A LOOK AT THE WEEK: Minot State hosts two NSIC teams this week on Thursday, January 26 and Sunday, January 29. Southwest Minnesota State will visit the Dome on Thursday at 7 p.m. while Augustana will come to Minot to compete Sunday at 2 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 3-11, 0-3 NSIC after going 1-4 at last week's Kutztown Duals. With a win over LIU Post, Minot State is one win away from matching last season's four wins. SMSU is coming off a two-loss weekend against Upper Iowa and Augustana moving its record to 4-11. With its win against the Mustangs, Augustana is 8-5 so far in the 2016-17 season.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Evan Forde is in his second 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 is 7-25 in his career. Jesse Nelson is in his 10th season as the head coach at Southwest Minnesota State. In his first nine seasons, Nelson has amassed a dual record of 54-61-1, 19-37 NSIC. Jason Reitmeier is in his 15th season as the head coach at Augustana. Reitmeier has coached at least one All-American in 12 of his 14 seasons on his way to a 153-69, 53-27 NSIC record.

RANKINGS: Augustana received votes in the January 20 D2wrestle.com rankings, but was not ranked in the top 25. Neither Minot State nor Southwest Minnesota State received votes in the poll.  

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: Minot State has struggled against these teams since joining the NCAA Division II ranks. Augustana is 5-0 against the Beavers while Southwest Minnesota is 4-0.

LAST TIME OUT: Last season, Augustana shut out Minot State with a 45-0 victory. The Vikings pinned three Beavers while winning one match by tech. fall and another by major decision. The Beavers forfeited the 125-class against Augustana and the next day forfeited the 125- and 133-classes against Southwest Minnesota State. MSU faired a little better against the Mustangs losing 39-9. The Beavers pinned their opponent in the 197 match while Cody Haugen defeated his competition with a 9-4 decision.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State faced four teams who received votes in the D2wrestle.com poll last week, including two top 25 teams. The Beavers lost these four duals, but won at least one match up against each team, scoring a total of 37 points against ranked opponents. Minot State defeated LIU Post, earning its third win of the season and third neutral site victory of the year with a score of 23-18.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Southwest Minnesota State, like Minot State, is 0-3 in NSIC competition this season. In those three duals, the Mustangs have won four matches, scoring 12 points. SMSU has two wrestlers with 15 or more wins this season in sophomores Cortez Arredondo (149) who is 15-13 and Kegen Fingalsen who is 16-13. These two have combined for eight wins by fall or tech. fall.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Augustana, who dropped out of the rankings in the most recent D2wrestle.com poll host some of the best wrestlers in the NSIC. Senior Michael Lowman has an 18-7 record, which includes being 1-0 versus NSIC competition. Junior Aero Amo, who was named NSIC Wrestler of the Week on January 3, is 26-6 this season. Amo is 11-2 in duals and 2-0 in NSIC competition. He has also pinned 12 of his opponents.

HAUGEN'S CONSISTENCY: Junior Cody Haugen now has 14 wins in his third season with Minot State. In all three years of competing, Haugen has secured at least 14 wins, including 17 wins his freshman season. Haugen has the most wins for the Beavers this year and has ranked in the top four in both of his first two seasons. The Minot, N.D. native scored his 31st point last week with a pin against East Stroudsburg. This is also his third season with at least 30 team points.

FOR BETTER: The Beavers have yet to forfeit a match this season, a much-improved area from a year ago where the team was forced to forfeit matches due to injuries. With a roster increase from 22 to 32 in coach Evan Forde's first two seasons the coach has made good on his desire to increase the roster size to prevent these forfeits from happening.

BY THE NUMBERS

3: Major decision wins earned by Shane Sheppard (157) this season. He leads all Beavers in wins by major decision while two others have two.

4: Matches won by fall by Cody Haugen (149), Keegan Berry (184), and Austin Moen (HWT) to lead the Beavers.   

10: Wins this season for Keegan Berry (184) to lead all freshman at Minot State. Berry is 10-16 overall.