A LOOK AT THE WEEKEND: Minot State will play host to the University of Mary in a nonconference dual Tuesday at 7 p.m. and open conference play against Upper Iowa at 2 p.m. Both duals will be at the Minot State University Dome.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 2-1 this season after their first three duals they competed in last Friday. The MSU wins were earned over Northwest College and Simon Fraser while the loss came against McKendree. The Marauders have a record of 2-3 so far this season. Most recently, Mary lost to Long Island University at an event hosted by MSU Moorhead. Upper Iowa is 2-0 in duals this season. The Peacocks have not wrestled in a dual in over a month, but will visit Mary on Friday before heading to Minot.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Evan Forde is in his first season at the helm of the wrestling team. He is the eighth coach in MSU history and the second coach since the reinstatement of the team and the move to NCAA Division II. Forde comes to Minot State after spending last season with fellow NSIC member Minnesota State University Moorhead where he competed as a wrestler from 2006-11. Before returning to his alma mater, Forde was an assistant coach at Southwest Minnesota State, also a Northern Sun member, for three seasons. As a college athlete he compiled 63 wins and earned NCAA Division II Academic All-American honors four times. Adam Aho is in his second season as the head coach of the University of Mary wrestling program. Despite finishing his first season with a 2-10 record he was able to coach Trevor Johnson to All-American honors. Before joining the Marauders, Aho was an assistant coach at Minnesota State. As a student he was a student-athlete for North Dakota State University where he graduated from in 2009. Heath Grimm is in his 16th season as the Upper Iowa head coach. Grimm has led the Peacocks to eight top-11 national finishes in his tenure. Two UIU wrestlers have won national championships under his leadership. Grimm was a four year starter at Luther College where he competed from 1991-94. He was inducted into the Luther College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.

RANKINGS: Minot State and Mary did not appear in any major rankings this week. Upper Iowa received votes in the November 3 NCAA Division II coaches poll and in the D2wrestle.com December 2 poll.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers have a 3-3 record against Mary and a 0-3 record against Upper Iowa since joining the Division II ranks in 2011.  

LAST TIME OUT: In two duals last season the Beavers split with the Marauders winning their conference battle 31-12, but losing their nonconference competition 23-17. Only four weight classes ended with the same team winning in the two competitions including the 125 class where Mary forfeited both matches. Mary won the 157 and 184 classes in both meeting with current sophomore Paul Michaelson winning both of the 157 matches. For Minot State Cody Haugen (So., Minot, N.D.) won both of his matches in the 149 class, both by pinning his opponent. Upper Iowa won all of their matches against Minot State last season except one. Tanner Crissler (So., Belcourt, N.D.) was the lone Beaver to beat a Peacock last year by pinning his challenger.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: In head coach Evan Forde's first season the Beavers have seen early success. With five finishes in runner up positions at the varsity level in the first three opens Forde has been able to improve the Beavers standings in these competitions. Minot State failed to have a wrestler to finish above third last season. The Beavers also competed in their first duals of the season going 2-1 in these competitions. Minot State has been outscored, however, 60 to 67 in the three duals.

NOTING THE MARAUDERS: The University of Mary wrestling team has gone 1-2 in its duals this month. Travis Smith, the Marauders heavyweight was perfect in those duals with earning two pins against Long Island University and Jamestown. Smith was one of just two wrestlers to record a win against Concordia College. Jacob Green, competing at 197 was also able to secure a win against Concordia. Green has been 2-1 so far in December at dual competitions. At the Dragon Open, the Marauders last competition before this week, two Mary wrestlers finished first including Smith and Josh Jensen who competed at the 125 weight.  

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Upper Iowa has won both of their duals by a combined 75 to 13 score. The Peacocks lost both of their heavyweight contests in these duals while also falling in the 165 class to Waldorf and the 197 class to Truman. UIU wrestlers earned four pins in the two competitions. In the three opens Upper Iowa has competed in this season they have placed seven or more wrestlers. In their last open hosted by Augsburg College the Peacocks had six wrestlers finish second or better including having two athletes in the finals match at the 133 class bracket.

FALLING FAST: Jason Huger (125, So., Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) recorded two falls in under 40 seconds in three matches last weekend. In his first match against Northwest College, Huger was able to pin his opponent in 24 seconds. Despite being defeated in his second match of the day against McKendree University, Huger came back against Simon Fraser to pin his challenger in 35 seconds. With three pins throughout the season and being pinned himself twice, Hugers seven matches have ended in pins five times.

EULL BE THERE: Junior heavyweight Mitchell Eull (Buffalo, Minn.) is continuing his success from last season when he finished sixth at the NCAA Super Region Three. With 11 wins in three duals and three opens so far this season Eull has been able to earn second place finishes twice. Eull beat his previous best finish of third from the 2014-15 season. He finished in the highest position of any other Beaver in five of the team's last seven tournaments dating back to last year.

Eull in his three seasons (2013-2015) 

Year	Wins	Losses	Falls	Points
2013-14	11	22	2	13
2014-15	26	15	6	42
2015-16	11	5	4	9
Total	48	42	12	64

COMING HOME: The Beavers are coming off of a successful weekend where wrestlers like Mitchell Eull (HWT, Jr., Buffalo, Minn.), Tanner Crissler (149, So., Belcourt, N.D.) and Mason Courtright (174, Fr., Mears, Mich.) ended the three duals and tournament with records of 5-2, 5-2 and 4-2, respectively. First year coach Evan Forde will look to improve on the Division II home record of 5-12 that the Beavers have recorded since moving up in the ranks. Minot State has a 1-1 record thus far at home against Mary during that time including a 31-12 win last season.

BY THE NUMBERS
3: Beaver wrestlers with winning records this season. There is an additional one MSU athlete with a .500 record.

12: Team points from Jason Huger (125, So., Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) and Tiger Paasch (197, So., McMinnville, Ore.). That mark leads the team.

23: Place winners in the varsity and freshman levels in the first three tournaments of the season including nine in the first, eight in the second and six in the third.