MINOT, N.D. – A pair of individual tournament titles and two home dual victories gave the Beavers plenty of momentum and earned the Minot State men's wrestling team a spot at No. 25 in the nation in the latest NWCA poll to start the 2023-24 season.

After that successful start to the year, the Beavers are ready to get the NSIC campaign off to an equally stellar start as Minot State hosts No. 4-ranked St. Cloud State on Friday at 7 p.m., and Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the MSU Dome.

The weekend will definitely test Minot State (2-0 duals) and define just how good the Beavers can be as the power-house Huskies (2-0 duals) come in a perfect 9-0 head-to-head with Minot State and with six wrestlers ranked in the NWCA's Top 12 nationally.

That includes undefeated Nick Novak (5-0) at 157 pounds who ranks No. 1 in the nation, along with Anthony Herrera (4-0) at 165 pounds and Dominic Murphy (4-0) at 197, both of whom are ranked No. 4 in the NWCA.

Also ranked nationally are No. 9 Caleb Meekins (2-3) at 133 and No. 12 Alyeus Craig (4-0) at 141.

Of course, the Beavers also have some talented grapplers of their own in Wayne Joint (9-1) at 133, who ranks No. 12 in the latest theopenmat.com poll and won his division title at the Dakota Wesleyan Open, Kelby Armstrong (11-1) at 157, who won his division title at the Jimmie Open, and of course, heavyweight Jake Swirple.

Swirple (3-0), an All-American last season and the starting center for the Minot State football team, made his wrestling season debut at the Beaver Bash Duals two weekends ago and won all three of his matches on the day by pin.

After taking on the Huskies on Friday night, Minot State wraps up the home portion of a busy weekend hosting the Mustangs on Saturday at 2 p.m., a team the Beavers have bested in their last three head-to-head meetings.

Southwest Minnesota State (0-0), which wrestles Friday at the University of Mary, is led by Caden Steffen (7-1) at 197 as he is ranked No. 8 in the NWCA's latest poll.

The Beavers and Mustangs have seen each other on the mats already this season, though not head-to-head, as both teams competed in the Dakota Wesleyan Open and squared on in four individual matches.

Logen Fischer earned a 12-7 decision over Carlo Arreola at 125 pounds in their meeting at the DWU Open and Ryan Hrcka won a 7-0 decision over Ashton Labelle at 165 pounds in their DWU Open match.

The Mustangs' Steffen (197) and Lucas Hodges (174) each won by pin over Minot State's Shane Hansen and Marcus Allen, respectively, at the DWU Open.
Following the pair of NSIC duals at the MSU Dome, the Beavers wrap up three days of action by heading to Minnesota State Moorhead on Sunday for the Dragon Open.

Minot State enjoyed great success at the Dragon Open last season as Swirple (285), Cayden White (184), Cannon Potts (174), and Brendan Barnes (165) each won tournament titles in Moorhead and will get the chance to defend their championship this weekend.