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A LOOK AT THE WEEK: After a rout of the University of Regina this past Thursday inside the Minot State Dome, the Beavers hit the road for their final two road duals of the year. Saturday, the team heads to No. 4 St. Cloud State and they'll head south to No. 6 Upper Iowa the following day. Both duals are set to begin at 2 p.m. on their respective days.

RECORDS: Minot State bounced back this week as they defeated the University of Regina 46-6 to move the Beavers' overall record to 5-9. Minot State remains 2-1 in the NSIC. St. Cloud State begins the week of Jan. 26 with an overall record of 11-2 and the Huskies sit at 2-0 in the Northern Sun. Upper Iowa is currently 8-2 overall with a 3-0 record in the NSIC.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Robin Ersland is in his fifth season at the front of the Beaver wrestling program. Ersland, a 2010 inductee into the NCAA Division II Wrestling Hall of Fame, has a career record of 220-285-7 in 31 seasons as a head coach. He has coached ninety-nine NCAA Division II National Qualifiers and forty-seven Division II All-Americans. At Minot State, Ersland has compiled an overall record of 13-35. Steve Costanzo is currently in his ninth season as the head coach of the St. Cloud State Huskies. He's done impressive work with St. Cloud since he became the coach compiling an overall record of 119-24. Heath Grimm has led the Upper Iowa Peacocks wrestling program since 2000 and his team has finished ranked No. 11 or higher in eight of those seasons. Grimm's program-best finish of second in the nation came back in 2002.

RANKINGS: St. Cloud State comes into this week as the No. 4 ranked team in the country while Upper Iowa comes in ranked No. 6, according to the latest Coaches' poll released by the NCAA. Minot State is not ranked in the top 20.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State bounced back this week in emphatic fashion as they defeated the University of Regina 46-6 in the Beavers' second home dual of the season. The Beavers managed to drop just two matches in the dual's entirety. Jason Huger (Fr., 133, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.), Ricard Avakovs (Jr., 165, Rigas, Latvia), Jon Wilson (Sr., 174, Colorado Springs, Colo.), Kobina Henriques (Sr., 184, Miami, Fla.) and Mitchell Eull (So., HWT, Buffalo, Minn.) each won their respective matches by fall in the dual.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: Coming into the week of Jan. 26, St. Cloud State is on an impressive six-dual winning streak and the Huskies have won 9 of their last 10 duals. St. Cloud State was tested in their last dual against Minnesota State where they won 20-12. The Huskies picked up six of the 10 matches in the dual and did not record any wins by fall. St. Cloud is led by Clint Poster who holds a perfect 26-0 record in the 157 weight class. Austin Goergen has nearly as impressive of a resume as he's 22-1 in heavyweight division matches.

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Upper Iowa is currently on a three-dual NSIC winning streak as they head into their weekend duals against Southwest Minnesota State and Minot State. The Peacocks' only two losses this season came to No. 1 Notre Dame College and No. 7 St. Cloud State at the NWCA National Duals. The team has had little trouble in their last two duals of the season as they defeated Northern State 48-3 and U-Mary 45-0. Blake Sorenson leads the way for Upper Iowa as the No. 6 ranked 184 wrestler in the country. Jordan Rinken is also ranked No. 6 in the 157 weight class while Logan Hopp finds himself ranked No. 7 in the heavyweight class.

RECAPING LAST YEAR: St. Cloud State had their way with the Beavers last season inside the MSU Dome as the Huskies defeated Minot State 49-0. The following day on Feb. 1, Minot State had more success against the Upper Iowa Peacocks as the Beavers recorded 15 team points but were unable to come away with a victory as Upper Iowa won 34-15.
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: Minot State has only wrestled two duals inside the MSU Dome but the team has had great success at home compiling a 2-0 record. The Beavers will be tested with two tough ranked opponents this weekend on the road where they currently hold a 2-2 record. Minot State is 1-7 in neutral site duals.

PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME: The Beavers' Jon Wilson (Sr., 174, Colorado Springs, Colo.) has been hampered by injury for much of the season but he's seen more action as of late and he's making the best of his opportunities. The senior from Colorado Springs, Colo. has won three of his last four matches with one of the wins coming by fall. He's currently 4-5 on the year.

DICKIE V'S DIAPER DANDIES: Tanner Crissler (Fr., 141, Belcourt, N.D.) and Cody Haugen (Fr., 149, Minot, N.D.) have stepped up and served as two of the top wrestlers for Minot State in their freshmen seasons. Crissler heads into the week with 12 wins on the season while Haugen is looking to pick up wins number 16 and 17 on the road trip. Crissler has recorded the most takedowns (36) on the team while Haugen has the third-most on the team (27).

FINAL STRETCH: Minot State will take part in its final two dual meets of the season this weekend when they make the long road trip to St. Cloud State and Upper Iowa. The final three duals of the season will all be at home against Southwest Minnesota State, Augustana College and Minnesota State Moorhead.

BY THE NUMBERS
20: Mitchell Eull's (So., HWT, Buffalo, Minn.) 20 takedowns this year are 10 more than he had last year and the fourth-most on the team this season.

5: Five different Beaver wrestlers have won by major decision so far in the 2014-15 season while Tanner Crissler (Fr., 141, Belcourt, N.D.) has two major decisions to lead the team.

34: Despite only wrestling 16 matches this season, Ricard Avakovs (Jr., 165, Riga, Latvia) has the second-most takedowns on the team with 34. Crissler currently has 36 while wrestling in eight more games.