 125-pound weight class. This season, Jordan has collected 21 wins and five losses.
At 174 pounds, Cade DeVos sits fifth in the Big 12. The Altoona, Iowa native finished 17-5 on the mat.
Derrick Cardinal sits at seventh in the 174-pound weight class and received a bye in the first round of the conference tournament. Heavyweight Luke Rasmussen also received a seventh seed and will wrestle Tristan Kemp of California Baptist. Rasmussen finished the regular season with a 16-8 record.
In the 141-pound weight class, Julian Tagg received the eighth seed in the Big 12. Tagg was given a bye in the first round and will take on the winner of Cole Brooks of Wyoming and Andrew Alirez, the top seed in the weight class.
Allen will take on Paniro Johnson from Iowa State in the 149-pound weight class.
The Big 12 received 61 allocations in all ten weight classes this season which are automated bids into the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.
The 125, 141, 157,165 and 185-pound classes received seven allocations with 133, 149 and 174 getting six. Both the 197 and 285-pound classes were given four each.
“This is what you prepare for all year, right?” said Hahn. “You finished up the regular season and it was good. We kind of finished on a good note… now we are preparing.”
The tournament will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the preliminary and quarterfinal matches. The event can be streamed on ESPN+.
