FARGO, N.D.- The Minot State men's wrestling team competed at the Bison Open hosted by North Dakota State University. MSU competed against fellow Division II competition, along with Division I schools South Dakota State, North Dakota State, and Minnesota. The Beavers however, only finished with one wrestler in a "top spot" at 6th.
Dustin Swisher was the lone Beaver to finish in the top six (or a top spot) of their respective brackets. Swisher started out by beating South Dakota State product
Hunter McCall by a 5-2 decision in the 197-pound bracket. In the quarterfinal round Swisher fell to
Owen Prentz of North Dakota State as Prentz received the fall at the 1:03 mark. However, Swisher would go on to win his next two matches over
Spencer Moonberry of North Dakota State by a decision of 8-2 and
Steven Abbott of Minnesota State Moorhead by pinning him at the 2:28 mark. Swisher would move on to face a wrestler from rival Mary in
Matt Kaylor only to fall 8-0 to land in the 5th place match against
Cody Donnelly of South Dakota State who got the fall on Swisher at the 6:04 mark securing Swisher's 6th place finish.
Logen Fischer scored 2.5 points during the day while making it all the way to the consultation bracket 3rd round, in the process defeating North Dakota State wrestler
Julian Perez by a score of 14-4.
Oscar Nellis added one point for the Beavers making it to round two of the consultation bracket. Both Beaver wrestlers defeated Moorheads'
Clayson Mele by 4-3 and 9-6 decisions respectively.
In the 149 pound bracket
Gabriel Ojeda added a point for the Beavers by defeating Moorheads'
Ethan Kiehm.
Shadi Mitwalli added two more points securing a victory over fellow teammate
Brendan Barnes by a 15-6 decision.
Nathan Baca and
Brody Mohr each secured 2.5 and 1.5 points respectively for MSU in the 157 pound bracket. Baca defeated South Dakota State wrestler
Dalton Lakmann with a fall at the :59 second mark. Mohr defeated Moorheads'
Peyton Ringling by a score of 15-2 to secure the points.
Freshman
Cannon Potts had a day for himself against the "big" competition. Potts secured 4.5 points, even though Potts lost the first match by a tech fall to
Cade DeVos of South Dakota State as he came roaring back. He first pinned
Kelby Hawkins of Northern State at the 3:51 mark, only to follow that with a 11-0 major decision over South Dakota States'
Ethan Richner. Unfortunately, before he could place in the top six he was the victim of a tech fall against
Riley Habisch of North Dakota State.
Joseph Lopez wrangled three points on the day in the 184 pound bracket taking down a rival from Mary
Jose Reyes with a fall at the 1:20 mark.
Shane Hansen and
Noe Garcia rounded off the Beavers with 2.5 points each in the 197 pound bracket. Hansen defeated Reyes from Mary with a fall at the 1:20 mark, while Garcia won with a fall on Itasca Community Colleges'
Brandon Wagner at the the 2:20 mark.
The Beavers will be back in action next weekend as they travel to Kearney, Neb. next Saturday Nov. 20, to participate in the Younes Hospitality Open, hosted by the University of Nebraska at Kearney. They're set to hit the mats with a 9 a.m. start time.
